joene's garden » deer

Deconstruction to reconstruction

joenesgarden — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 14:52:23 +0000

September's cooler and invigorating temperatures brought me renewed energy to complete one summer project – deconstructing what had been my primary vegetable growing bed. The healthy soil I worked years to build up attracted an unwelcome underground element. Voles found whatever I planted - peas, beans, cucumbers, summer squash, or tomato, pepper, and eggplant transplants – a convenient meal. What voles ate we could not.

My initial solution was to plant many of my seedlings – all tenderly started indoors and coddled until ready for outdoor life – into large plastic pots. I sunk the pots into the holes I created when I dug the rich garden soil out to use in the pots. Tomatoes went into the larger pots, peppers and eggplant into somewhat smaller ones. This worked for a while, until one of the more determined little varmints found a drainage hole and entered one of the pots from below. Can you imagine my consternation at finding one of my potted hot pepper plants wilted and tilted because it no longer had ample roots to support its top growth?

My pet name for any vole became little b*st*rd.

OK, I thought, make a mental note to block each drainage hole with a heavy rock before filling each pot with soil - I can be determined, too. So the following growing season I did just that. Since I became a hoarder of large plastic pots, I started more seedlings knowing I had ample plastic pots to protect their roots from becoming vole feed once planted in the outside vegetable bed. And, because I did not want to continue to lose my pea, bean, and cucumber vines, or my summer squash or lettuce, down the black holes voles create to pull plants into one of their underground dining halls, I planted these in pots as well. All this potting-up and potting-in required a lot of time and additional work. Isn't it amazing the lengths in which gardeners will go to be able to walk to the garden to pick dinner?

You know what's also amazing? The lengths in which voles will go to reach a cafe. They chewed through a couple of the thin plastic nursery pots I hoarded - chewed right around the large stones placed next to the draining holes.

My pen name for any vole became unprintable, but I'm pretty sure neighbors within ear shot had singed ear follicles.

I was not prepared to abandon this planting area so I took a deep breath – actually many, many deep breaths interspersed with more unprintable vole descriptors – and acknowledged the only solution was to dig out the soil, line the base and sides of the planting area with 1/4 inch hardware cloth. Openings in this size are too small for voles to squeeze their voracious little heads through, but large enough to allow good drainage.

Deconstruction started in June, as mentioned in a monthly GOOPs post. Once the bed was empty, I split it into three sections by constructing two dividers using some of our ample supply of native fieldstone. I lined one section with hardware cloth and filled it with a blend of the original soil and new compost.

This became home for the potted ever-bearing strawberry plants that grew from three to multiple plants over the summer. The underground barrier should stop voles while above-ground netting – held aloft by three metal hoops - should prevent deer and birds from enjoying the strawberry plants.

I opted to leave one section of the bed unlined. This now holds horseradish transplants (right photo below) that will eventually spread to fill the entire space. In the meantime I used the empty area (left photo below) of this section for garlic. I've yet to have voles eat either horseradish or garlic.

The middle section, once lined with the remaining hardware cloth (still rolled up in the center section), will be the new home for all the chive plants currently growing in multiple locations. (Yes, voles in my area will munch, though sporadically, on chive roots.) Having all my chives in one protected bed will make it easier to harvest chive flowers for chive vinegar and chive leaves for cooking. After I transplant the chives, I'll line the edge between the planting bed and the lawn with lavender and thyme.

Phase two of my vegetable garden reconstruction will commence over the next few months. We plan to build raised beds from scratch – each fully lined with hardware cloth – in a different area of the yard. This will require dropping one shade-producing tree over the winter. Once built, we'll surround the raised beds with 5-foot fencing to keep plantings safe from deer. Then I hope my plastic pot hoarding days will be nothing more than a distant memory.

Categories: Creatures, Gardening, Techniques.
Tags: deer, garden deconstruction/reconstruction, gardening in Connecticut, voles.

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July GOOPs: Creatures pushing me over the edge?

joenesgarden — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 09:00:00 +0000

Here it is July 1 already. Summer is blooming along and providing me with many Gardening Oops (GOOPs) and gardening successes . On the first of each month I share one of my GOOPs hoping to give you an edge - maybe my GOOPs will help prevent you from doing the same.

On this day, July 1, 2010, I'm really questioning my sanity.

