re: 2020 Garden Thread

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And Stine has a No Tax Weekend.

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I forgot all about this. I'll probably get some mulch for the front beds and a few bags of peat moss and manure for the garden. Also some potting mix.

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Pillage, I feel bad for ya.

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Thanks. But, it’s not the end of the world. Already bought some replacements.



Finished getting the garden ready today. Will probably plant next weekend.

Looking good!

Tax season has me neglecting my garden...and yard.

I’ve still got carrots and broccoli in the ground.

What is it with the moles??? They have been horrible the last 4 or 5 years. I have tried traps, poison worms, castor oil injected into their runs, smoke bombs, ammonia in their runs, piss in their runs, cayenne pepper . . . everything.

Now all of my food is in raised beds and pots. But yes, the squirrels . . .

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Will be a lot.

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Not really. The main cost that people balk at is the vermiculite. And if you're buying it from the big box stores, rightly so. It's a complete ripoff.

The key is finding it in bulk. I think I paid 25 a bag for 4 cu ft bags. That and buying my compost in bulk after finding the proper mix I wanted.

I think I paid a little less than $200 total to completely fill a 4x4x12 and two 4x8x12 beds. And I had vermiculite and compost left over. I didn't do a strict 1/3rd of each, probably closer to 1/2 compost and 1/4 each of vermiculite and peat moss, which has worked fine.

Got my last two beds prepped and planted snow peas, cherry bell radishes, oak leaf lettuce, dear tongue lettuce, arugula, and an heirloom bibb lettuce I can't remember the name of right now.

Clumping onions are starting to take off after kind of just sitting there over the winter. Winter radishes and daikons are a lost cause after the fricking rabbit came back again. Thought I would be ok since most of the green weeds like clover and henbit are up, but nope...little bastard went straight for my radishes when I took the netting off.

Yep, that’s a tough lesson to learn.

Also - I always start way more seeds than spots Bc my little kids help me plant. It’s like a 50/50 if they break the plant in half as they pulll it out of the container. They are getting better as they get older.

We had a strange winter this year in southern La with I think only 2 light freezes. Those killed all my pepper plants except for the lemon drop which is still producing peppers. I trimmed the dead vines of passionfruit, and noticed a ton of new growth coming in.

I planted cucumbers, jalapeno, habanero, Trinidad scorpion, and 3 creole tomato plants.

I have all my plants either in containers, a raised bed, or on a box/trellis combo. I think i might plant watermelon in the bed, and just let it takeover the alley in which they are planted.

A few pictures of my urban subdivision garden from early last summer :

Passiflora edulis. The standard purple fruit.

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The squirrels in my yard would chew that owl to bits.

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Yeah, that's kinda what I'm thinking will happen.

I was thinking either that or one of those motion detection ultra sonic repellent things. But most of those aren't cheap and the reviews are really mixed.