First Annual Cinco de Mayo Turkey Hatchathon- Join us! Set Day: Easter

[gryeyes]

..What happened to greyeys? I haven't heard back from her on the eggs and I was wanting to get them sent out I don't know what kind of weather that we're sending east but I am sick of the wind

Sorry, sorry! I came home beat from Warehouse work on Thursday and called in sick Friday. Didn't get to the computer until almost 10 PM Friday... Finally paid for the eggs. Sorry for the delay!!

My Easter Hatch eggs will probably hatch late, not a single pip yet in 'em.

I received 8 eggs from thebirdguy and am SO jazzed about this upcoming hatch! Turkeys! Woot!!!

 

[craz e laid e]

I received the rest of my eggs today, and despite USPS's best efforts to scramble them, they only managed to damage one (at least on the outside). It has a pretty nasty dent/crack (not leaking), and I thought about trying to wax it. But with a total of 21 without it (9 Narragansett and 12 BR), I decided it wasn't worth risking the others, so am having it for breakfast.

The rest are just 'hangin out' in my bathroom shower, waiting for their move to the incubator on Sunday.

 

[yinepu]

An old timer told me of a way to keep the deer away from plants and that is to put a bar of Ivory soap in a pair of ladies stockings and hang it near the plants. The deer apparently don't like the smell and will steer clear of it.

didn't work at all for me... our deer played with the soap and then still cleared out the garden

 

[ChooksChick]

I read this collection on a site:

I've had pretty good luck using bird netting. It's been especially good if I stretch it over a pvc pipe framework (which I spray painted green to be less obvious). I use it over some raised bed planters. I've watched the deer react to it from inside my house.

They apparently don't see as well as they hear and smell. They poke their nose into the netting and it startles them and they shy away. Anything protruding through the netting, of course gets trimmed off. It's fairly inexpensive but sort of a nuisance when you want to work in the bed, since you have to roll it back out of the way. It also keeps out the wild turkeys. But the gophers still come in from below. I lost an entire bed of asparagus to gophers after keeping the deer out all season with the netting.

I've battled deer forever and these are my tried and true working solutions to the problem....My favorite is grating Ivory soap or Irish Spring all around the items you need to protect. It's good to do this before the deer establish their trails in the very early spring. I also buy small drawstring bags made of a loosely woven material (from a local garden supply store) and fill them with Milorganite (its a fertilizer made from human waste composted- with an odor that repels deer. The bag reads that it's from the fine people of Milwaukee). I hang these on the bushes and shrubs the deer love to munch!

The scent of humans is repulsive to wild animals, or scary as natural enemies, and marking your territory with your scent is a natural deterent. It may be a bit unorthodox to have your husband use the garden as a toilet, but you can accomplish the same thing by soaking rags in a bucket, and then ringing your garden with the rags (using plastic gloves of course) and bury them at the outside rim of your garden with some mulch.

Here's something that works great, is cheap and environmentaly safe - Mix one slightly beaten egg with 1 quart of water and spray onto anything that the deer eat. You have to re-apply this about every 4-5 days or after a rain but it really works! We've tried many things - and we have a dog but the eggs work the best.

Here's what worked for me: coyote urine. They have all different types of urine drops at Agway (and probably similar stores-find out what the local carnivore is and give it a try. I also sprinkled my stuff with a ton of black and red pepper, garlic and curry powder-nothing went near my tomatoes! Spray with a little water first so it sticks to the leaves and such. You do have to redo it though-every time it rains.

I've been trying everything. Here's just a few: 1) Human hair clippings from your local beauty shop sprinkled around the plants. 2) blood meal. 3) Moth ball flakes sprinkled all around. These seem to work but eventually I let any of the treatments lapse and the deer feast.

One year we had a deer problem and after the first feasting in early spring wiping out everything, we lined each bed with chives. It seemed to work and we had flowers the rest of the year, but you have to stay on top of the chives or they can take over the garden.... but when you weed the garden you can just weed out some of the chives as well. (chives bloom adding a nice variation...)

Here's my list of plants that deer won't eat: for annuals use: ageratum, snapdragon, salvia, nicotiana, petunia, alyssum, marigold, begonia. Do NOT use impatiens, geraniums, pansies. Don't plant Nicotiana anywhere near tomatoes, nor touch tomatoes after nicotiana. Always wash tools in-between, as well.

For perennials, I have excellent luck with these: columbine, coreopsis, foxglove, aconitum, lavender, salvia, nepeta, daffodils, hyacinth, rudbeckia, beebalm, babysbreath. Do not use hosta, daylily, any type of mum or shasta daisy, obedient plant, echinacea.

