Battling at the Barricades

This is our plumeria. It's a beauty. In fact, we've caught strangers coming up and plucking bunches off for their bouquets. It has nothing to do with this post, just thought I post something nice to mitigate the ugliness that's below.

After 20 years, gophers have finally found my lawn. Strange, because it's surrounded by pavement and concrete, which should have kept them out. I'm guessing they got desperate since my nextdoor neighbor stopped watering her lawn and they must have struck out from there. Since the first hole showed up at the edge of the lawn closest to hers, that's my working theory.

Not too long after I first noticed the mounds, a dead gopher showed up on our driveway. I figured the local cats got it and left it as a trophy. Our lizards and other scavengers took care of the body before I got a chance to dispose of it.

I'd hoped this took care of the problem but more mounds appeared a few days later. It was obvious that they were headed across the lawn and to my garden. I had to take action before they decimated it.

There comes a time in every serious gardener's life where deadly action is necessary. It's either our garden or them. You can try as hard as you can to dissuade them but not all of those pests will take the hint.

So, finding the freshest mound, I put a garden hose in and turned on the water. About two minutes later, the soaked rodent popped out.

I dispatched him with a hoe.  I'll spare you the gory details and photo.

In other lawn news, I've planted feverfew in the deer buffet rose garden to deter pests of an insect nature.  They do seem to keep the aphids, mealybugs, and the like away (the deer are immune, though) but they tend to get out of hand once in awhile.

Before mowing, I rip off the longest bunches and throw on the lawn to be sucked up by the mower.

Once mowed, I've got the gopher holes flattened...

...and the deer buffet rose garden has it's feverfew back under control.

Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Caging You Up for Your Own Good

Last year, the garden was devastated by animals coming down from the dry mountains to eat the succulent, tender shoots of my vegetables coming out of the ground. This year, I'm determined not to let that happen again, so the main theme of this weekend's gardening is animal repellent.

No, I'm not using any chemical or traps. I'm not interested in harming anything...at least proactively. My goal is, however, to make my plants look uninviting and a bit hazardous for critters to get to so maybe they'll find greener pastures to feed in.

This year, I've got new onion, tomato, zucchini, and corn seedlings.  There's already evidence that something has been chewing on the onion seedlings, which I left in the open after transplanting. No one seems interested in the corn, so I'll just leave that one alone.

So here's my plan...

I'm wrapping tomato cages in chicken wire.

It's a bit tricky when the wire comes on a roll to flatten it out so I can cut it. I hold it down with my foot and snip away.

After wrapping the cage, I make cuts in the edge at the top to form little spikes in case any animal gets adventurous and climbs up. The poke should make 'em think twice about going over the top.

All done.

I'm using the temporary wire cover I used for the tomato seedlings to cover the onion plants to give them a chance to survive the season.  Let's see how all this caging works out as the season goes.

Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Battling Back for a Harvest

So far, my harvests this year have been pitiful. The drought's taking it's toll...not on the plants directly...but driving animals down from the dry, cooked mountains behind our house.

Deer have been using my rose garden as a diner, picking up dinner whenever the flowers are in bloom. Squirrels have invaded, some even trying to burrow under our water heater, and have decimated my zucchini. Although they can't stand the hot chiles, the leaves are to their taste and our pepper harvest is very minimal.

The pest control guy says to just block their access so we try to fill every rodent-sized hole with bricks. Just when I think I'm making progress, I look out and see another squash or pepper plant laid waste.

We have had limited success with our tomatoes, especially the cherry tomatoes I grow in a hanging basket.

The grapes have been my most successful battleground. Years ago, I put up a rodent-deterring cage around the bottom of the vine. That works for the mammals but the birds still have access to the top.

I've tried netting and, while that worked, the fruit was tiny. My wife thinks it constricted the plant too much.

This year I applied holographic tape to scare the birds away. My wife says she still see mockingbirds eating the fruit but even so, some clusters have made it through (I put fruit nets around some of the clusters but not most of them).

The heat and drought have also had another effect. Our grapes usually ripen at the beginning of September. We're harvesting now...the first week of July...and expect to get around 10 pounds.

