Going Yard

Friday, June 25, 2010

Its been hot, rainy or humid for the last few days. Keeping mostly inside. Its been in the low 80's, but when the humidity is in the 70% range it just isn't fun to be outside.

Of course the whole woodchuck fiasco has had me pretty miffed, but it wasn't really enough to keep me out of the garden, but combine it with weather and it will stop my chattering mood in its tracks.

I'm saying it quietly cause you know how it goes when you say something and then the opposite happens.... but it looks like Wednesday is the last day the garden got raided.
I haven't seen a woodchuck since Wednesday.
Granted, there isn't much left for a groundhog to get into as far as my brassicas go... but there is some stuff left and the Swiss chard is regrowing.
They did miss two of my brussels sprouts and the 3 purple cauliflower might make it back if they get left alone. The groundhogs did not eat the center of the plants so the leaves could still regrow.
I have read in garden books that things like cabbages can regenerate if the original head is harvested right. If you don't cut too close to the soil when you cut a cabbage head (leave about 2" of stalk), the plant will regrow a few miniature heads in a cluster.I just might try and see if i can use that information and try to apply it to my situation. If i cut what is left of the heart of my cabbage plants out, it may set up a similar signal to the plant. Only trouble is that there are few outer leaves left... but it might not matter if the roots are strong enough.
My other option is to leave alone what is left and see what it does. If the cabbage do not head, the loose leaves will still be edible, just not as sweet and crisp.
Luckily, there is enough time for me to start new seeds of all my brassicas to get a fall crop.
If i am fortunate, the woodchucks won't be so interested in my garden by that time of year.... but maybe it will be worse?
Winter fattening time vs. baby woodchuck feeding time....

But i think that last woodchuck may have had an encounter with my fence in a big way. I went out yesterday to see if there was more stuff ruined (there wasn't ptl!) and i noticed the fence in the back part of the garden (the way they exit when i scare them off) was all twisted up (candy cane twist, not knotted mess). The top two strands were wound together enough that it had stuck like that until i undid it.
Now if the woodchuck had got caught in the two strands enough to tangle them like that, it would have been getting continuous shocks for who knows how long. And that was a rainy day, so water may have made it worse. So if the woodchuck that charged me had gotten tangled, it sure would explain its behavior.
But i don't remember if i did check the fence after that incident. I wish i was sure, because if the wire got twirled for some other reason i'd like to know.

I do wonder why i haven't seen one of them since then.
There were three, all about the same small size. Hubby had harassed them a bit with the pellet gun, hoping they'd decide it was too hostile an area to set up house, but it didn't seem to work. Maybe the combo of it all did something. Or they got that brain roundworm disease...
I won't claim victory over this batch of groundhogs 'till midwinter when i'm sure they are hibernating (or until their skins are tacked to the back wall of my garden shed, Daniel Boone style) because my garden is full of things they will either eat to the nubs or just taste-test enough to ruin.

I did take reconnaissance photos yesterday, but didn't feel like posting them.

************************* about 3 hours later*********************

I took some more this evening since i did see one of the groundhogs run across the back of the next yard over. If i'm lucky, they have decided to stick to the other side of my neighbors' house. I really wish they'd do something about that woodpile. If it were stacked properly it wouldn't be so inviting to vermin.

Anyway, here are the pics from 6/23/10

Kohlrabi & Chard

Cabbage

Collards

Broccoli

Kale stands untouched and a small cabbage plant to the bottom right was missed.

Its har4d to see, but there are the small purple cauliflower plants here. They got their big round leaves nipped off, but they have their center leaves still...at least 2 of them seem to. I need to weed this area.

And these are the Brussels sprouts, some seem to have made it, they might survive to grow if they don't get eaten again.

and Today

Looks pretty much the same to me except the chard seems to be regrowing. Its a cut-and-come-again veggie, so that is encouraging.

Kohlrabi and chard

.I haven't bothered to weed here lately, the weather has been uncomfortable for me and its too depressing to spend much time looking at the ruins.
This is the cabbage, i think it is also the same.

The collards look the same, damage not too bad on them for the most part.

The broccoli, being my favorite and most anticipated crop, of course got the worst of it. Cabbage is my second favorite by the way, and the damage is approximately proportionate.

