2020 gardening thread

[Bad Bob]

Advice please. Something keeps eating all my cilantro, parsley and basil. Not the tomatoes mind you, just nipping all the leaves off the herbs. I can't see any insects or other obvious disease. But all that is left is the stems. Poor plants keep trying to come back but as soon as they have any leaf it gets eaten off. I tried putting stinky soap on the pots to no avail.

The neighbors?

Had a pet rabbit that did that to herb and flower leaves. Nothing left but stalks.

 

[LiquidFeet]

Dam Wabbit did it.

 

[Jerez]

We do have rabbits around here but it seems like it is a smaller critter. Parsley is growing around and under tomatoes. Tomatoes are undisturbed. Only the parsley munched.

If it is rabbits. What do I do about that?

 

[LiquidFeet]

Try spreading milorganite. It's an organic fertilizer that also repels rabbits. You can read up about it. It also repels deer, and maybe other mammals.

 

[VickieH]

But look ... they're so cute!

This is the baby I rescued from the neighbor's cats today. So small it could fit between the fence post and the vertical board ... a 1-1/2 inch gap.

 

[Jerez]

Awww.

 

[tch]

...so now what?

 

[Jenny]

...so now what?

@VickieH's Rabbit Relocating Service

 

[VickieH]

@VickieH's Rabbit Relocating Service

Yep. Plenty of open space nearby where they can live and be a food source for wildlife.

 

[Monique]

Yep. Plenty of open space nearby where they can live and be a food source for wildlife.

I am jealous that you have few enough rabbits that relocating them would make a dent! Then again, I'm not sure how self sufficient a juvenile would be in an open space.

We've been smelling skunks in the neighborhood lately, at weird times, like having to close the windows at 1am because a skunk just freaked out somewhere. A few nights ago, the inevitable happened, and Loki got blasted in our yard. Ughhhh. When my fiancé realized it was near the veggies, he got skunkicidal, but the veggies are fine - I've never had an issue with them getting ruined that way. The house STANK to high heaven - I think the incident might have been under the deck. Couldn't sleep for the smell.

Anyway, I found an article suggesting an anti skunk smell dog treatment, and I think it actually worked, even though I just did it a couple of days later (I gave him a bath immediately with regular dog shampoo). I think it's key to let the mix sit on the fur for 20 minutes. So far I can't smell the skunk on him anymore, but I've been fooled before. http://awac.ca/tips/skunk-b-gone-get-rid-smell/

 

[Jerez]

Ouch! Poor Loki!

 

[VickieH]

Ugh, skunk juice is some nasty stuff. I shudder to think what it smells like to a dog, given their powerful noses.

I am jealous that you have few enough rabbits that relocating them would make a dent! Then again, I'm not sure how self sufficient a juvenile would be in an open space.

There is no shortage of rabbits here. My catch-and-release is more about the cats than the rabbits. The cats have used my yard as a sanctuary, which was fine. Then they designated a space 6 inches from their own yard (my side of the fence) as their torture-kill-mangle-abandon place and used it every single day. NIMBY. Take it into your own yard. Let your mom clean up your mess.

 

[Monique]

Ugh, skunk juice is some nasty stuff. I shudder to think what it smells like to a dog, given their powerful noses.



There is no shortage of rabbits here. My catch-and-release is more about the cats than the rabbits. The cats have used my yard as a sanctuary, which was fine. Then they designated a space 6 inches from their own yard (my side of the fence) as their torture-kill-mangle-abandon place and used it every single day. NIMBY. Take it into your own yard. Let your mom clean up your mess.

Yeah, it must be awful for dogs. Update: The skunk smell has definitely lessened, but if I am really up close to his neck, I can still smell it. But it's better than any other treatment I've tried.

As for the rabbit murdering, okay, NOW I get it!

 

[SBrown]

‘Twas a good day.

I swear, these chipmunks are impressively relentless. There is more than enough vegetation on my property but they prefer launching themselves 30” up into my tomato plants. The flowers have been gone for a while. I wander around local streets, looking at all the flowers, muttering to myself, “I want flowers, why can’t I have flowers ....”

 

[Scruffy]

Flowers at our seaside retreat:

Special Lilies; gift from the hybridizer who lives down the road.

Delphinium

Summer phlox

 

[Scruffy]

A few more in our yard: ( Wife's project while I work on the house )

Goose Neck:

 

[Monique]

Raw tomatillo salsa made with tomatillos, jalapeños, and cilantro that I grew myself.

 

[socalgal]

Grape harvest has started here. Anyone have any good recipes, other than jam, jelly, juice?

In other news, my rutabagas seem to be a dud and will be getting pulled up tomorrow and fed to the chickens. Last weekend, we harvested 20 Cornish cross chickens. Strawberries are constant right now, at least 1 pint every day.

 

[Bad Bob]

@David Chaus has an amazing place buried out in Northwestern Washington. Flowers fruit and vegetables everywhere, and trees lots of trees.

 

[Bad Bob]

Grape harvest has started here. Anyone have any good recipes, other than jam, jelly, juice?

In other news, my rutabagas seem to be a dud and will be getting pulled up tomorrow and fed to the chickens. Last weekend, we harvested 20 Cornish cross chickens. Strawberries are constant right now, at least 1 pint every day.

Good question! Our grapes are a little late to ripen but they are so plentiful. These pictures is from last night, you can see them beginning to turn.