Fed up with the garden

[masseyrider]

I may have figured out the reason why so much of my garden is affected by powdery mildew.
I didn't think anything of it until I was taking withe the neighbor. He reminded me that where Most of my garden is used to be old grapes. They were 99% dead from the powdery mildew.
Getting close to 20 years ago I didn't give it much thought.
However with the heat and rain and humidity it is the ideal condition for the mildew to reappear.
Too late now but I'll have to move the garden to a location further away next year. And like Mama used to say, "if I live that long"

 

[oldballs]

That's the way to do it. My mother still has a garden at 89 and reduces the size every few years. When we were growing up the garden was several acres, that's what a family of 11 lived on for the year. I remember planting 100 lbs of seed potatoes. I enjoy working in the garden and for what I grow it is a true joy. I like to grow my own starts (tomatoes, eggplant, broccoli, etc.) and can grow varieties that you can't get through the normal sources.

I had to take this year off due to some back surgery but I hope to have something growing again next year. We still planted some tomatoes, beans, and eggplant in planters just as an experiment to see how they work out. So far everything is looking good.

With some luck and good doctors you can be back in the garden again.....next year. I had some health issues the past couple years, but allowed myself to "heal" and then ease back into the manual labor aspects of living alone and DIY attitude. Of course I don't plant 10 lbs lbs of seed potatoes any more...but used to...along with an orchard (no longer)....several asparagus rows (no longer)....Strawberries (no longer) Raspberries (no longer)...rows of corn (no longer) etc etc.....

This year is looking good with lots of cantaloupe, watermelon, tomatoes, cukes and peppers.....six coons and 3 possums so far

Cheers,
Mike

 

[wmfamily]

With some luck and good doctors you can be back in the garden again.....next year. I had some health issues the past couple years, but allowed myself to "heal" and then ease back into the manual labor aspects of living alone and DIY attitude. Of course I don't plant 10 lbs lbs of seed potatoes any more...but used to...along with an orchard (no longer)....several asparagus rows (no longer)....Strawberries (no longer) Raspberries (no longer)...rows of corn (no longer) etc etc.....

This year is looking good with lots of cantaloupe, watermelon, tomatoes, cukes and peppers.....six coons and 3 possums so far

Cheers,
Mike

Our nemesis are the local deer. We've had a few ground hogs that I can trap and deal with but the deer are the worst. I need to cover the green beans and beets with bug netting to keep them out but I've had them try to chew through that. The raccoons and squirrels will make a mess of the corn so I've gotten to the point I don't grow it since I don't have enough garden area to feed them and get more than a few ears. I've got a good source of locally grown corn so I'm happy to support the family farm.

 

[Jstpssng]

Our nemesis are the local deer. We've had a few ground hogs that I can trap and deal with but the deer are the worst. I need to cover the green beans and beets with bug netting to keep them out but I've had them try to chew through that. The raccoons and squirrels will make a mess of the corn so I've gotten to the point I don't grow it since I don't have enough garden area to feed them and get more than a few ears. I've got a good source of locally grown corn so I'm happy to support the family farm.

Somebody told me a home remedy I'd never heard before. Mix dish soap and water and spray it on the leaves. Just like me when I said a bad word nar my mother, they don't like the taste of soap. I wouldn't do it after the beans have set on, but do plan to try it to keep them from my apple trees.

 

[Dftodd]

Somebody told me a home remedy I'd never heard before. Mix dish soap and water and spray it on the leaves. Just like me when I said a bad word nar my mother, they don't like the taste of soap. I wouldn't do it after the beans have set on, but do plan to try it to keep them from my apple trees.

Wife came home with this book "supermarket super gardens"

It was full of recipes for different stuff made from household ingredients.

I decided to try the recipe to discourage pests from eating your garden.

It consisted of boiling and straining hot peppers. The hotter the better. Then spraying the mixture on your plants.