At least the kale looks great. I have never grown it before, based on the level of enjoyment by the groundhogs of my other favorites i have a strange feeling that kale will not be to my liking either.
Lets hope! It might be the only crop those nasty things leave for me.

They still haven't noticed my little cabbage in the lower right corner.

I figured while i was out there to take more pics of what is doing well.
Tomatoes and corn.... need weeding, can't tell the corn from the weeds and i do have basil to the left of the tomatoes and i have marigolds to the right.

Carrots, beets, rutabagas, beans and behind them are the brussels and cauliflower

Squash always cheer me up, they can make anyone feel like a successful gardener.

Topsy-Turvey tomato is doing well. Its more than doubled in size.

The gift cuttings i got last week are mixed. Some are still putting on a game face and some are obviously not going to root.
There is at least one out of each group that has shriveled or balckened, i think i only have 2 pieces of the kiwi that are still hanging on. Hardy kiwi are a cantankerous little creatures anyway. lol
Though many leaves have dropped from the cuttings, there do seem to be tiny green buds remaining in the leaf scar area. They might develop if roots start to grow. Its just a matter of time to see how it goes.

I planted the chitted Autumn Olive seed but it hasn't emerged from the soil surface yet.

If i am going to replace the ruined cole crops with new seedlings i'll need to start seed this coming week. It might be a good opportunity to test the year-end value of the row covers, if the season cuts me short on the brassicas, the row covers may make the difference.

I read in one of my garden books, i think it was Joy of Gardening, that i can grow my own onion sets easily. The time to start that would be about now. Just plant the seeds directly in the garden and they will grow just enough to be set-sized by late fall. They can be lifted from the garden, cured like big onions and stored cool and dark in a fridge or root cellar for the winter and then set out as early as possible in the spring.
Worth a shot.

Oh and lastly...

The Mighty Hunter

That's my Caper... with his first mouse (that i know of) He's been 100% indoor kitty since we found him when he was about 5 weeks old. I have no idea how we got a mouse in here, i have never seen evidence of one before, maybe the weather and the pouring rain drove it in. I'm glad the cat found it though!
He left it right at the doorway to the living room just where he knew i'd see it. He usually leaves his Rosie Rats there for me instead, so i almost didn't notice it at first.

So you know i'm very proud of him cause in order to brag about his catch, i have to admit that i had a mouse in my home and i had to show my hated pink carpet! The carpet came with the house and we want bamboo floors, but until we can afford wal-to-wall bamboo, i am stuck with the color i dislike the most.
Oh well.
Hubby teases Caper and calls him useless cause he sleeps all day and 'capers' through the house all night... but i told hubbs that he can't call the cat useless anymore. :o)

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

When Woodchucks Attack

Seriously, i don't know if it was rabid or what. but Molly was barking like mad out under the tree and my oldest daughter went out to see what was up and came in and said that the dog found a woodchuck and it was really close and did i want her to throw something at it?

Glad i told her i'd take care of it cause it was only 2 feet away from the dog who was at the end of her lead and pulling, barking constantly.... the woodchuck was facing her down

I came out with the pellet gun (that we keep around as a deterrent to such things), 8 pumps or so, called Molly off.

the groundhog didn't move

i shot it in the face from 3 feet away and then it charged me!

i tried to hit it with the butt of the pellet gun and my leg made me miss, then it scrambled under the shed . i pumped the pellet gun again but didn't want to be at eye level with the thing if it decided to lunge out from under the shed. i tried to flush it out by going inside and banging stuff around but i didn't see it leave

i don't know if its gone or still under there.

but it had flies all over its face.

maybe its a female wih babies under the woodpile. but why would it challenge a dog like that? there was plenty of room for it to run clear around the dog.

I checked the dog for bites just in case, none. She's UTD for Rabies, but it freaked me out. I've never been charged by a groundhog before.

The pain that shot up my leg when i tried to hit the thing and the shock of it lunging for me had me shaking for a good 15 minutes. It just seemed wrong right from the start when i saw it there with the dog barking right in its face.

I swear they aren't cute.

I have words for those things that are not appropriate for a blog where children may be present.

Maybe it got a heck of a shock from the fence and is still screwed up.
It was a rainy night and a wet morning, a wet groundhog and an electric fence might make a good lightshow.
?

