Recommendation on gardening stuff
R J
2 years ago
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Christopher CNC
2 years agonickel_kg
2 years agoRelated Discussions
Do squirrels eat stuff in gardens?
Comments (45)This city is infested by grey squirrels. They use the city's electricity cables as a highway. Houses are densely built and there are some tall trees. Needless to say, we can't use any physical barriers as they can easily hop onto a tree, a fence or cables and just jump off to wherever they please. In my case, the worst is my front yard flower bed (I also have two five-storey high maple trees, so they feel right at home). I don't know why, but every time they make holes in the ground, they do it around the root balls. I wonder if it is because they want to munch on the roots (so far, they don't seem to actually have damaged the roots). They keep poking holes around my lavenders, and it really messes with my head, beause every time I feel happy that the lavenders are finally firmly rooted, they pull the earth up around them, and I have to keep patching it all up. They also bury and dig in the lawn, and I am quite puzzled at this, as the soil under my grass is rock hard (there is much softer soil nearby that they won't even touch). They never touched the crocus I planted in the same lawn, just under the trunk of the maple tree they live in. Go figure. The squirrels have stolen my watermelons (and left the carcasses all shredded up all over my plot). What really bugs me about this is that they don't actually eat the melons. They just tear them up into little chunks and then they leave. I find neat little piles of shredded melon. They have also eaten cukes, but not off the vine, though. They eat the cukes I leave out to dry them for seed. They seem to leave tomatoes alone. At first, I used the Havahart traps and I relocated them to a nearby park. I soon got fed up with that as they start really becoming numerous and quite motivated starting in midsummer. I just can't keep up with them and the trips to the park take up a lot of my time. There are also some super squirrels each year that seem to be smarter than the lot of them and that seem to want to simply destroy my garden just for the heck of it instead of just feeding, breeding and burying. So, I have started drowning them. Yes, I know, it is quite drastic, but that is the only efficient method I found, and honestly, in my neighbourhood, the squirrel population really needs to be controlled, and people add to that by feeding them for fun. Yes, I know, they just act according to their instincts and they have no bad intentions. But I am not going to live on a barren plot just so they can have their way. Besides, did I mention the entire city is infested by them? My family used to judge me for drowning cute little squirrels, but once they started seeing the damage, their disapproval melted away and all that was left was admiration for being tough enough to hold them under the water until they die (which, by the way, is quite quick and the squirrels don't even have time to panic as they die within a few seconds). For the flower bed, I am considering laying chicken wire disks around plants and covering that with the usual pine needle mulch I use. I will simply cut a foot square piece of chicken wire, cut into it up to the center and make a hole about twice the size of the plant's stem or trunk in the middle. Nobody would see them, but the squirrels would be stopped dead in their tracks. As for melons, next year, I will simply put the little melons in plastic cherry tomato boxes: they have little holes and let the sunshine in, and they are big enough that the melons can become large enough for the squirrel to find them too large to mess with before I need to remove the boxes. We'll see. I read that chicken manure supposedly keeps the squirrels away. I will start testing that as I have some pelleted chicken manure fertilizer left. I also read somewhere that daffodils are toxic to them, and sure enough, they don't ever go near my daffodils, so interplanting tulips and crocus with daffodils may be a good idea. I would gladly use a rifle, but living in Canada, that is not a possibility. So, I will mainly just keep drowning them until the city implements their squirrel control policy, which better be soon....See Morelawn/garden tractor or ZeroTurn for hauling stuff?
Comments (9)If you just drag the occasional cross tie you can simply drag it behind the X 500. But if you are planning to move a bunch of them, and would prefer not to create a logging trail effect from your efforts, you might want to explore the idea of using a two wheeled, pneumatic tired dolly for the rear end of the cross tie with a hitch plate/tongue plate on the front end to link to the tractor draw bar. Both the rear dolly and the hitch plate would be configured to fit the dimensional profile of the cross tie and securing each to the tie is done using one or two 8" C-clamps to secure them to the tie. Advantages of using a dolly and hitch plate are: Rolling pneumatic tires do little damage compared to simple dragging (skidding). With the dolly and hitch plate you can back up with the tie to facilitate tight turns or to back it into place near where it will reside permanently. This idea came to mind when I remembered a friend of mine who made a heavy duty version to transport up to 30 foot steel I-beams as a towed unit behind his 1-ton service truck....See MoreGardenWeb forums replete with using Willow to make rooting stuff.
Comments (11)I have been scanning through articles found searching for "auxin". I have scanned about 200 articles so far. Many of the old timers, i.e. before the reasonable manufacture of synthetics, crushed their source and then autoclaved it to extract IAA. This might suggest answers to two questions. Some now suggest soaking their willow and others suggest boiling it. History seems to suggests that to get IAA the best procedure might be boiling. I have yet to search for procedures for extracting salicylic acid. Should the benefits of willow be salicylic acid I am still thinking that mastication is the route to go but I have yet to research whether one should boil it or soak it to recover salicylic acid....See MoreI just can't get this gardening stuff right... What's wrong?
Comments (12)Start with a good reliable soil test for soil pH and major nutrients and dig in with these simple soil tests, 1) Soil test for organic matter. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. For example, a good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top. 2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drainsâ too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up. 3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart. 4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell. 5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy. to see what else might need be done to start making that soil into something that will grow plants that will produce edible fruit. The people at your local office of the University of Minnesota Cooperative Extension Service will be able to help as well. Here is a link that might be useful: UMN CES...See Morecallirhoe123
2 years agoR J
2 years agoR J
2 years agoR J
2 years agocyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
2 years agoBrown Dog
2 years agonickel_kg
2 years agofunctionthenlook
2 years agoR J
2 years agofloral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
2 years agolouislinus
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2 years agoChristopher CNC
2 years agonickel_kg
2 years agoR J
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoR J
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoR J
2 years agoR J
2 years agobrdrl
2 years agoChristopher CNC
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoR J
2 years agobrdrl
2 years agocallirhoe123
2 years agoR J
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agofunctionthenlook
2 years agoR J
2 years agoJoe Macker
2 years agofloral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
2 years agofunctionthenlook
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2 years ago
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