At least I've had one success this year. Now, if I can just sneak some veggies past the squirrels, I'd be a happy gardener again.

Darryl
Copyright 2014 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

The Collapse of the Rainbow Coalition

Ok, so my last attempt at mockingbird dissuasion failed.  I put holographic tape on the grapevine. It's supposed to give them vertigo and headaches and leave the plants alone.

Not here, these mockingbirds just see it as decorations for a free grape buffet.

One last try...I'm using the netting that you find on some fruit you get at the grocery store on each cluster as a barrier. Unfortunately, I only have two of them.  If it works, we'll be saving more of the fruit netting for the next crop.

Darryl
Copyright 2014 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Rainbow Pride on the Grapevine

No, it's not a gay grapevine...I think. 

I'm always in search of a better scarecrow. The birds, especially mockingbirds, just love the grapes. Last year, I put in netting but my wife thinks that crowded the plant together too much resulting in small grapes.

 

This year, I'm going with a high-tech scarecrow.  You'll see this a lot in wine country.

I've got some holographic tape that I cut into strips and tie in strategic parts of the plants.

It's supposed to give the birds bad acid flashbacks and drive them away. I know it does it for me.

We'll see how it goes come harvest time.

Darryl
Copyright 2014 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

A Mysterious Chile Lovin' Varmint

Each year it seems I face new challenges with the garden. This year are varmints. Some obvious, like the deer who are eating my roses, and some not so obvious.

The not-so-obvious one is the mysterious creature that lives under our water heater. Our pest control guy said to put bricks around it to block it's lair.

But, it just digs a new hole under the bricks.

It only comes out at night, so I haven't been able to see it yet. Only the damage it leaves behind.

Here, you can see my Anaheim chile plant, which miraculously still produces even with 90% of it's leaves chewed off.

It's pretty much decimated my much-anticipated pasilla chiles but I'm not giving up yet.

I've filled a pot with mix and transplanted the best looking of what's left of the pasilla and put a spare dripper on it.

I've hung on the wall, out of the reach of a certain night-seeking, ground dwelling creature...I hope.

Stay tuned.

Darryl
Copyright 2014 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Oh, Deer...and Other Assorted Pests

Over the weekend, my wife caught this deer in my neighbor's yard, helping itself to the colorful buffet. Shoo'd off, we laughed a bit and and said "at least they don't know where we live."

Only 99 Cents!

Yesterday, I found this...

...munched off buds on our front yard rose garden. At least I won't have to deadhead this batch this weekend. 

I guess we're not as off-the-radar to the deer as we thought. Does make me hungry for venison, though...

Then, our tomatoes were doing so well. Weighed down with soon-to-ripen fruit, I couldn't wait for the delicious bounty.

We found this...some creature of the night (either a raccoon, opossum, or skunk) dug 'em up and took the fruit. I salvaged one green tomato that I will fry up.

My wife replanted them and a few days later, they look like they might survive.

Last, I looked out our bedroom window and found a squirrel helping himself to our zucchini plant. I scared him off but he got most of it.

We live right next to the mountains and are in the worst drought of my lifetime here in California. I guess a lot of the wildlife are streaming down, looking for water and food.

Hopefully, we can get something of a crop even with the new population of pests this year. 

What do you do to keep these critters out of your garden?

Darryl
Copyright 2014 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved.

Battling the Smut!

The grapevine is the focus of our most intense efforts in the summer. This is when the fruit is ripening and, if we're not careful, we could lose the entire crop if we fail to pay attention.

Our vine is a Ruby Red Seedless that produces delicious, medium size, red berries.

We've chronicled our other efforts at keeping the birds and rodents away from it with our wire and netting barrier.  Another problem is fungus.

Ruby Reds are a little more susceptible to fungus than most grapes. When prepping the plant at the beginning of the season, I sprinkle liberally with sulfur dust and then again when the fruit starts really showing, usually in June.

Still, as you can see at the top, the fruit is starting to turn to the ripe color but the dirty black stuff is smut...a type of fungus.

Left untreated, it will split the fruit open before ripening.