I didn't get to check the garden close until just a half hour ago, but it did get raided again. I saw some more damage after dusk last night but i can't tell if there is new damage where i looked this morning from the destruction of last night... but i did have the cauliflower and brussels sprouts in a different row that hadn't been gotten into yet..... but the woodchucks found it either last night or this morning because there isn't much left of either.
The broccoli is done in, the cabbages are toast, the kohlrabi are too small to use or i'd pick them now to save what was left.

The swiss chard is hanging on, barely and the kale is the only thing not touched.

I can't believe it, in a few days those horrid things destroyed weeks of work and effort, and then one of them has the nerve to charge me?

I'm going to catch them.

and they will die.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Baby squash

I was so intent on looking for groundhog damage that i missed these things this morning:

I have fat fingers! ha ha

And this....can you guess?

It's a tomatillo flower!

Oh, and that last Picture Post i forgot to post these:

Germander seedlings:

and
Echinacea paradoxa seedlings:

They spend some time in the fridge...

A few posts ago i had mentioned that i had taken the Sea-Buckthorn seeds out of the fridge after they were being stratified in there, but i misspoke. It was the Echinacea that i had brought out and those are the ones sprouting above. So if i think to, i might go back and edit that.

Picture Post

These pics were taken this morning of the damage done last night. As of 1pm today, it looks like no groundhogs have been inside the garden long enough to eat anything that i can see.

Hopefully it is not for lack of trying. I did see one run across the back part behind where our fence goes halfway across the backyard. I have also seen them poking their heads out from the wood pile.

The dog has been inside for the last couple hours, so there is nothing that should stop the woodchucks from trying.

So for now the damage pictures are going to be so i can be sure there is no additional destruction when i check throughout the day. Sometimes they may hit only one or two leaves before something scares them off and i want to know immediately if the fence is not doing its job so i can try and figure something out. If they have stopped i want to stop feeling the need to monitor so much and i will know that i can go ahead and plan to start replacement seedlings so i can possibly get a later harvest since my oldest cabbages are pretty much done in.

Damage to kohlrabi:

Damage to Swiss Chard

Damage to Cabbage

Damage to Collards

Damage to Brocoli

...

Leaving Kale alone..so far...

There seems to be a point in time when cabbage is at its tastiest to woodchucks. The large cabbages looked like they were getting ready to start heading. The smaller ones are later transplants and were left untouched. The Swiss chard was munched right about when i was going to pick them. The Broccoli was minimally (relatively) damaged. There are a few bare spots where i harvested the Pak Choi (between the broccoli and pak choi) so that is not included in the damage roll.

Tomato blossoms on the Roma tomato plants

Corn....and weeds....

Rosemary....looks like its doing well

Graffiti cauliflower

Bush beans.... i forget which type, but they are growing well.

Rutabagas... i don't know why the tops want to fall over like that. They aren't as stout as i expected them to be so far.

Some melon/pumpkin/squash volunteer that i have stepped on a dozen times but keeps growing anyway...

Beets...

A big carrot plant. The range of sizes between my carrots is pretty wide. I think it was uneven watering. I got good germination after all, but it was spread out over 2-3 weeks. I saw some new ones emerging just last week. I guess in a way they are staggering my harvest naturally, this may be a good thing in the end.

Bird House Gourd. I have planted these before when i used my parents' garden in college. They produced some nice gourds that dried out well. My dad collected them for me but i never got to make them into birdhouses. I am hoping to attract some Purple Martins some day. We are just inside the Northern edge of their range. (Depending on the map and reliability of source, the places that want to sell bird houses say we have them all over, the sites that study their migration habits say they are rare in my area).

The plants look poised to produce a good crop of gourds at any rate.

I think this is the late breaking banana Melon. The camera was more interested in the tops of the stakes than in my intended subject. I still haven't gotten out to get the lint removed from the lens.
Anyway, i don't know why some of the melons are so incredibly slow. We have had plenty of warm rain and actual hot weather.

I forget which this is. Probably Tom Watson.

Rocky Ford...

And this was when i stumbled upon the brilliant idea to photo the name tag along with the plant. Hales Best don'tcha'know.

