What did you do in the garden today?

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Went into town to day for my shots and groceries.
Came home and finished spreading manure in the hayfield. Sunny and 64 today with almost no wind. When I was done with that, I took the winter panels off the chicken run. It might be a tad early, but you have to have a windless day to do it, so today was the day. I left the winter panel on the coop door so they could escape to a warm, windless inside if it got ugly.

OC the hens were all out today having a grand time.
I installed the panel rails DH cut for me on the old hoop house. I put two 4 foot wide steel panels on the north side of the old hoop (then hoopless) house, with 4 feet between them. This is for climbing cukes or hummingbird flowers.

Everyone around me is burning fields today or putting down anhydrous, calcium or lime, since rain is due.
I'm sore like I jumped from winter into spring, but being out for many hours sure felt fabulous.
 
TJAnonymous said:
Well, crap. You mean besides keeping those dang tree rats out of my sunflowers, onions, and carrots....I'm going to have to chase them off my peaches too?!?! Provided I even GET any peaches after this FUBAR weather. 😡

BTW, I've already walked my happy @$$ down to the garden and hung up TWO bars of soap around my blackberry canes. From what I can tell, they haven't touched any of the raspberries. Just the thornless blackberries. Go figure.... 😑
Click to expand...
I think the only way to combat squirrels is to shoot them or out plant them.
 
Anyone ever tried these?

Cover Your Garden​

It’s best to use physical barriers, which can usually get the job done as long as the material is right. Squirrels and other rodents are capable of squeezing through extremely tight spaces, so holes in the fencing or netting must be very small. Look specifically for netting or fencing that’s rated for rats or squirrels.

  • Consider protecting your vegetable garden with a wire fence and make sure it is buried about at least 6 inches into the ground, so the squirrels can’t easily dig under it. (Look for wire meant for squirrels or rats; standard chicken wire has holes that a determined squirrel can squeeze through.)
  • Or, line the bottom soil with 1/4-inch hardware cloth. Pots are easy to protect with a layer of netting or hardware cloth across the top of the pot, too. A layer of gravel or stones can also discourage digging.
  • Another idea is to cover your garden with row covers or bird netting. Row covers made of heavier materials can also be used, depending on the season.
  • Or, here’s a more-expensive pantry solution: Lay aluminum foil across the top of vegetable pots, poking holes in it to allow for water exchange. The squirrels do not like the shiny reflection.

Natural Squirrel Repellents​

There are also many natural repellents on the market:

  • Spread predator urine around your garden. Garden nurseries will carry repellents that are made with the urine of squirrels’ predators such as foxes or coyotes. These are meant to be sprayed around gardens to keep squirrels away, so will need to be reapplied regularly.
  • Try sprinkling cayenne pepper, ground chili peppers, or pepper flakes around your plants when they are ready to bloom. Peppers have “capsaicin” which squirrels hate, so it’s a natural squirrel deterrent. Or, make a pepper spray; you can mix dried pepper with apple cider vinegar. Note: Birds can’t taste capsaicin, so add some cayenne pepper to those bird feeders to deter squirrels.
  • Another deterrent is peppermint oil, which turns off squirrels. Pour some in a spray bottle with apple cider vinegar and spray around your plants.
  • One reader claims blood meal sprinkled around the garden soil works against squirrels.
  • Plant squirrel-repelling flowers, such as nasturtiums, marigolds, and mustard as a border around your vegetable garden; these plants have a strong aroma. Do not plant bulbs squirrels love such as tulips and crocuses.
 
BReeder! said:
If I could keep the squirrels away from the peaches... I started out two seasons ago with over 100 peaches growing in the tree. I was like "Wow! We are going to have so many peaches... peach pie, peach jam, peach cobbler, canned peaches..." I ended up with 12 just! The squirrels stole almost every single peach. I honestly was trying to figure out what was going on, and then our neighbor told me that squirrels were leaving peach pits all over yard.

Last year I tried squirrel repellent balls you hang in mess bags in the tree. That didn't seem to stop them. Late Spring frost and the first prune were hard on the tree last year too though so there weren't as many to begin with.
Click to expand...

Have you ever tried blood meal? I accidentally found that it deterred the little varmints from my corn last year after I fertilized and they stayed away. An old farmer said they associate the smell with danger but I don't know if that's true, I just know it worked last year. I will try to duplicate results this year before I say it's a definite winner though.
 
