Henry Rifle Forums

I have two decent sized gardens at the new place coming along. The one I worked in today is the tomato and pepper garden. It also has Swiss Chard. Both have healthy crops of rocks too! My fathers farm was part of the glacial plain, flat as an ironing board and full of clay and rocks. My place is about 30 or forty miles away and hardly a flat spot on it but full of rocks barely six inches under the soil. No clay though.

Anyway, I was able to till up the ground to make two gardens. This is one of them. Mostly peppers and tomatos with some Swiss Chard at one end.

I am mulching around the plants to keep the weeds down, but I haven't had that much grass to mulch with yet. I tilled with the Craftsman mini tiller today to get rid of the weeds in between the rows. The mulch is working where it is.

you have the makings of a fine garden .... looking forward to your ongoing reports

Looks like someone is going to be busy with all those tomatoes and peppers when they get ripe.

I'll be canning some Sunday gravy for sure.

That first picture with the tiller in it puts the size of your garden in perspective. And that’s only one of two!

Looks good Dave! A tasty harvest to look forward to. Just don't let the critters get to them first.

Very nice, Dave. We can't plant any kind of a garden in our area without some serious deer fencing.

I hear ya' on the deer fencing. I haven't had a garden in years but when we last did the deer got to a lot before we could.
Jake

You can only see two of the posts, but I have the seven foot high mesh netting around the whole thing on both of them. I hope it works. We shall see. I can put electric around it too if need be.

daytime dave wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 19, 2021 8:45 pm

You can only see two of the posts, but I have the seven foot high mesh netting around the whole thing on both of them. I hope it works. We shall see. I can put electric around it too if need be.

I had a deer in my pasture one morning, watched it jump over my 5½ ft. fence with room to spare and that was from a standing start. Most of the serious orchard deer fence around here is 10ft. tall.

dave77 wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 19, 2021 9:25 pm

daytime dave wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 19, 2021 8:45 pm

You can only see two of the posts, but I have the seven foot high mesh netting around the whole thing on both of them. I hope it works. We shall see. I can put electric around it too if need be.

I had a deer in my pasture one morning, watched it jump over my 5½ ft. fence with room to spare and that was from a standing start. Most of the serious orchard deer fence around here is 10ft. tall.

Might not be practical. I, personally have not had to deal with vegetable gardening or protecting such. Just wondering, short of fencing, if lighting at night would be a deterrent?

If the property is fenced in, a outside dog would probably be the easiest determent. The deer that was in my pasture was definitely not concerned about my horse being in the pasture with it, the horse wasn't sure what to think about it.

dave77 wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 19, 2021 10:32 pm

If the property is fenced in, a outside dog would probably be the easiest determent. The deer that was in my pasture was definitely not concerned about my horse being in the pasture with it, the horse wasn't sure what to think about it.

Makes a lot of sense Dave! I overlooked the dog aspect!

The problem with deer is that they are very adaptable. They find ways to work around most deterrents. For instance, when we keep our dogs in the fenced dog run, the deer actually come into the yard, walk along the fence and tease the dogs. They'll get used to lights at night, too. As for deer resistant plants, what a joke! Take it from us, if you want too have a garden and there are deer in the area, put up proper fencing and be done with it.

The garden was coming along nicely. It got a lot of heat and sun recently, along with plenty of rain with some storms that passed through. I think it's early to produce, but I weeded there yesterday for a bit and found some early garden bounty.
The Swiss Chard was ready for a while. A small zucchini and one wax bean that was ready rounded out the "bounty". No complaints for the first garden here.

The deer netting fence is getting mixed reviews. The mesh size takes the wind like a sail and I spaced my posts pretty far apart. They didn't go very deep because of many rocks. They have been braced by support stakes. The netting has stopped a few pest birds that flew into it, but also rips pretty easily. All in all, it's there and we will see. I may put in metal fence stakes and bolt the wooden posts to the metal stakes. The metal stakes will be easier to set and will support better. So far, the deer haven't even noticed the garden. I've had more problems with coons and squirrels in the bird feeders. So far............

Wow it has really grown.

That's an amazing garden, Dave. Those pics have my mouthwatering.

Looks good Dave. Put some of those raspberries in your oatmeal its a treat.

BigAl52 wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 04, 2021 11:27 am

Looks good Dave. Put some of those raspberries in your oatmeal its a treat.

The berries are actually wild all around the property. I plan to put in some blueberry and some raspberry bushes in a year or two. I have a spot or two picked out. I just have to beat out the wild residents.
With enough, some berry jam might be put up this year.

daytime dave wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 04, 2021 11:51 am

BigAl52 wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 04, 2021 11:27 am

Looks good Dave. Put some of those raspberries in your oatmeal its a treat.

The berries are actually wild all around the property. I plan to put in some blueberry and some raspberry bushes in a year or two. I have a spot or two picked out. I just have to beat out the wild residents.
With enough, some berry jam might be put up this year.

If not you, the bears are gonna love those berries.