Above is a picture of our latest garden offerings. There are the final Yukon Gold potatoes that the gophers didn't get, some green beans, and a couple of turnips.
The other stuff is questionable. We have little watermelons on the vine, the canteloupe and acorn squash have lots of flowers but not much in the way of fruit. The corn looks kinda puny. We spotted a few ears but they don't look so good right now. The calypso beans are nothing but sad empty stalks thanks to the grasshoppers and they have started in on the chard now too. This is in spite of lots of spraying. The onions look great and the other two types of potatoes still look good.
Granted, this is the first year we've tried a garden in our new location here, but I think we've learned a little. We definitely needed the deer fencing or we would have had absolutely nothing but possibly the onions. The tomatoes are in pots and they would probably do better in the ground.
I have some ideas for the garden next year, which includes moving it closer to the house. I think the soil needs to be amended (which we didn't do this year) and I'm even considering raised beds. My dream is to have a "secret garden" which means I want to build a big solid (about 8' high) wall around the garden.
At least my flower boxes on the deck rail look fabulous!
2 comments:
I just cut out an article about how to plant, clover and fava beans to 'richen up the soil'. How about certain flowers? Don't some smells turn bugs off? I know mint is for rats... could you take your tractor and dig down a couple feet, lay down some recycled cyclone fence, then put the dirt back on top, would that stop gophers? Or would they gnaw right through??
Your potatoes looked beautiful!! Can you believe the difference in home grown vs store bought, AMAZING!
Looks good to me!!
XOXOXOOXOXO Patti
I know marigolds are often planted around garden beds because they are a natural repellent. I was thinking with the raised beds I could put some sort of wire on the bottom to keep the gophers out. My sister sent a link on using straw bales--you water them until they start breaking down and then plant your veggies in them!
http://sierrafoothillgarden.com/2013/05/23/trying-out-a-straw-bale-garden/
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