OT: Raised Garden Bed

[August_West]

No squirrel issues more concerned about rabbits and chipmunks

Ask @Fishy how to deal with chipmunks. He’s an expert.

 

[Northbound]

Buy chicken dung. Or fish fertilizer.

Careful with chicken dung very high in nitrogen. If it’s fresh if will burn the hell out of your plants. It has to be composted chicken manure if you go that route.

The landscape fabric to a very good job of keeping weeds down - that’s exactly why we use it - weed control - not perfect, but I have never weeded our beds. The ground between the beds is a constant battle and this year I’ll likely lay fieldstone around them.

 

[Connrack]

Yeah. They're snow fence style. I sink them down about 6 inches but I'm not convinced it helps. I have woodchuck problems, and my best solution has been firing a .22 at its face.

For woodchucks, I have a friend who has laid 3-foot wide chicken wire on the ground around the perimeter of his fenced-in garden plot to prevent them from burrowing. He lets the grass grow up through the chicken wire. The 3-foot width is too long of a distance for a woodchuck to begin his tunnel.

 

[Connrack]

Just built an 8x4 raised bed with 18 inches of depth. Filled with topsoil and now ready to plant. What do you guys plant up here with success? Also, do you fence in your gardens? If not, how do you deal with pests? I've got deer, rabbits, squirrels in the yard, and I'd prefer they not eat what I grow.

Plant rhubarb. It grows well and I know of no animal that eats it.

 

[UC313]

Plant rhubarb. It grows well and I know of no animal that eats it.

Nor human.

 

[Devland]

A 22 with low velocity bullets (they travel below the speed of sound so they are quiet) has pretty much eliminated my squirrel and chipmunk population.

 

[Robertelamin]

Nor human.

Just add 6 pounds of sugar and it's not bad.

 

[temery]

In no particular order ...

Consider a section for the three sisters. Easy, and very low maintenance. Beans add nitrogen to the soil, the broad leaves of the squash act as mulch to keep the weeds down, and the corn gives the beans a place to grow.

The Three Sisters: Corn, Beans, and Squash

Get a scarecrow on Amazon. It is motion activated, attaches to a hose and blasts water when a deer or whatever crosses its path. For me, it works for deer, but animals like groundhogs don’t even flinch. Smaller animals I’ll shoot with a paintball gun.

Good soil is far better than miraclegrow type fertilizer. Cow manure is great, but too much of any fertilizer is a bad thing. My grandmother grew up on a farm in Quebec. The best advice she gave people was to go fishing for bluegill, etc, and drop a couple in each hole you’ll add a plant to, then a few inches of soil (let the plant grow into the nutrients. Catch another bucket full of fish, add water, and let it rot. Add a bit of the water to each plant every three weeks or so. Add some more fish and water to the bucket, rinse and repeat. Absolutely disgusting smell, but you won’t find better fertilizer.

A bit of epsomsalts is also good. 21 Epsom Salt Garden "Cheats" You Don't Want To Miss!

Google companion plant. Here’s a start: Companion Planting Guide Companion plants are used to help each other by attacking beneficial insects, pollinating, and some smell and or taste so bad they help (a bit) keep grazers away.

Make your own tomato cages. I prefer concrete reinforcement wire and zip ties.

Tomatoes - all things being equal, buy determinant plants. I still plant some indeterminant, but they will outgrow your cages by mid summer, and flop over.

Peppers - I’ve had terrible luck with peppers, but this year in my year.

Get a cat or plant catnip to attract a neighbors cat. I had a big problem with mice and voles when I first started gardening. It wouldn’t have been as much of a problem if they took turns eating one tomato at a time. But what they do is nibble on everything.

Save strawberries for later. Far more time consuming (weeding, etc).

Consider planting raspberry and blackberry plants on the outside of your fence (use the fence as a trellis). In a couple years they create a natural fence - a few animals won’t bother trying to get into the garden once the thorns do their work. Most won’t produce fruit for a couple years, but once they do, you'll have more than enough to freeze.

Get some dripper hoses. Put in your plants, then the dripper hoses, then mulch with newspapers (perfectly safe). Top off with salt marsh hay (straw is loaded with weed seeds). Do this, and you’ll have a fairly low maintenance garden.

The devil is in the details - plan well, and prepare the garden before planting.

And my best advice - plant more than you’ll eat. Feed the grazers- no system is perfect, so you might as well feed the ones that get through.

If you are near Hampden/Somers area, shoot me an PM in a month or so. I start from seed indoors, and usually have a couple dozen extra of most seedlings I will plant. If you buy seedling, stay away from Home Depot, Lowe’s, etc. Find a local garden center that grows their own seedling.

 

[David 76]

Tomatoes, cakes, squash.

