Official Poll: What is the #1 pest/problem in your garden?

[Kevin B Walsh]

Elk?! Heaven forbid that any 1000# vegetarian elk or moose show up!

I prefer the 1000 pound vegetarian Elk to the carnivorous variety...

BTW, hunting licenses for elk are close to a thousand dollars here (New Mexico), or so I am told, and you have to win a lottery or own more than 100 acres to qualify to purchase one.

 

[sumi]

I did and I think it did.

I see two votes under "Other", so it seems to have worked.

 

[Nyboy]

Another other, my big problem is heavy clay. Holds water like a bathtub, in summer dries to cement , need pick ax to dig.

 

[JimWWhite]

In past years its been the #$%^#@ squash bugs, but this year it was the *&^%$# Japanese Beetles. Both are destructive. I think I'd rather put up with the JBs and try to control them with traps and organic soapicides. At least they don't attack my squash plants.

 

[JimWWhite]

Another other, my big problem is heavy clay. Holds water like a bathtub, in summer dries to cement , need pick ax to dig.

Your's and mine both and that's why I went with boxes all around my garden. This old yellow Bull Tallow clay we have here in the Central Piedmont of NC is nothing more than modeling clay. You can't grow anything in it. I've tried for years and gave up and went to my boxes and I'm glad I did. More expensive but I think worth it. Every cent. Anyway, I have ten 8'x4'x12" boxes made of treated 2x6 lumber and another eight 4'x4'x12" boxes that we've filled with a mixture out of the Square Foot Gardener's book. Every year I amend them with two to four bags of store-bought cow manure. The boxes seem to be holding up pretty well with most of them being at least five years old or more. Next year I'm going to add two more of the 8'x4'x12" boxes down the middle of my garden. Then finally I have a 48'x4' area of the garden I'm going to frame in with RR ties the year after that and fill them with the garden mix. If I don't do RR ties I'll use cinder blocks to frame it in.

 

[Nyboy]

Jim I think i might have to do the same. What kind of treated lumber safe?

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I voted for the Beetles, worms and other insects with SLUGS being my #1 enemy.

 

[Carol Dee]

1st off @Kevin B Walsh glad to see you have jumped right in.
In the past Japanese beetles have been REALLY bad. So far this year. Not hardly one to be found! YEAH
Always have problems with vine borer in the squash.

 

[Kevin B Walsh]

1st off @Kevin B Walsh glad to see you have jumped right in.
In the past Japanese beetles have been REALLY bad. So far this year. Not hardly one to be found! YEAH
Always have problems with vine borer in the squash.

Hi Carol,

We do not have the Japanese beetles here, I am happy to say, and no troubles with the vine borer (yet), but our climate is so different from yours, I suspect, so we have different pests. I smashed a potato beetle just about an hour ago. They are a plague, along with the grasshoppers, for which there is nolobait.

 

[JimWWhite]

Jim I think i might have to do the same. What kind of treated lumber safe?

I make ours from 2"x6"x8' treated lumber I get from Lowes. It's my understanding the newer formulation of lumber treatment does not contain arsenic which is what was the concern with the previous types. It still may have something in it but they have eliminated the use of CCAs in the pressure treating process. I'm not too concerned but if you are then use redwood, cedar or cypress which is more expensive but will last as long or longer than PT lumber. I'm planning on replacing my 4x8 and 4x4 boxes with cinder blocks over time as the old ones give out.

When I built my 4'x'8'x12" boxes I used 2"x6"x8' lumber with a 4"x4"x12" post inside each corner. I screwed everything together with 2-1/2" decking screws. I built them on my concrete patio to keep things flat and square. Once we had them in place I brought in a load of garden mix we get from the local landscaping supply yard and mixed it with a half of a bag of vermiculite (maybe 12 lbs) and a half bale of sphagnum moss and mixed it together really well before planting. Then each year afterwards I'll add two or three bags of composted cow manure and work that in before planting. If I plant a box in the fall I'll add it again just for fun. If we're planting potatoes, carrots, etc. in that box I'll mix in maybe about 50 pounds of creek sand which seems to work really well for root crops. My guess is that it costs about $90 a box to build and set it up ready to plant. I could probably cut that cost considerably when I get around to composting our food scraps, cuttings, chicken manure, etc. Some day...

One thing to mention is this mixture seems to be very earthworm friendly.