*Note* Any native plants are high risk too, except for the poisonous plants. Deer-proof trees and bushes are hard to come by because the ones they don't eat can still be damaged severely by a buck. For evergreens try Spruce, hemlock, Pieris, Leucothoe, and boxwood. Do not use Yew, Arborvitae, pine, rhododendron and azalea. There are more deer proof plants out there. Actually alot more than people think. I just can't think of them all at this time. Also, plan on using a deer repellant. I use an excellent one called Deer-off. It is completely organic and is comprised of eggs, pepper and garlic. It is sprayed on the plants and lasts up to 3 months depending on rain and growth rate of the plants. Keep this in mind when it comes to deer: Any plant in the herb family is usually disliked. Any plant that is native is usually eaten with gusto! Any fruiting plant like an apple tree, cherry, or berry bush will be devoured. Hope this will get you started. I deal with deer on a daily basis so I am speaking from experience.

I have excellent luck with; Dragons-eye pine, any ornamental grasses, butterfly bush, caryoptoris, anything with really fuzzy leaves, any mints, asiatic lilies, barberry, artimesia, gold thread juniper, trumpet vine, scotch broom, St. Johnswort and contorted hazel.

Try Deeroff: Rutgers University ranked deeroff number 1 out of 35 repellents tested. Now labeled for rabbits and squirrels.
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[karimw]

I put in corn, peas, beans and asparagus crowns, with onions, strawberries and some squash. I don't have room for a 3 sisters garden this year, or I'd do that.

I added 2 blueberry bushes and a raspberry bush, along with a cherry tree. Won't get much from those this year, but it's all for the future!

It's worth the wait! We planted fruit trees,etc when we first moved in 2 years ago, and this year the peaches blossomed and we have fresh asparagus! The blueberries don't seem to like our soil or perhaps the location - they aren't doing well. I may need to increase acidity and relocate them.

An old timer told me of a way to keep the deer away from plants and that is to put a bar of Ivory soap in a pair of ladies stockings and hang it near the plants. The deer apparently don't like the smell and will steer clear of it.

Does your old-timer have any advice for rabbits? They did a number on our baby raspberry canes.Won't be a big crop this year

didn't work at all for me... our deer played with the soap and then still cleared out the garden

Sorry, but LOL!

 

[Jessshan8]

didn't work at all for me... our deer played with the soap and then still cleared out the garden

Well, Deer tastes really good unless you live in Montana where they taste like you are eating pine needles. anyway, I will try to do some research on the deer subject and see what I've come up with. I have also heard that mothballs will keep them away. Has anyone tried that? I know for my garden I made a 6ft fence from landscaping timbers wrapped in chicken wire. works great just not so pretty. LOL

 

[Jessshan8]

Does your old-timer have any advice for rabbits? They did a number on our baby raspberry canes.Won't be a big crop this year

With rabbits it is much easier. because they wont jump the fence. I use 24" chicken wire and bury it 6" in the ground because they will try to dig under it. I ues the 24" fence posts, dig a trench around the garden area about 10 " down . Place the posts where you want them, put the wire on them and attach it well. This will leave about 4" below the fencing open. Then fill it 3/4 full of rocks and cover it with the dirt you just dug the trench from and water it to pack it down. The rabbits will not be able to dig under it and wont jump over it.

 

[ChooksChick]

It's worth the wait! We planted fruit trees,etc when we first moved in 2 years ago, and this year the peaches blossomed and we have fresh asparagus! The blueberries don't seem to like our soil or perhaps the location - they aren't doing well. I may need to increase acidity and relocate them.

Does your old-timer have any advice for rabbits? They did a number on our baby raspberry canes.Won't be a big crop this year

Just pour whatever coffee is left in the pot out there, and toss your grounds around them to increase acidity. I do that with my Azaleas. Had a friend whose mom had an AMAZING rhododendron
outside her kitchen window, and she told me this was her secret.

Regarding the rabbits, a friend makes a 'wrap' around her berries with hardware cloth, fairly close to the base, so no room inside the cage to get in, and it protects the base. Don't know if this will help, but I had a huge clay pot that had the bottom broken out, and I put it upside-down over the top of one of my asters to protect it, and it grew up out of the top. Looks pretty cool, too!

I think I'll alert all the garden centers that I'll buy their broken pots if the top is still intact. That could look really neat!

 

[ChooksChick]

Also, heard that Deer Scram works great for keeping rabbits away.

 

[Melissa Rose]

Anyone who has soil to alkaline for Blueberries should try Honeyberries. They like limey soil and are very blueberry like