Post your Vegetable Garden Pics

[trunkman]

Usc529 I don't know what zone in SC you're in but I'm from SC also, Rock Hill area and have witnessed frosts in April that killed lots of my plants like tomato, cukes, beans and bell peppers. Radishes and carrots may be ok, but be careful with the rest. :/

 

[journey11]

USC, from your pic, that looks like it's going to be some pleasant soil to work with. Is this your first year for that garden spot?

 

[Holachicka]

Oh wow! That's looking good! I'd kill for your soil! I have horrible red clay here. Have you considered putting up some fencing to keep out would-be garden snackers? I hate when hard work feeds the wild life, had that happen to me the past two years, first deer, then gophers galore! I'm going to sit outside with a shotgun day and night this year...

ready for plants tilled for the last time this morning so this week ill have corn,onions,tomatoes,cucumbers,okra,cabbage,bananna and bell peppers,radish,carrots and bush beans might take me a while to plant all of that http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/uploads/7828_dscn5904.jpg

 

[Smiles Jr.]

. . . I'm going to sit outside with a shotgun day and night this year.

I do that all the time. I have an old 22 cal. rifle that my dad gave me for my 12th birthday (wow! 56 years ago!) and sometimes I harvest much more than vegetables out there. On my little farm out here in the sticks hunting season is when the freezer is empty.

 

[digitS']

Holachicka & Smiles, your comments certainly raise the blood lust !

I have had real trouble from those critters and others! I mean, they aren't like that sweet little Song Sparrow that just showed up on my picket fence .

And, I don't buy this "they were here first" thinking -- except with some. We have deer at plague population levels in some parts of the country. BIG caveat: there are some species that we have really messed up! We really must preserve their environments and not put so much pressure on them or, like the 6 species of birds that Audubon painted and which have since been forced to extinction, we will lose them for all time!

But, can anyone say that about Rattus norvegicus or Rattus rattus? Or, that we should tolerate Bedbugs because they have been around for 250 million years, since the beginning of the Mesozoic Era?

Just leaving insect pests aside, my gardens, at various times, have been ravaged by "wildlife." Deer once destroyed my tomato patch. Marmots (think really large groundhogs ) have eaten every last cabbage plant and dug up 100% of the sprouting corn. Voles have severely damaged or eaten ALL of the potatoes - I mean in a 25' by 50' patch! Rabbits regularly ate 20% to 60% of plantings of beans and peas!

Holachicka, if those are ground squirrels - you can torment them enuf that they will pack up and move (or something, I don't care what). A large rock, a block of wood to drive it with, and a sledge hammer will effectively close their burrows. If they are gophers, more power to people who know how to successfully use the traps.

I pray that the Canada geese that are so often in the neighboring fields don't show up in my large veggie garden !

Some folks are delighted to see some of these critters - and, if it is more than an appreciation for them at a distance - we can be pretty sure that those folks are happy buying ALL of their food from a supermarket.

Steve
the slats in this darn soapbox keep coming loose!

 

[thistlebloom]

I fear I'm going a little off-topic here, but since you all were talking about garden eating varmints I thought I'd throw in my .02 worth.

I too don't buy the "they were here first "baloney, mostly pest animals are opportunists and move in for an easy meal. So far (knock on my head ) I haven't had a lot of trouble , last year a deer or two ate a lot of the sunflowers that volunteered up front in the beds I didn't plant.
And the moose this year have limited themselves to some very light pruning of my apples and young ornamental trees, probably because of the deer repellent I sprayed in the fall.
At our old house I had a horrible gopher plague that two awesome gopher hunting cats and some traps were able to keep sort of manageable.
So far at this location my gardens have been left alone, although there are a lot of gopher runs around the perimeter in the road easement. But I have felt fortunate that they haven't found their way to the interior where my gardening happens. And I've been very careful not to show them my nursery receipts.
UNTIL LAST YEAR.
One day I noticed a gopher mound at the base of one of my new apple trees, I mean, on nearly 10 acres of woods they came all that way for a tree I deliberately planted? How do they know?
To finally get to the point I got him! It took a few days of goofing around with the traps and moving them around but I did get him!
You probably heard my victory yell. But now the honeymoons over and they're on to me, so I expect to be doing battle.

 

[Holachicka]

They are gophers here and they are HORRIBLE! Last year they even chewed through the bottom of my half wine barrels to get to my veggies. you can't walk around my 5 acres without sinking into a tunnel every other step. It's really bad...

 

[digitS']

Well, I don't think we have drifted much off topic, Thistle'. We are supposed to be helping USC. Trunkman has offered a planting schedule, we are expressing concerns about location near what looks like a wild area and the wildlife that it harbors.

I know a guy with quite a cattle operation, Holachicka. He actually sets standard gopher traps in his pastures so there must be a lot of traps but he claims that it is worth it.

USC, a fence for rabbits, if they are a problem in your area, will probably need to be tighter than these woven wire (cyclone) fences so common in residential areas. At least, this is true with cottontails. I've seen them run right thru a fence like that, hardly missing a step!

Did you know our resident bunnies are Sylvilagus nuttallii, Thistle'? Our very own Mountain Cottontail Wabbit:



Chicken netting should keep them out but be sure to bury the lower foot in the ground so they won't dig under.

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

I haven't even seen a cottontail here, tho occasionally we spot a snowshoe hare. But we have dogs and some cats that patrol.
Deer are more of a potential threat, and my garden is not fenced. Journey mentioned somewhere about running fishing line around the perimeter at two different heights to confuse them. Apparently if they can't see it they can't jump it.
Cute bunny by the way, but he looks like he could use more groceries. Why don't you invite him over Steve?... You've got nice carrots...

 

[Smiles Jr.]

. . . You probably heard my victory yell . . .

Oh was that you? I thought maybe it was the groundhog victory yell out in one of my food plots.

. . . Cute bunny by the way, but he looks like he could use more groceries . . .

That was my reaction too. <big grin>