But the tag photo idea didn't absorb right off. I think this is Pony Yellow.

Look, it says "Long Island Cheese" !

Another Winter squash, Red Eye.... a favorite of mine. I planted it a couple years ago and it was very yummy.

Carnival Acorn Squash... another good one.

Cucumbers. Two types.

My jerusalem Artichokes. I need to weed out the Winter Rye more, i have been picking away at it for a while. I don't get a lot of time for weeding and they grow so fast. My aisles are weedy and i mostly concentrate on the weeds that are getting ready to flower or go to seed.

I still haven't gotten the trunk of the big apple tree dragged away (to the right).

Apples are getting big, but have signs of damage.

Grapes:

Marechal Foch, looking good.

Frontenac, not doing much, but when i cut into the stick a bit, the color inside was a live green color. So i hope its not in the process of dying and wakes up soon.

Reliance, also doing nicely.

Edelweiss.... looking dead as ever.

Edelweiss #2.... same as above.

Blueberries. Patriot.....

...and Blueray.

Some wildflower i keep in my flowerbed. They are always sunny. I need to get them ID'd sometime.

Aerial view...

Oh, i can't wait until the yard is done. The stack of wood on top of the tarp is covering the last bunch of painted fence panels. The overgrown cedar shrub that turned ino a tree needs to be cut down so i can drive some posts to install a clothesline in that better spot rather than have to use the basketball hoop at the end of the driveway. And finally, we need to get grass growing in that yard because it looks like a dusty wasteland.

These are pics of the cuttings i got from a Lemony friend....

I was sent 2 mulberry cuttings, this is one:

and this is a quick group shot of the rest of them. Cranberries, kiwi, blackberries, cherries....

I dated them the day the cuttings were taken since the rooting hormone was applied and they had been wrapped in wet paper towel, i have the day they were set in these cups on record here in the blog.

I use those elasticized bowl covers that i still find at the Dollar Tree to keep the cuttings humid from top to bottom. I only took them off for the picture. but they seem to work nicely.

I haven't had the chance to research and deal with the seed-filled fruits yet since i have been using my energy on woodchuck issues and carpet cleaning (which i hate almost as much as woodchucks lol)....

But i am glad i finally got updated pictures of something. It will be interesting to look back through this summer later in winter when i am planning for 2011.
...

I hope he's right!

Hubby thinks he found what was going on with the fence. I hope he is right.
See, he's actually been zapped by the thing multiple times by accident and on purpose. As for me, the fence came with a zap tester so i have declined to manually test it.
But the good thing about hubby being so.... brave....uh....

Well, he knows how strong the zap has been at various times.

When i first got the fence, the grass and weeds were short so it worked well with one strand and fresh batteries. As the grass grew i had a hard time keeping up with clearing the area. The fence would stunt the weaker grasses, but only discolor and short out on the larger weeds.
The Roundup eventually did do the trick and the wire is now quite clear.
It has been effective at keeping out the neighborhood cats and dogs at this point. Our Molly even checked it out one day when she declined to obey a "get back here" command.
On Sunday, after noticing that my veggies were getting sampled, i ran a second strand of wire around the garden and checked it with the tester and hoped that would do it (the tester only shows that the wiring is right, but does not show how strong the zap is). Monday morning i saw more evidence of nibbling and ran the third wire, checked it with the tester and hoped for the best.
Monday evening i noticed that the sampling and nibbling had progressed to actual destruction and for some reason the third strand wasn't doing anything better than the first two.
Hubbs decided to dig at me and said that instead of buying grapes and berries i shoult have bought Havahart traps. I told him that i was glad i did buy grapes and berries cause at least if the woodchucks eat my garden i would at least have my berries!...and instead of teasing me, Mr. KnowsHowTo Play Electrician Man, why don't you go out there and check if i did something wrong and find a solution for me instead. lol
So he did and he noticed my connections were not as solid as they could have been and the ground wire was cruddier than it should be. I had set it up right, but mud had gotten between the turns of wire. So he took the wiring apart and we cleaned it up and he put some waterproof conductive gel in the connections. He had touched the wires and he said the shock was definitely much more severe than it had ever been before. It actually scared him at that strength.
The theory is that the zap the woodchucks must have been getting from contacting the fence wasn't enough to get through their fur. They must have touched the wires, so it had to be that the zap was too weak.
If this is going to work at all it should have the best shot now.
If it won't keep the woodchucks out, at least it keeps dogs and cats out.
And i am seriously considering planting my broccoli in topsy turveys next year cause i don't know what else to do!
There are a few places where the bottom wire might not be low enough to keep them from crawling under, so that would be my final troubleshooting item. After that, if it isn't working, i'll have to call it a loss as far as woodchucks go.