So I got some sulfur dust, poured some in a spray bottle, filled with water, and started spraying. And spraying, and spraying.  Plant's about soaked in a sulfur solution now.

Keeping my fingers crossed that the fruit will make it to the end of summer harvest...

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Goin' Green With the Cheapskate

While I'm not above turning to a chemical solution when times get really bad, I try to avoid it as much as possible. I like to keep my gardening as green and organic as I can without giving away the farm to the pests waiting in the wings.

Some of the things I do to keep this space sustainable and in harmony with nature are listed below.

Since I don't have room for a compost heap, I practice "compost in place," such as when I deadhead the roses, throw them on the lawn, and use the lawnmower to mulch them into the grass.

And, while I sweep up the debris that lands on the patio, I leave the plant detritus in the planters to decompose naturally to provide nutrients for the soil.

The leaves and other green waste swept up goes into the green waste container, which is then picked up by our sanitation company to be turned into commercial compost.

I also recycle everything I can, such as using an old plastic shopping bag to line this hanging basket. It provides me a way to control just how much I want this planter to drain.

I have this can crusher in the garage that can crush six aluminum cans at once.

When this trash bin gets full of cans, I take it to the recycler to get more money for my garden.

Previously, I've posted about my sprinkler system, which is mainly a drip system on a timer that puts just enough water on the plants, saving that precious resource in this very drought prone area.

Some kitchen scraps can be thrown into your garden as well, composting and making the soil rich in nutrients. Coffee grounds, orange peels, and egg shells are some of the kitchen scraps that have found their way into the soil. No, someone didn't throw up on our chile plant, this is leftover wort from when I made some homebrewed beer earlier this year.

Finally, I like to use the least harmful methods of pest control I can. From building an inert barrier on the grape vine, to using naturally occurring controls such as sulphur and iron pellets, to manually pulling weeds when I can. Here, I'm using my own concoction of vinegar and garlic to spray the aphids on my rose bush.

Those of some of my eco-friendly ways of gardening, what methods to you use?

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

The Grape Harvest is All Sewn Up

I have a very productive grape vine. It's a ruby red seedless vine and the fruit from it is delicious.

It's so delicious that all the birds, racoons, possums, and other assorted vermin line up to strip it just before the fruit is ripe.

Earlier in the season when the plant was at the peak of dormancy, I put some wildlife netting on the back of it and draped the rest over the wall.

I let the fruit go as long as I thought it could before the animals would get to it and now it's time to finish the job.

Bringing the rest of the netting over the top, I match up the sides.

I take some twine and tie it around a screw. A nail with a thick head would would just as well, maybe even better.  This I use like needle and thread to stitch the two sides together.

A half-an-hour later, I've sewn the plant shut inside, like sewing up a big pillow case.

Now I've got my critter barrier in, let's just let those grapes ripen.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Adventures of the Vinedresser

It was just two short weeks ago that our grape vine was completely barren at the depths of its dormant season. It was the perfect time to install wildlife netting on it before any leaves grew out.  Now look at it, full of life, already showing little grape clusters.

A chore I need to perfect is pruning for good production. Prune too much and you're likely to lose your entire crop. Not enough, and you get tiny fruit.

I'm still looking for the right balance. This year, I'm going to experiment with a new method. Grabbing the branches, I look for three clusters growing close together.

I'm nipping off the smallest clusters so the plant can put all its strength into the bigger, more robust clusters.  I continue across the vine, cutting of maybe half a dozen small clusters.

Also, I want to keep the bottom half of the vine bare, like a tree trunk, so any little growths like the one above are also pinched off.

I like to keep the vine trained to the narrow space of my trellis so any ranging branches that I can bend without breaking, I weave into the center part of the structure to keep the plant under control.

Lastly, the ruby red grapes are very susceptible to botrytis, a fungus, that causes immature fruit to split open and go bad before ripening. To combat this, I am sprinkling sulphur dust liberally across the soil, trunk, leaves, and branches to kill any spores that might think about growing. I'll hit the bottom half of the plant again when the fruit is ripening.

Now, other than watering and feeding, I'll just let the grapes grow as undisturbed as possible for the season.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved