Chronicles of a Noob Garden and Gardener

[flowerbug]

I really don’t get it. There are SOOOOOO many better-protected places for them in our general area besides the narrow strip of wooded land on the other side of our fence. Makes me wonder if they’re just vastly overpopulated in our vicinity due to lack of predators or something like that. Also weird that there’s no sign of any adult groundhogs in the area. (I mean, other than the existence of at least three juveniles…)

once they consider a place home it is very hard to get rid of them without killing them all.

they can climb and they can also squeeze through some very small spaces.

without a fence going down into the ground a ways they can likely be squeezing in some place under any fence.

i've put up fence to discourage them here, but i normally have to keep an eye out for them anyways and get the air rifle out to get rid of them.

it has helped but i don't think i'll ever get rid of them entirely because there is too much habitat for them, the other trouble is that i cannot completely enclose the gardens i'm trying to protect so they can come in from the far edges.

 

[Ben E Lou]

Posted a bunch of pics (with captions) to a public album on FB, I’d anyone wants to take a gander:

https://www.facebook.com/1123680038/posts/10220340500998995

 

[Ben E Lou]

So Duke Power has an easement near the back of my property, as well as that of the neighbors on both sides, so they can protect the power lines. They’re doing some major cutting today that could have a fairly significant i impact on my garden. According to my neighbor, they’re trimming the tree closest to the fence as a part of this project today (the one that the three dudes in the pic are looking at.)

That tree provides afternoon/evening shade to the back corner of my garden after about 1:30pm every day. I’ve grown brassicas and other cooler weather/shade loving crops there in the past. The groundhog-damaged cabbages are there this year. Depending upon how much they cut, I may just go ahead and pull those cabbages and stick something more agreeable with the hot sun there.

 

[Ben E Lou]

Zoomed-out shot of them working on both sides of me at the moment.

 

[flowerbug]

Zoomed-out shot of them working on both sides of me at the moment.

View attachment 40754

i'll be surprised if they take the whole tree out of there. if you walk back there and talk to them nice perhaps you can talk them into trimming more of it off than they'd do otherwise.

 

[Ben E Lou]

i'll be surprised if they take the whole tree out of there. if you walk back there and talk to them nice perhaps you can talk them into trimming more of it off than they'd do otherwise.

Hehehe. I couldn't do that to my neighbors. Even if I were so inclined, the wife/mom is standing on their deck watching the whole thing. She's not happy about it. She looked at me and gave a big thumbs-down.

No, they didn't take the whole tree (at least I *think* they're done with it now,) but they did trim enough that it'll make a fairly significant difference in sunlight in the garden--maybe another 1-2 hours of sun/partial-sun for an area that's roughly 25x15 feet.

I'll post another pic when the truck actually leaves their back yard and I'm sure they're done.

 

[digitS']

This reminds me of having a new Garden, On Other People's Property. Summer came on and I wanted to try "flame weeding." Up until that time, I had never even seen the neighbor lady.

About late afternoon, I showed up with the propane and began to have a go at the paths. OMG. The lady suddenly appeared on her deck with a very worried face and began to pace back and forth! I decided that flame weeding was best left out of my maintenance schedule ...

Ben, it's good to see you posting. Lettuce, leeks and basil are my crops of choice for a shady corner. Strange combination but other veggies were elsewhere . Sounds like you are losing that shade advantage. Rather a completely different climate but I wouldn't have to worry about cabbage in full sun.

Steve

 

[catjac1975]

So Duke Power has an easement near the back of my property, as well as that of the neighbors on both sides, so they can protect the power lines. They’re doing some major cutting today that could have a fairly significant i impact on my garden. According to my neighbor, they’re trimming the tree closest to the fence as a part of this project today (the one that the three dudes in the pic are looking at.)

View attachment 40753


That tree provides afternoon/evening shade to the back corner of my garden after about 1:30pm every day. I’ve grown brassicas and other cooler weather/shade loving crops there in the past. The groundhog-damaged cabbages are there this year. Depending upon how much they cut, I may just go ahead and pull those cabbages and stick something more agreeable with the hot sun there.

How about adding a shade cloth?

 

[baymule]

How about adding a shade cloth?

Good idea!