I would add leaf mold and or compost to the topsoil along with an organic fertilizer You will see your soil improve over the years.

 

[temery]

I am a big believer in the manure aspect. However, I find that w/ Cow poop there is an unusually high amount of seeds and therefore growing more weeds that crops. Have you had a similar issue? If so, how did you deal with it?

Stick the manure in a thick black garbage bag and leave it in the sun (driveway works). If you do it in the fall, add brown leaves. The heat kills the seeds.

Here's a quick google search:

How to Kill Seeds From Cow Manure

 

[temery]

Tomatoes, cakes, squash.

I would add leaf mold and or compost to the topsoil along with an organic fertilizer You will see your soil improve over the years.

Cakes?

 

[Robertelamin]

Cakes?

I'm sure he meant cukes.

 

[temery]

I'm sure he meant cukes.

Ah, thanks. I thought it was a 'shroom reference after reading the cow manure replies.

 

[Bonehead]

Just built an 8x4 raised bed with 18 inches of depth. Filled with topsoil and now ready to plant. What do you guys plant up here with success?

Sensimilla

 

[ctchamps]

In no particular order ...

Consider a section for the three sisters. Easy, and very low maintenance. Beans add nitrogen to the soil, the broad leaves of the squash act as mulch to keep the weeds down, and the corn gives the beans a place to grow.

The Three Sisters: Corn, Beans, and Squash

Get a scarecrow on Amazon. It is motion activated, attaches to a hose and blasts water when a deer or whatever crosses its path. For me, it works for deer, but animals like groundhogs don’t even flinch. Smaller animals I’ll shoot with a paintball gun.

Good soil is far better than miraclegrow type fertilizer. Cow manure is great, but too much of any fertilizer is a bad thing. My grandmother grew up on a farm in Quebec. The best advice she gave people was to go fishing for bluegill, etc, and drop a couple in each hole you’ll add a plant to, then a few inches of soil (let the plant grow into the nutrients. Catch another bucket full of fish, add water, and let it rot. Add a bit of the water to each plant every three weeks or so. Add some more fish and water to the bucket, rinse and repeat. Absolutely disgusting smell, but you won’t find better fertilizer.

A bit of epsomsalts is also good. 21 Epsom Salt Garden "Cheats" You Don't Want To Miss!

Google companion plant. Here’s a start: Companion Planting Guide Companion plants are used to help each other by attacking beneficial insects, pollinating, and some smell and or taste so bad they help (a bit) keep grazers away.

Make your own tomato cages. I prefer concrete reinforcement wire and zip ties.

Tomatoes - all things being equal, buy determinant plants. I still plant some indeterminant, but they will outgrow your cages by mid summer, and flop over.

Peppers - I’ve had terrible luck with peppers, but this year in my year.

Get a cat or plant catnip to attract a neighbors cat. I had a big problem with mice and voles when I first started gardening. It wouldn’t have been as much of a problem if they took turns eating one tomato at a time. But what they do is nibble on everything.

Save strawberries for later. Far more time consuming (weeding, etc).

Consider planting raspberry and blackberry plants on the outside of your fence (use the fence as a trellis). In a couple years they create a natural fence - a few animals won’t bother trying to get into the garden once the thorns do their work. Most won’t produce fruit for a couple years, but once they do, you'll have more than enough to freeze.

Get some dripper hoses. Put in your plants, then the dripper hoses, then mulch with newspapers (perfectly safe). Top off with salt marsh hay (straw is loaded with weed seeds). Do this, and you’ll have a fairly low maintenance garden.

The devil is in the details - plan well, and prepare the garden before planting.

And my best advice - plant more than you’ll eat. Feed the grazers- no system is perfect, so you might as well feed the ones that get through.

If you are near Hampden/Somers area, shoot me an PM in a month or so. I start from seed indoors, and usually have a couple dozen extra of most seedlings I will plant. If you buy seedling, stay away from Home Depot, Lowe’s, etc. Find a local garden center that grows their own seedling.

2nd on the newspaper. Our local newspaper uses vegetable die so not worried about chemicals. Hate fabric because if weeds take hold it’s a bear to remove.

Edit: Just as I typed bear received an alert big black bear is in neighborhood. Saw scat yesterday and thought it was bear. Now confirmed!

 

[White Dwarf]

My raised bed sees corn and beans.

 

[David 76]

Cakes?

Uh, yeah, I grow cakes. Chocolate mostly.

Should be cakes.

 

[zyron]

Nor human.

 

[Connrack]

Yes, it's insane what a craving desire for rhubarb can do to you. Strawberry-rhubarb pie. Rhubarb topped cheesecake. Rhubarb streusalkuchen. All good. My mother even made a rhubarb drink which included orange peel, cloves, rhubarb pulp and some sugar.