Pest under Mulch in vegetable garden
addmclean
7 years ago
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digdirt2
7 years agoaddmclean
7 years agoRelated Discussions
bird/pests and vegetable gardens
Comments (7)Is this the little blueish-greyish guy in the link below? Mostly the guys you mention are seed eaters, though I think most birds feed insects to their young. I stop feeding in spring since the number that show up is greatly diminished. They'll come back with the cold weather in late autumn and I'll put out the feeder again then. Can't say if your birds will turn into pests or not. The same birds in different locales can be pests in one place and benign in another. Sometimes I lose a few cherry tomatoes to birds, but a minor number. Here is a link that might be useful:...See MoreVery, very confused about vegetable garden mulch
Comments (22)Wow, what a great, sunny location for your garden! Regarding the tilling, you should do some research on lasagna gardening--you can kill a couple of birds with one stone on that one (adding good nutrient to a new garden, preventing the grass regrowing/growing through, and NO MORE TILLING!!!). Lasagna gardening is simply layering (lasagna style!) mulch and compostable materials into your garden until the garden itself is compost. Furthermore, it supposedly results in no new weeds (I am only just trying it out, container-style, this year for the first time), but that may depend upon the layers that you use and what's in them. It's probably too late to find some fall leaves, unless you have a local extension or agency that can point you to some--I have some for my composter, but I ain't shippin' 'em to ya' from Colorado!!! Besides, I need them for my own garden. ;-D Anyway, you have more than enough "mulch" answers here--very good, all of them. Points to remember: different things work for different people, different climates, and different end purposes. Maybe you don't mind pulling the occasional weed or two, in which case, straw or hay might not be a problem. You've gotten some great advice from some seasoned gardeners, here, and if I may make one more suggestion on your garden plan, check which things grow shorter than others, and put those all on the south side. Cukes, lettuce, radishes should all be to the south of peas, tomatoes, and most herbs (although, herbs should be south of the peas & 'maters). I would even suggest doing the herbs in pots that you can pull out come wintertime--there's nothing like fresh herbs in the deepest darkest pit of winter. One comment I must make, however, is that, according to the size/scale of your wheelbarrow, your plot doesn't look even close to large enough for what your plan shows--pumpkins can take over an entire garden, and tomatoes, well, they have a character all their own! If that's your house in the background, surely you won't be feeding the small army that 8 tomato plants will produce in your zone. Be sure to give enough room for everything, and if this is your first (or even second or third... or twenty-third!) attempt at gardening, it's common (a common "sickness" among gardeners?) to try to put to much into too small a space. Go with less-you'll be able to figure out what works and doesn't, what you'd try again and what you'd do differently. Do keep a journal of your dates, notes, etc (it doesn't have to be formal, but I do suggest using a non-water-soluble pen, since it's not uncommon for garden journals to get "watered" with the rest of the garden from time to time!) so you'll know what's what for next year. And yes, just like in sports, "there's always next year!" Welcome to gardening, and please post back to let us know how your garden turns out! You're very wise to plan in such detail!!!...See MorePlanning , Planting And Maintaining A Vegetable Garden
Comments (57)Hazel, how exciting to hear about your plants! It's a fun and rewarding time of year, isn't it? I have decided not to worry so much about doing every little thing just so, Dawn is right, plants know what to do. SO. . . when did you plant your beans? You planted them from seed? What kind of beans did you plant? I have not planted mine yet but I'm thinking I need to get on the ball and do it. My habit has been to plant later rather than earlier and I think this year I want to go ahead and get my seeds in the ground. It's been a warm and extremely dry season so far. I'm sure the colder temps are behind us. I just want RAIN!! My carrots and beets are still very small but at least they have a start. Everything I started indoors, under the grow light I made, I have been very disappointed with. (I'll do my homework for next year) I started my squash and cukes too early and I'm just going to plant seeds next week. My tomatoes are just pitiful. I think I'll keep trying and transplant next month and have a back up plan with plants from a nursery. Here in Enid, my selection is a joke, BUT actually last year I bought a cherry tomato plant, variety unknown, that just did marvelous and produced till the frost did it's number on it. My peas that I planted from seeds look great, about 3" tall now. Oh how I hope I get a good crop, I do love my peas! My asparagus is doing superb, almost all of the 18 or so plants have sprouted and are now covered with soil and hay. Dawn, you have so much experience and give great advice, so here is a question for you. What kind of Espoma do you use? I had no idea there were so many to choose from! I also have been adding organic material to my soil for the past couple of years and it's looking good, I would like to simplify things and get a basic fertilizer, if that is what can be done. I have had the OSU extension center do soil sample tests on different parts of my garden for a couple of years and my pH is good, just needs a bit of potassium and phosphorus, which I have added. Thanks all!...See MoreBest mulch for vegetable garden?
Comments (7)Hi Charlene, I mulch my veggies (plants and seeds) with grass clippings from when I cut the grass right after I plant them to help conserve water. I just put a thick layer in a ring around each plant or spread a layer over each row when I'm seeding. Every week when I cut the grass I add more to the garden and eventually have the whole thing covered which makes it much cleaner to walk and work in. Since grass is fine the stuff on the bottom keeps decomposing and adding organic matter to improve the soil. If you have annual weed grasses growing in your lawn you might wind up with grass seedlings coming up all over the garden, but I've never had a problem with ordinary turf grass (bluegrass), even though my grass is producing seed like mad right now. In fall when everything is done I turn over the soil and the remaining grass gets mixed in and decomposes the rest of the way over winter giving me better soil for the next year. Bark or other wood mulch would work too to help with the water conservation, but it takes much longer to decompose if it gets worked into the soil, so you might wind up with a lot of "lumps!" Also, if a LOT of wood mulch winds up mixed into the soil, you could wind up with too little nitrogen in the soil---decomposing matter temporarily binds up the nitrogen in the soil (making it unavailable to the plants) until the decomposition is complete. Should that happen you could always feed with a high nitrogen fertilizer, or, to prevent that problem, you could rake the bark or wood chips back off of the soil at the end of the season rather than mixing it into the soil. There's not enough decomposition going on from wood or any mulch just laying on top of the soil to affect the nitrogen levels. If you decide to use a bagged wood mulch, I just bought several bags of small bark chips for around my perennials and the best price I found was 3/$10 at Lowes. Now for the BIG question! Are WE going to survive this summer? If it's this hot already, I don't even want to think about what it's going to be like in July and August! Happy gardening---and--- stay cool, Skybird...See Moreaddmclean
7 years agoaddmclean
7 years agoaddmclean
7 years agohaileybub(7a)
6 years agoJonathan Santiago
2 years ago
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daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)