Trapping has never worked in the past cause more woodchucks just fill in the space of the relocated one.
The trick with Spearmint gum does not work cause woodchucks do not eat Spearmint gum. Repellent granules just kill plants and are little more than expired Montreal Steak seasoning.... I'm not risking the neighborhood pets by sneaking leg traps and rat poison isn't strong enough. Ammonia does not work for more than a day and needs reapplying constantly, moth balls are useless and just smelly. Smoke bombs are not an option because the woodchuck burrows are off our property and the current 3 that i am battling are living under our neighbors' loosely stacked wood pile......smoke bomb + wood pile = fire hazard. Hair from hair salons does not work. Emptying the vacuum container does not work because the whole yard smells of our presence anyway and these are urban wildlife. They figured out pretty fast that the dog cannot reach the garden from her leash. The row covers will only work for a while before the animals start chewing through or tunneling under them to dine under cover at their leisure... so putting them back on isn't going to do anything and it might make it worse by concealing the damage until i get the chance to see it.
I'll post pics of the damage as soon as i can get out there and get pictures. I need to do it anyway cause i am having a hard time remembering what was chewed and what was not from each incident.

I need to get pics of the berry cuttings too... and i need to plant the Blueberries which have acclimated to sunlight very well. One is trying to flower but i'll have to prevent that this year.

Its hard to tell, but i think the Frontenac grape may be coming to life but the Edelweiss are still very dead. The marechal Foch and the Reliance are leafing out beautifully.

My Roma tomatoes have buds - i noticed last Friday i think but forgot to write it down. The Summer squashes are flowering and some of the Winter squash are budding. Some of the melon plants are still the same size as they were when they were first transplanted.
Everything not being eaten is looking good.

The little apple tree is growing its apples, about quarter sized now. They are showing evidence of damage, many of the apples are russeting and i guess this can be caused by a number of things. Info. There are some signs of bug damage, dimpling and such. I think that is from apple maggot and i bet its because i was so slow in applying the spray after petal fall. I waited to fell the other tree too long and i needed more hose to reach the remaining tree properly. But now i have the extra hose and the dying tree is gone. I only expect a dozen good apples from the tree this year if that. Enough to sample and maybe ID the variety.

I think that is it for today, i'll post pictures separately.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Woodchucks, presents and weather...

Woodchucks like swiss chard and a little kholrabi.

Good thing is that i planted enough of each and the plants are large enough to take some damage until i can figure out what will work.
The low wire kept getting grounded out so i tightened it up when i put the second strand on it. Grounding out may have been what allowed one in to sample my veggies.
I delayed putting extra strands of wire on the electric fence too long and when i pulled the row cover off the tomato and corn row it changed something. I think the row cover was scaring them away for a while. When the wind blows the whole length of the cover moves and billows, so i'm sure it was a little of that.

Its a combination of things that were working. Since the woodchucks got in almost immediately after i took off the covers, they were a big part of it. But i read that row cover won't keep woodchucks away for long because they will dig through it. So i figured where its so hard to see through them i didn't want a woodchuck to spend a whole day under my hoops eating away before i noticed. I knew one strand of wire wasn't going to work on them especially when it kept grounding out and i was too slow to fix it. I kept having to do something with the wire, i finally got the grass dead enough to easily uproot and underneath the wire is finally all clear. But i think i got it all together right. The second wire isn't as high as i want it to be, so i plan to do a third course today. The first wire i think was too high in some spots and too low in others. I think a good span of heights will be the bottom wire at 3", middle at 6" and the top at 9". The pre-drilled holes in the stakes that came with the kit are 3" apart. If i find that this spacing isn't a narrow enough mesh to keep them out (which unless woodchucks are immune to electricity) i can't imagine why not, i can make my own PVC stakes with 2" spacing.
The thing about woodchucks is that they seem to manage to get through anything. The only sure thing i could do to them is to shoot them, which i can't do because of town ordinance.

