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 MoreGarden Statuary and other fun stuff...
Comments (7)This isn't terribly South, but I know there is a place right on Highway 61 as it runs through Hastings. Coming from farther south, it would be on the right hand side as you drive along Highway 61, before you head down the steep hill towards the old Hastings downtown. I wish I could remember the name of it, but I can't. It isn't a chain garden center, and it looks to be a bit disorganized. But I'm guessing you will find some distinctive pieces that you wouldn't encounter at the cookie cutter garden centers. That place has always intrigued me, but I'm sorry to say I have never stopped. I get the impression that it is the kind of place that just keeps stuff around til it sells. If it doesn't sell in year 8, well, there's always year 9. If you do go there, please post and let me know if it is as interesting as it looks driving by. Carmellia...See MoreGarden fertilizer/fungicide free stuff today
Comments (0)Rags,neem , bar oil, tv stand, garden stakes,bags of rags ,fungicide, take what you want from curb only - 2530 flintgrove rd , 28226...See MoreGardeners: how to do track your garden? Anyone recommend an app?
Comments (21)I started with a spreadsheet. It turned into too much info to remember and my laptop is not easily accessible in the garden, so it was all but useless. :-) So now I keep notes on my phone. One note contains an inventory of plants within each garden section of my yard, listed according to when they bloom. Then a Garden Care note, which contains a seasonal maintenance checklist for relevant plants. The third note is a general To Dos - random upkeep, transplants, or dividing I listed last year that I wanted to accomplish this year, new plants I want to consider, etc., according to the season in which they should ideally happen. Finally, I have a whole folder of bookmarks in my browser sectioned off for plants I want to buy, those I have, and related care. If I type "nepeta" into my browser, all related bookmarks appear. Or I can hunt for what I need in the bookmarks manually. It took a little time to build - researching and bookmarking for each plant tag - but totally worth it! When I'm in the garden, there's pretty much nothing now that I don't have on my phone and I can make notes for the next week, the next season or next year when it's fresh on my mind, along with relevant pics (oh! I have a gardening section of photos by year too!). I may win the "too much time on my hands" contest now, lol!...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
2 years agobrdrl
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
2 years agoRTHawk
2 years ago
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