Gardening

gagrice

I really like star jasmine. My wife hates the smell. I like it. Wisteria can get out of hand. It can tear down a pergola and they have been known to pull big branches off trees. We found this year that the sparrows will eat the wisteria buds before they get a chance to bloom. Still have lots of blooms in spite of a lot of hungry birds.

stever

We had some star jasmine in Anchorage.

In the house. :-)

Don't think it'd live in the UP either except as a house plant. It's a zone 7ish plant (we're a 5). My wife likes the smell and almost got one last week trained into an orb at a nursery in Virginia. But it gets pretty crowded inside here over the winter as it is. The Christmas cactus is about to bust out in a bunch of blooms right now. The overwintered sweet potato vine tubers are currently in the kitchen sink soaking overnight. Looks like the cats made a mess in there. :P

Mr_Shiftright

Another nice thing about star jasmine, aside from being evergreen, is that it will grow quite well in part-shade, whereas pink jasmine and wisteria will not.

gagrice

My Flowers are doing well. The Rock Rose, Pride of Madeira, Wisteria, lobelia, and ground cover are all looking good.

gagrice

Almost forgot my bearded Iris

slorenzen

Beautiful yard!

I'll bet the water bill is ugly, however...

Can you punch a well?

gagrice

I catch rainwater in 55 gallon barrels. Averages around $100 per month year round for water. Well may be a problem getting a permit. Many of the plants are drought tolerant, so we mostly water the fruit trees and vegetables.
Thank you for the compliment. It would be nicer if I was not always blogging, so my wife says.

imidazol97

Love seeing the pictures. Wish I knew what all of them were, but I like seeing them. The iris gets my vote.

gagrice

The pink rock rose and purple and blue pride of Madeira are plants that can take over along with rosemary. I am always cutting them back. Every year I dig up the iris and plant them in different areas of the yard. We have about 6 different species of Iris. The bearded are my favorite and grow to make nice cut flowers for the house. I have a pretty good sized cactus garden that has some great flowers. Though some bloom at night and close in the day.

Pride of Madeira

http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/shrubs/cistus-rock-rose.html

Mr_Shiftright

I have *GOT* to do something about the squirrels. They are digging up my beautiful succulent garden and digging deep into all my outdoor garden pots.

I have 3 options:

live trap them -- a hassle because I have to get rid of them somehow

shoot them -- relatively easy. I have an excellent German pellet gun and my house backs up against a creek with a high berm---the pellet has nowhere to go

rat trap -- reluctant, in that I don't want to trap a raccoon or a bird or cripple the squirrel and have it drag the trap off

I'm leaning toward shooting them, which is not pleasant for me, but I've been very patient with them. I've used cayenne pepper, crushed rock, screening--I've run out of ideas.

stever

linky

Mr_Shiftright

i heard that eating squirrels was dangerous.

But I suppose the noble thing to do is to eat whatever I shoot.

I just made a cardboard cutout of a squirrel to put on the fence...for target practice....as we say in the 101st Squirrel Abatement Sniper Battalion---"one shot, one kill"

gagrice

CA Ground Squirrels are not likely good eating. I use commercial rat bait with good results. I rarely see a squirrel anymore. So many rabbits. They don't get up into the vegetable barrels like the squirrels did. I use 3" PVC with a T to protect other critters from the poison. It keeps the rats and squirrels under control. I use the pellet gun for the rabbits when they get too thick. We have a bobcat that hangs around here that should be keeping them under control.

stever

Just stumbled on a fix for you:

"The rattlesnake is the main predator of the California ground squirrel." (Gizmag)

Karen_S

Squirrels in my yard have to contend with Jasmine (Black Lab). Her motto is "If it runs, it's toast." Of course, she's never actually caught one and not sure what she would do with it if she did, but no squirrel dares stay on the ground long around our place. :shades:

Mr_Shiftright

Well rattlesnakes needs a lot less maintenance than labradors, but their bite may be worse. :P

I wonder if I could somehow poison a peanut....

Kirstie_H

Don't see why you couldn't try - just dissolve some rat poison and soak some peanuts (using gloves & disposable containers, of course).

Mr_Shiftright

My only concern is that I don't want to poison birds---so I have to think of some way around that---so that the birds (bluejays mostly) can't pick up the peanut and go. It has to be something that a squirrel can defeat but a bluejay can't.

Maybe wrapping a bunch of peanuts together? A jay wont' sit and eat one right there, but a squirrel will. And a jay can't carry off a bunch of peanuts wrapped in a ball.

Any other ideas?

Kirstie_H

Perhaps get the peanuts into a ball using corn syrup or caramel? The squirrels could probably get those loose or carry off a relatively small ball, whereas the bluejays couldn't.