But the fence does work on cats and skunks and the neighbor's dogs. So if i can get the wire strands at the right height the drama of the weekend will be over.

Saturday was a good day though.
Starting in the morning at about 5am, we got ready for our oldest daughter's league's Softball tournament that was being held a few towns over. We had to be there by 7:30 that morning. My daughter's team lost the first game, but then they won the next game, their third game they only lost by one. I think in all we placed 4th. It was HOT. It was in the 80's that morning and i'm sure it got at least to 89 if not low 90's at some point. It was 87 when we got home after 2pm. Good thing is that we got nice breezes all day, we had brought plenty of ice water, the little one had her big stroller, we had a picnic table umbrella and our canvas chairs.
It was a lot of fun and the girls all did play quite well in the heat.

When we got home, i found a present in the mailbox. A whole bunch of cuttings from a friend!
Cherries, berries, and fruit. It was quite a package! :o)
It was expected to arrive on Friday, but i think someone at the Post office was being a dweeb cause it arrived on Saturday . The hottest day we have had so far. But luckily my mail box is in the shade of the house, so the cuttings seem to have taken it pretty well. Some of the leaf tips darkened, but everything was packed to stay moist and i think that helped a lot.
I got everything unpacked, potted, labeled and covered.... they are inside on my light shelf, hopefully gearing up to root. I also was sent some berries and fruit with seeds, i haven't gotten to those much yet but i think they will each need to be processed differently. Some will need to be fermented and stratified, some may just need to be planted. I think some of them will do best in a wintersow method.

One of those eBay Autumn Olive seeds is starting to chit. I'll have to get that potted up soon as well.

Lots to try and do today, research and stringing a third line. Its supposed to be very hot again today, it was scorching and humid yesterday. I guess its not a bad day to spend inside researching. Of course i expect to see a woodchuck in the garden every time i look out the window.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Brassicas & grapes

I'm trying to get an idea if its normal for my brassicas to be drooping in the hot sun. I got a minute or two to sneak outside and i noticed the leaves are droopy and soft. The peppers and eggplant are in the same row and acting fine. We have been overcast for the last few days and now its 83 out, breezy and brightly sunny. They may just be having a hard time coping. I might grow my cabbage next to the asparagus and JA's next year. They might get some shade out of it. They will need to be rotated anyway. I am tempted to water them, but we got around 2 inches of rain in the last couple days, it might not be a good idea.

I looked up a couple wilt diseases, but according to what i found, the leaves yellow before the plants wilt and i see no yellowing. Its been a long time since i successfully grew brassicas since the woodchucks always ate them. So i have no memory if this is somewhat normal on hot days that are preceded by cool and wet ones.

The striped cucumber beetles have arrived. I saw a few trying to get through the row cover.

Marechal Foch and Reliance grapes have opened leaves now, i'm less enthusiastic about the Frontenac, i may have gotten a dud, or its really slow in breaking dormancy. It looked live when i got it, but maybe it was at the end of itself. The 2 Edelweiss still look dead as ever. Burpee hasn't returned my email yet. I'll have to contact Stark's now too if the Frontenac does not start doing something soon.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

My (Ridiculously Large) Seed Stash 2010

I had posted this list as a sidebar item, but frankly with my large tag cloud and other lists, i think it simply got too cluttery. So i decided to cut/paste it as a post and that way i can keep it because i refer to it often enough for it to be kept.
I hope it has retained all the links i attached to the items since that was time consuming to do. I tried to link to the actual seller's page wherever it could be found. If it wasn't linkable to the seller's site i at least tried to find a photo to link to for reference.
I do plan to edit and repost it as time goes by, if i left it as a sidebar i would have lost the aspect of archival that i wanted it for in the first place. If i do it this way as a post and re-post, i can date it, add to it and subtract from it to keep it current by date.
As of Spring Planting of this year the list is reflective of what i had before i used any seeds up for this garden's growing year.
I will re-post a revised list later in the season so i will save myself the trouble of overbuying duplicate seeds or forgetting to buy wanted seeds this winter.