Your 2024 Garden

[Iluveggers]

Hi fellow Gardeners!
I was lucky enough to snag some more garden beds on a black friday sale.
I have a super small back yard but we are making it work with raised beds!
2024 will hopefully be the biggest garden we have yet.


However! I have some questions regarding pests.
Recently an old abandoned house was torn down and we had an explosion of rats on our street.
I have live traps out and snap traps but I am so worried they will destroy my garden in the coming season.

Any other solutions out there outside of poison? As we have pups and chickens in the back yard as well.

We've trapped 5 already and I am unsure how many more their are.

We are zone 6. If that helps at all

Are you opposed to adopting a cat? That would help immensely…

 

[fuzzi]

Hi fellow Gardeners!
I was lucky enough to snag some more garden beds on a black friday sale.
I have a super small back yard but we are making it work with raised beds!
2024 will hopefully be the biggest garden we have yet.


However! I have some questions regarding pests.
Recently an old abandoned house was torn down and we had an explosion of rats on our street.
I have live traps out and snap traps but I am so worried they will destroy my garden in the coming season.

Any other solutions out there outside of poison? As we have pups and chickens in the back yard as well.

We've trapped 5 already and I am unsure how many more their are.

We are zone 6. If that helps at all

I don't know much about rats except they will kill chicks.

Do show us pictures of your raised bed score!

 

[FarmerChickieMammy]

Are you opposed to adopting a cat? That would help immensely…

Unfortunately I am allergic to cats
We do have a few strays that hang out on our street. I have seen one stray cat in our backyard watching and waiting for the rats to come out. (They're living under my shed)

 

[FarmerChickieMammy]

Thankfully the rats have not bothered our chickens. They're about 4 months old. They do dig into the coop to get to chicken food so I started bringing that in every night to minimize their food findings.
I got a 2 pack of the pictured beds below. For 39.99!!

I don't know much about rats except they will kill chicks.

Do show us pictures of your raised bed score!

 

[NanaK]

Hi fellow Gardeners!
I was lucky enough to snag some more garden beds on a black friday sale.
I have a super small back yard but we are making it work with raised beds!
2024 will hopefully be the biggest garden we have yet.


However! I have some questions regarding pests.
Recently an old abandoned house was torn down and we had an explosion of rats on our street.
I have live traps out and snap traps but I am so worried they will destroy my garden in the coming season.

Any other solutions out there outside of poison? As we have pups and chickens in the back yard as well.

We've trapped 5 already and I am unsure how many more their are.

We are zone 6. If that helps at all

Do a search for "mice bucket traps".
We built a couple of these and put them in a shed and greenhouse. They worked great.

No poison, and they keep catching without having to bait and reset like snap trap. We caught 6-7 at a time. Cleared them out quickly.

We also pick up chicken feeders at night and sit them inside a metal trash can at night. That helps a lot.

 

[Nomadicus]

We are getting more and more rain coming slow so it is recharging our subsoil that got depleted last summer. It's looking good for a sweet corn patch. Then again I'm rethinking sweet corn because it attracts raccoons which I don't need.

 

[Debbie292d]

Do a search for "mice bucket traps".
We built a couple of these and put them in a shed and greenhouse. They worked great.

No poison, and they keep catching without having to bait and reset like snap trap. We caught 6-7 at a time. Cleared them out quickly.

We also pick up chicken feeders at night and sit them inside a metal trash can at night. That helps a lot.

Those work kind of like what I did on accident by leaving an empty feed bin open for my hubby to fill. It's one of those plastic bins with a flip lid that snaps down and seals and holds about 25# of feed.

I left it open the other day and when I went back out I found a mouse in there looking up at me. Suffice it to say, I let the border collie and cat decide who was going to get it out of there as they were pretty excited!

The bad thing is, then I had to wash and sterilize it before putting their crumbles back in there.

 

[Debbie292d]

We are getting more and more rain coming slow so it is recharging our subsoil that got depleted last summer. It's looking good for a sweet corn patch. Then again I'm rethinking sweet corn because it attracts raccoons which I don't need.

We don't seem to draw the raccoons, but it sure does attract the deer! I put solar motion lights over by it which helps.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Have some seeds ordered that should shipbout soon, planning to place another order hopefully soon.

Trying to figure out composting. Every site I look at has different ratios and lists and instructions

 

[Nomadicus]

Have some seeds ordered that should shipbout soon, planning to place another order hopefully soon.

Trying to figure out composting. Every site I look at has different ratios and lists and instructions

I just scatter ever how much I have over the area I'm planting and till it in. I don't depend on it for plant nutrition because each variety of vegetable has different needs and compost unless make in many separate piles is a one size fits all thing. I use compost to add soil aeration to the root zone and it helps with drainage on clay soils.