Mr_Shiftright

Sounds like something I'd want to eat myself! Great idea! I have some honey, that might work.

What's the best bait? Brand name or type?

gagrice

Here is what I use with great success on squirrels, mice and rats.
JT Eaton Bait Blocks rodenticide Peanut butter flavor.
Use 3 inch PVC and a piece of brazing rod bent on end to keep the bait in the feeder. That way they do not haul the blocks out where other animals like dogs can get them.

imidazol97

Do the squirrels fit into the 3-inch diameter PVC? They have to go up to the T area... Am I thinking squirrels are larger than they are and they are eager to squeeze into tight places? I have trouble getting them into a large Hav-A-Hart trap, which is fairly big.

gagrice

Our ground squirrels are not real big. The bait is at the center so they go in eat and have to back out. They usually go back to their hole and die. It is an anti coagulant. They tell me it is painless. I used to trap and kill them with a .22. That was a lot messier.

Mr_Shiftright

I might have to use larger PVC pipe, as I'm dealing with tree squirrels.

gagrice

You may. I had a bunny crawl in one and not be able to get out. 3" is a pretty good size though. I am not sure tree squirrels would eat the bait. We don't have any tree squirrels in our neck of the woods.

imidazol97

>We don't have any tree squirrels in our neck of the woods.

I can FedEx some when I catch them in my HavAHart if you need some. I normally relocate them across a river to wooded area.

Any ideas on how to catch a small, young bunny that's eat my wife's flowers? It's about 4 inches body length.

Kirstie_H

I don't know how to catch a bunny, but two deterrent ideas:
- fox urine. It comes in powdered form to sprinkle on the ground. Bunnies think a predator hangs out there.
- soap. Apparently they don't like strong smells. Get a bar of deodorant soap and put it on a stick in your garden area.

Shifty, the fox urine might work for you too. Here's a guide, though you should be able to get the same type of product locally:
http://www.predatorpee.com/

ateixeira

You're talking shooting rodents while I'm off on vacation? No fair...

I have chip munks. Even chewed up my wiring, on 2 different vehicles.

I use strategically placed moth balls now.

imidazol97

Ordered a package with fox urine in it since local hardwares didn't seem to have anything in stock.

I'm anxious to see if it will push away the little bunnies we get into our beds early in the year here.

imidazol97

I've had great luck with a HavAHart chipmonk trap and peanut butter on crackers stuck to the trip plate. I've also used acorns as bait. Placement is difficult because the chipmonks run from the beds with mulch in front of the house along the side beds to the back yard. So I have to guess which run strip is likely for the critter we see to use.

I relocate them to an Audubon approved new home.

Kirstie_H

We live in a house with a very large field adjacent to the west of the house. This makes for a LOT of wind coming across during the spring. I like to keep some of my plants, particularly herbs, in pots instead of in the ground so I can move them indoors to a sunny room to keep them growing year-round. Unfortunately, I've had a lot of toppled and broken pots over the past few years. So, look what my S.O. and I (well, mostly he) built this past week - I call it my "garden etagere."

ateixeira

Looks nice, and as the wood ages it will blend right in with the fence.

Kirstie_H

Yeah, the fence has a couple of years on it, but I figure the wood will catch up soon enough. Still need to put the landscape blocks all the way across the bottom. I'll have a photo later today of my other, more difficult project that I am SO glad is done, as there were a few moments of panic.

stever

The style reminds me of an Aldo Leopold Bench.

Very apropos for Earth Day.

imidazol97

is that a raised bed against the right side of your pots rack?

Kirstie_H

Yup. We were originally going to do another raised bed, then thought of the rack idea and thought it'd be more interesting than another raised bed.

Steve, the design does look similar - probably nearly the same angle cuts. Mine has slots for the pots instead of a shelf, because they'd blow over.

Here's the more challenging project - challenging because it involved me doing tiling on a vertical surface, with black grout, using uneven (slate) tiles. I've cleaned them up a bit since I took the photo. It's on the edge of a deck where our pergola lives. The box will get some bamboo, hopefully later this week.

Mr_Shiftright

I've noticed that while my lettuce and peas are booming, the spinach is FULL of tiny little holes, and the underside has these wispy webs under the leaves. Any ideas? I thought earwigs and got some Sluggo-Plus, but now I'm not so sure what's eating the spinach (and the choy, too). Whatever it is, it doesn't like lettuce, garlic, radishes, or peas.

Definitely NOT snails, because I'm using planters strung way up on a wire fence.

imidazol97

>has slots for the pots instead of a shelf, because they'd blow over.

I'd wondered if they were on shelves with a tall front edge... slots are good.



I like that box. I don't want my wife to see either of these pictures. She's a gardening fanatic, despite back problems, hip muscle pain just surgically repaired, and a back knee. She'll nag keep reminding me how nice that shelf would be for out border fence.

