One other note...
You might want to get a small bag of alfalfa pellets to use as fertilizer...it's mostly sold for animal food, but it's also a good organic type of fertilizer that helps build the soil and worms do well in it's presence. Be very careful if you buy rabbit feed, though, due to...
Preparing a soil sample is simple,...probably no more time consuming than planting a six pack of pansies. :confused:
If you are just going to throw stuff blindly at the garden then I would recommend lots, and lots of organic matter...manure, compost, leaves, food scraps, etc.,. A wildcard...
Oh yeah, I read about the aluminum foil method and may try it in the future. In reading it seems the polywire holds the peanut butter pretty good, and apparently it did. I figure if one skips over/through the fence I'll add another strand and tag it with the aluminum foil. Deer have a keen...
I read strong recommendations *not* to put up the fence unless it would be energized as soon as it was set up. Once I had the wire up I went ahead and painted the polywire in several places with peanut butter thinned down with vegetable oil. I put this mixture on several strands and in several...
Thanks for the replies, Howard. So far the charger has done a good job. An armadillo came through the fence once (dug a single small hole in the grass) but other than that I haven't seen any sign of four-footed critters coming in. I'm really more concerned with deer than raccoon in regards to...
...had a switch like that. I'm going to put an inline switch on the hookup wire so my wife can turn it on and off (so I can, too, for that matter! :) ). I still need to build a regular walk-in gate rather than the plastic-handled "gap" hooks...my wife is *very* leery of electric fences!!! ;)
...the rain we're getting...we'll be begging for it later this summer.
Here's a few images of the garden...I hope to start getting mulch in there *soon*. :)
2017_May29_Garden-finishplanting_labeled (Custom) by Intheswamp, on Flickr
IMG_0033iphone by Intheswamp, on Flickr
IMG_5065a (Custom)...
<chuckle> I hope mine will last 30 years.....and I'm the one keeping the weeds clear. Of course I'll be 90 years old but that shouldn't keep me from running my tiller...should it?
Howdy Howard E, thanks for the positive feedback on the charger. Most everywhere that I've looked the reviews are good for this model...hopefully mine will be a good, long-lived one. And, yes, I've seen several different names on the Parmak chargers...Parker McCrory Mfg. Co. is the...
No dogs at the moment and won't be any pits. I put an order in for a fence charger this afternoon...Parmak Magnum 12v battery operated. I've got a 100w pv panel and ordered a small charge controller for it. Last thing to get is a battery to store the solar energy in and feed the...
I'm going to be purchasing an electric fence charger and have decided on the Parmak MAG12-UO, a battery-powered charger. This will be set up in conjunction with a pv panel and charge controller. It's primary use will be to protect a vegetable garden from (lots of) deer.
Has anyone got a...
CR, it sounds like you're doing great!!! You're doing a lot better than I am. I'm still trying to figure how to fence my plot to keep deer out. I've got tomato and pepper plants needing a place to plant roots but the deer are holding square dance lessons in my new garden area. Right now I'm...
Are you planting in regular rows or wider rows or beds? 1600sqft is a lot of ground to cover. Wider rows/beds will allow you to put your organic materials only on the growing area. 16 wide rows or beds that are 20'x3' with roughly 2' paths between would fit on the 40x40 plot. (I would cut...
If I use some of my canned chicken in a casserole should I still boil it for 10 minutes? Seems the casserole will cook for 45-60 minutes at 350F.
Thanks,
Ed
The orange oil "melts" the exoskeleton of ants...so bugs with "shells" are in danger. Not sure about soft-bodied bugs...worms, catepillars, etc.,. I've read where folks say over-application results in burned leaves...seems a conservative mixture of 1 to 2 ounces per gallon works the best...
Thanks Isay Willow, I had forgot about orange oil. Yes, orange oil seems about the only think to deal with these imported terrors. I think they started using it in Texas several years ago. Have they got to where they can state it's use for killing fire ants or is it still a "cleaning agent"...