Here's what I learned. Critters in the south love hot sauce with their meals

 

[oldballs]

Since I have lived on this 3 acres for about 50 years, I have developed fencing to keep out the deer, squirrels and rabbits. It also inhibits the possums and coons. But they can climb the fencing...thus I trap them. The past few years I have reduced my planting to one garden that is about 50 x 100. In the pics you may see field fence about 40 inches high.....chicken wire about 18 inches high.....and the deer netting about 7 feet high. I do get tired of trapping animals, so I too gave up on corn. I'm seeing fewer deer as the suburban sprawl has surrounded me.

Each Fall I remove one end of the fence so as to have access for the tractor/plow/tiller. Of course that end has to be reset each spring.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[shooterdon]

I did not read the whole thread.

l learned long ago that gardening and rasiing critters is a waste of time and resources.

I did it for many years, until I woke up.

Buy stuff on sale and stock up. My last purchase was 240 cans of veggies for $.20/ can. Chicken quarters at $.40/lb.

BTW, Don’t bother telling me about quality and taste….I do not not give a tiny rats ass about BS like that. Good enough is good enough.

 

[CalG]

Deer just became a problem a couple years ago. Now one garden is fenced, the other is on it's own.

We quite growing corn after the summer where I thought we had coons, I was already with flashlight and rifle. But them coons had white and black stripes. Buying corn just is so much easier. ;-)

 

[shooterdon]

Deer just became a problem a couple years ago. Now one garden is fenced, the other is on it's own.

We quite growing corn after the summer where I thought we had coons, I was already with flashlight and rifle. But them coons had white and black stripes. Buying corn just is so much easier. ;-)

You are so right.

I live in farm country. Last year, a dozen ears of fresh corn were less than $5 at the farm down the road.

How much fresh corn can two people eat when it is in season anyway?

Even if cost $1/ear, it is not worth the effort. At least to me.

 

[GeneV]

I did not read the whole thread.

l learned long ago that gardening and rasiing critters is a waste of time and resources.

I did it for many years, until I woke up.

Buy stuff on sale and stock up. My last purchase was 240 cans of veggies for $.20/ can. Chicken quarters at $.40/lb.

BTW, Don’t bother telling me about quality and taste….I do not not give a tiny rats ass about BS like that. Good enough is good enough.

I think most of those who do it, for them it's a hobby with added benefits of getting fresh produce. That's cool.
But yeh, personally I'm actually headed out the door now, going to Costco...time to harvest!

 

[Oaktree]

Buy stuff on sale and stock up. My last purchase was 240 cans of veggies for $.20/ can. Chicken quarters at $.40/lb.

BTW, Don’t bother telling me about quality and taste….I do not not give a tiny rats ass about BS like that. Good enough is good enough.

Each to their own I guess. Personally, I prefer food that tastes good.

I don't do "veggies", but I have to ask where you got canned vegetables for 20¢/can? How many years past their "best used by" date were they?

Again, different strokes for different folks. By your handle I presume you're a hunter? That's something I don't see the appeal of. I suppose a good skill to have in a survival situation, hopefully I'll never be there.

 

[3gunr]

Hunting is much more than just killing something, I spend hundreds of ours each yr in a tree stand and love every minute of it even if i dont see a dear, Watching all the things in the woods wake up in the morning is great. Try it sometime and you will see what i mean.

 

[shooterdon]

Each to their own I guess. Personally, I prefer food that tastes good.

I don't do "veggies", but I have to ask where you got canned vegetables for 20¢/can? How many years past their "best used by" date were they?

Again, different strokes for different folks. By your handle I presume you're a hunter? That's something I don't see the appeal of. I suppose a good skill to have in a survival situation, hopefully I'll never be there.

I do a bit of hunting but was a competitive shooter. Along with being able to reload and make bullets it is a good skill for when the SHTF. Much better than growing stuff. If you cannot shoot, you will lose any stuff you have to guys like me.

As to the canned veggies, expiry dates were years in the future. Btw I have eaten canned stuff 7 years past the date on the can. No problems.

We have choices on how we waste time and resources. Gardening is silly IMO.

 

[Alan46]

I do a bit of hunting but was a competitive shooter. Along with being able to reload and make bullets it is a good skill for when the SHTF. Much better than growing stuff. If you cannot shoot, you will lose any stuff you have to guys like me.

Have you ever done any business with MBX Extreme?

 

[Oaktree]

I do a bit of hunting but was a competitive shooter. Along with being able to reload and make bullets it is a good skill for when the SHTF. Much better than growing stuff. If you cannot shoot, you will lose any stuff you have to guys like me.

Are you saying you're going to be out there pillaging and looting if there's a breakdown in law & order? Thanks for the heads up, glad you live a long ways away.

I don't buy into the whole doomsday prepper paranoia. In the unlikely event that all that goes down, I'm not sure I'd want to be here anyway.

 

[Alan46]

This is why we will garden as long as we’re able! First pick today!

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

I do a bit of hunting but was a competitive shooter. Along with being able to reload and make bullets it is a good skill for when the SHTF. Much better than growing stuff. If you cannot shoot, you will lose any stuff you have to guys like me.

As to the canned veggies, expiry dates were years in the future. Btw I have eaten canned stuff 7 years past the date on the can. No problems.

We have choices on how we waste time and resources. Gardening is silly IMO.

I agree that gardening is silly to a point, But for me it is enjoyable and it is a retirement hobby. Its enjoyable to see if my endeavers turn out good and learn from others when they don't. Always learning something new about plants and how to take care of them. Keeps the mind occupied and functioning better.

And one of the other reasons I have a garden is so I don't lose my water rights where I live. Don't use it, you can lose it.

I have a 60 by 80 foot fenced in orchard.
Pears are a bumper crop this year, but not normally.
Cheeries where a bumper crop, but not normally. Birds didn't get to them.
Quince, not a single one this year. Why? Don't really know yet but hopefully will gain some knowledge as to why.
Apples are doing well.
Apricots and peaches about average production.

Also have a 190' x 110' garden. Neighbors use this space also as we have the only water rights to the creek.
Corn, ancho peppers, jalepeños, zuchini, squash, cabbages, beans, peas, strawberries, raspberries, onions, garlic, potatoes, sunflowers all did good or are doing good.
Just blueberries, have never had much production so will be taking them out after 5 years.

 

[shooterdon]

Are you saying you're going to be out there pillaging and looting if there's a breakdown in law & order? Thanks for the heads up, glad you live a long ways away.

I don't buy into the whole doomsday prepper paranoia. In the unlikely event that all that goes down, I'm not sure I'd want to be here anyway.

I have 6-12 months of food on hand at all times. A lot of folks do not think that way.

If the SHTF, folks that are not prepared will take what they want/need from those who have stuff. It will not just be shelter, food, and water. When order breaks down, you will need to protect your tools, guns, a pretty wife or daughter...you get the picture.

Unprepared folks will be the initial threat if the SHTF. They will either starve or try to steal from others. And people like me will kill you. That is how things work.

You should read the book One Second After. Early in the book a couple of guys are caught stealing food. They are executed by the leader of the town. The young guys talk about their "rights" and are too stupid to realize they have no rights. It seems ludicrous that men would be killed for stealing food...but that will be the new reality.

 

[CalG]

This is why we will garden as long as we’re able! First pick today!

View attachment 813006

We have been enjoying blue berries every day for a little over a week now. With just enough to put some in the freezer..... Looks like it's going to continue for a while. Raspberries too.

 

[beowulf]

An odd year for sure. Typically we plant tomatoes in early to mid April depending on the weather generally. Then we get abundant harvest of tomatoes beginning in June and continuing to the first week of December. We still have them in December but the taste seems gone after that first week in December.

This past rain-year (July 1- June 30) we had 66.4 inches of rain. The year before it was 18.2 inches - in line with a typical year. So because of late rains and cooler weather in the Spring we could not plant until mid May. So far, no harvestable tomatoes but they have started bearing fruit. We will get a decent harvest but nothing like a typical year.