The box on the deck reminds me of our deck with a drop of less than 6 inches to the beds and yard. I put up planter boxes made of treated lumber with a narrow box base and a wider top box for the dirt. One was at each corner of the deck, so it defined the deck from the yard and served as a visual "fence" but left the view to our relatively small yard open unlike a railing. I like the color tiles--they add a visual texture to the planter.

Kirstie_H

Try planting some marigolds in pots near them, or rosemary. Both have very strong smells which, apparently, bugs don't like - neither do squirrels. That's why my bottom row has marigolds. I also have rosemary in the top row.

Kirstie_H

Well, you can, of course, make the shelf thingy any height, any number of shelves. We just have a LOT of room in the backyard, and I have a LOT of plants. It's not even that we need all the herbs and veggies; it's just more of a hobby, something to keep me busy. Last year, I did take all of the "italian" herbs, threw them in a dish in the oven, and dried them out on low heat, then crumbled into a shaker. We're still using last year's Italian herb seasoning, which is nice.

Thanks for the nice words about the tiling - my only contribution to that project. After the bamboo is in, I plan to cover the top of the dirt with black glass pebbles.

Here's a hot tip that I learned from painting the rims of the pots in the ladder thing - if you need to do a small bit of painting outdoors, buy fabric paint. Different colors of paints in cans can cost $4-5 each, but fabric paint is $0.99/bottle, and it dries almost instantly. I bought plain pots and just painted the rims of some.

Kirstie_H

Also just saw that planting radishes nearby can help - they'd be disposable radishes. Bugs that like spinach prefer chewing on radish leaves.

gagrice

My guess would be white fly. They will completely cover the under sides of leaves with a white web looking stuff. I have used a fine water spray to control them. Tough to get rid of especially on Hibiscus.

Mr_Shiftright

Hmmm....could be white fly then. I just did plant radishes so we'll see how that goes. As for the squirrels, I've found they don't like pellet guns. I don't want to spray. I have some organic stuff called EndAll.

gagrice

That picture is an advanced case of whitefly. I have seen hibiscus completely engulfed like that. All you can do is cut them to the ground bag the thing and dump it. I had a hibiscus that was getting bad that I trimmed very heavily and it was clean for a few years. Up where I am now the squirrels and rabbits will eat the hibiscus down to the ground. I gave up growing them. More into drought tolerant plants like Rock Rose, pride of madeira and cactus. I do have a couple large Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus Syriacus) bushes that do not seem to be subject to disease or critters. Also very drought tolerant. When it rains they bloom like crazy. loaded with flowers right now.

imidazol97

Don't the insecticidal soaps get rid of white fly. I did a quick search and it requires 2-3 applications per week.

Shake Away:
As for squirrels, we get a young rabbit into our yard through the tiny holes in the fence every spring. They eat the young sprouts from flower plants along with early garden things we put out. I got a fox urine powder that seemed to have valid user feedback on Amazon. Put it down by sprinkling lightly two times per week. You can smell the urine scent.

Wife noticed one of many squirrel pests going along the area where it was put down for the rabbit sniffing away. The squirrels have been staying away from our bird feeders. It's supposed to be rain persistent. I'm getting a larger container since it works for the squirrels. (Caught the rabbit in a Havahart trap finally.)

stever

I'm digging out back putting in a bunch of pavers (yep, another 100 sq. ft. less grass to mow). This morning I found a 1939 Lincoln Wheat Penny, D mint mark. Worth $0.45.

Maybe the long lost gunny sack full of silver dollars will show up in the next row of sod I take out. :-)

gagrice

You could start a TV reality show, called "Gardening for Dollars". I am busy with 14 heirloom Tomato plants a fellow in our church gave me. I planted some of the seedlings on 4/5/12. They are now over 2 ft tall with lots of blossoms. No sets yet. Some have potato leaves. I have learned a lot about heirloom tomatoes from this fellow. He is now up in Canada. Takes a hundred+ tomato plants with him for friends up on the lake. He raises his in 5 gallon buckets out on the dock where they get lots of sunshine.





The flowers out of my office window

ateixeira

Do you get mosquitoes in that bird bath?

If I leave any sitting water, anywhere, I get so many larvae the water moves around on its own.

Got my veggies down a couple of weekends ago, so far they've been growing nicely with the alternating sun/rain weather we've had here in the mid Atlantic.

gagrice

I get a few mosquito larvae in my rain barrels. I put a tablespoon of Dawn dish soap in and that kills them. The bird bath does not last more than a couple days with the birds drinking it. I fill it every morning.

ateixeira

Will use the dish soap idea, thanks. I have a rain barrel also.