TJAnonymous said:
Anyone ever tried these?

Cover Your Garden​

It’s best to use physical barriers, which can usually get the job done as long as the material is right. Squirrels and other rodents are capable of squeezing through extremely tight spaces, so holes in the fencing or netting must be very small. Look specifically for netting or fencing that’s rated for rats or squirrels.

  • Consider protecting your vegetable garden with a wire fence and make sure it is buried about at least 6 inches into the ground, so the squirrels can’t easily dig under it. (Look for wire meant for squirrels or rats; standard chicken wire has holes that a determined squirrel can squeeze through.)
  • Or, line the bottom soil with 1/4-inch hardware cloth. Pots are easy to protect with a layer of netting or hardware cloth across the top of the pot, too. A layer of gravel or stones can also discourage digging.
  • Another idea is to cover your garden with row covers or bird netting. Row covers made of heavier materials can also be used, depending on the season.
  • Or, here’s a more-expensive pantry solution: Lay aluminum foil across the top of vegetable pots, poking holes in it to allow for water exchange. The squirrels do not like the shiny reflection.

Natural Squirrel Repellents​

There are also many natural repellents on the market:

  • Spread predator urine around your garden. Garden nurseries will carry repellents that are made with the urine of squirrels’ predators such as foxes or coyotes. These are meant to be sprayed around gardens to keep squirrels away, so will need to be reapplied regularly.
  • Try sprinkling cayenne pepper, ground chili peppers, or pepper flakes around your plants when they are ready to bloom. Peppers have “capsaicin” which squirrels hate, so it’s a natural squirrel deterrent. Or, make a pepper spray; you can mix dried pepper with apple cider vinegar. Note: Birds can’t taste capsaicin, so add some cayenne pepper to those bird feeders to deter squirrels.
  • Another deterrent is peppermint oil, which turns off squirrels. Pour some in a spray bottle with apple cider vinegar and spray around your plants.
  • One reader claims blood meal sprinkled around the garden soil works against squirrels.
  • Plant squirrel-repelling flowers, such as nasturtiums, marigolds, and mustard as a border around your vegetable garden; these plants have a strong aroma. Do not plant bulbs squirrels love such as tulips and crocuses.
Click to expand...

Well would you look at that! It's on your list too! Lol I had one positive experiences with blood meal myself so I would think it's definitely worth a try. We have a TON of squirrels.
 
WthrLady said:
We have a 500 mile antenna and it runs through our wifi.
I get 44 channels.
Click to expand...

:eek:Could you send me some info/link on that 500 mile wifi antenna? The only antennas I know of have about a 40-mile range. I would be excited to see how that antenna works! Thanks.

I don't watch any TV programs live anymore. I prefer to fast forward through the commercials on my recordings.
 
karenerwin said:
I asked my hubby to go to the local farm store and pick up a bag of rabbit feed, a couple bags of chicken feed and about 20 yellow onion sets if they had any. I told him NOT to get any red or white onion sets because I already had ole of those. Well, he got the animal food correctly. He went to 2 stores to find the yellow onion sets and bought a pound of them!! Lol. Plus he bought white onion sets at the first store. Lol. Now I have to figure out where too plant all these additional onions. I think I will be building another raised bed just for onions. 🤷‍♀️
Hey, at least he tried. 🥰
Click to expand...
WE have a 4'×8' raised bed dedicated to onions and half of another one dedicated to walking onions. Thera also a 4×8 raised bed dedicated to garlic. And I have 2 packs of sets (the sprout type sets) coming early-mid April that I need to get in somewhere. Fairly certain onions will be growing among the asparagus we just planted yesterday and possibly elsewhere.
 
Question, can you give a seedling too much light?

I have a honey mesquite seedling that sprouted 4 or 5 days ago. The cotyledon leaves were fully opened up. I had the seedling in a sunny window but also had a single light bulb directed at my seedlings to supplement.

Today I changed up my setup. I moved my seed starts into a wire shelf system in my bedroom. I hung 2 ft LED grow lights above each shelf. They are suspended about 4 or 5 inches above the seedlings. To keep the cats out, I wrapped a sheet around the shelves and clipped it closed.

I just peeked in on my plants. It seems a little warm in there... Maybe a lack of good airflow because of the sheet? But I noticed that the cotyledon leaves on the honey mesquite seedling are now closed up? I haven't paid attention to see if maybe it does that every night? Would too much light or warmth cause it to do that?
 

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