A few days ago I wandered around my perennial beds sprinkling this. Read closely. Yep, it says coyote urine granules. This is what deer browsing has pushed me to. I actually spent $15 on a jar of granulated coyote pee. I don't know how the manufacturers came to obtain enough coyote urine to granulate it and sell it in shakable containers … and I really don't want to delve into exactly how this is done (my imagination has done enough damage just questioning the process). But after spending my Saturday mulching … and mulching … and mulching, and really taking a look at how much munching has been going on, I was pushed to try yet another deer repellant. Since coyote frequent our area I hope the smell of coyote urine will be scary enough to send deer elsewhere for their midnight snack. It certainly would keep me from chomping on a plant.

Of the large stands of coneflowers I have growing in unfenced areas just a few still stand 3 to 4 feet tall with buds ready to burst open in a cheery shade of dark pink. All the rest, including my few white coneflowers, stand about one foot tall, have no buds, just bare stems and a few leaves near the ground. Morticia Addams might prefer just stems, even without any thorns, but I'd rather have flowers. I've tried multiple deer repellants over the years and none have kept deer from munching coneflowers. There have been intermittent years when my yard was not on the deer dinner path. Only then have my coneflowers blossomed freely. If I can get them to the open stage deer usually leave them alone. Look closely at the deer-pruned plants … there's tinkles of granulated coyote urine resting on the leaves at the right. If the coyote magic works I might see one or two small coneflower blossoms on these plant. If not, score another one for the deer.

I did not, however, resort to granulated coyote pee simply to have coneflowers blooming. Deer have regularly eaten my perennial sweet peas, baptisa, and asters. The only surviving leaves on the winterberry shrubs are those too high for deer to reach. Some of the four-legged eating machines have even displayed rather unusual culinary tastes – for a deer. Daffodils, butterfly bush, and Japanese ferns have all been munched this year but remained untouched during previous years. The only safe perennials in my yard are those growing within a fence.

But back to my sanity or lack thereof. Another four-legged pest problem has led to a rather large deconstruction/reconstruction project. Years ago I molded a sloped, but sunny area of the yard into a 23 foot long, 4 foot wide planting bed. One of the long sides runs along the slope, the lower side is a fieldstone wall. Over the years I filled the bed with home-made compost until it became a very productive vegetable growing area. To keep out deer we fenced the perimeter with welded wire attached to cedar posts. All was well for many growing seasons, then we had a mild winter. The following spring began my Vole Wars. I'd plant peas. Peas would disappear into holes in the ground. I'd plant peppers (hot ones). Peppers would disappear. I lost beans, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, lettuce, cilantro. I'd plant … voles would eat. They found the rich, fluffy soil in the vegetable bed easy digging and easy dining. This caused many unpleasant words to spew from my mouth. I think I spotted troubled neighbors covering youngsters' ears and racing them out of ear shot. Apparently profanity, stomping, and launched gardening tools don't deter voles. Neither do those solar thingys, chewing gum dropped in holes, or hose-induced floods. But I'm stubborn, I figured I could outsmart the little hairy beasts by planting vegetables in pots, filling them with the soil voles loved to dig in, then sinking the filled pots into the holes. Essentially I planted potted plants into my vegetable bed – a lot of extra, back-paining work in spring and again in the fall when pots had to be emptied and stored. I also found I had to use really heavy-duty plastic pots or the voles would gnaw through the pots to get to the plants. More unpleasant verbiage. But generally this technique worked.

My husband watched and helped with the spring pot filling/pot sinking routine … and listened to many, many, many rants over the fact that this seemed to be the only way to grow tomatoes, beans, peppers, etc., and that vegetable growing should not be so difficult or time consuming. Knowing that asking me to not plant plants is like asking me not to breath, he agreed something must be done. The result of something? The photo below. The perimeter fence is down – good thing since the cedar posts were rotting after 10 years in the ground. One of my sons dug the good soil out and piled it elsewhere. Next we will line the entire bed and sides with 1/4 inch hardware cloth – 1/4 inch to keep voles from slinking through the openings in the wire mesh. Then, hopefully, with help from the same strong back that removed the soil, we will refill the bed and re-fence the area.

To increase my veggie planting area I'm heavily advocating for construction of raised beds – of course lined with hardware cloth – in an adjacent sunny area of the yard – of course fenced from deer. I currently have tomatoes, eggplant, summer squash, beans, strawberries, and pumpkins in pots (above the ground this year), and tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, beans, zucchini, lettuce, basil, dill, cilantro, tatsoi, Alpine strawberries, and peas planted amongst perennials.

Essentially I'm spreading coyote pee to keep deer at bay, fencing below the ground to keep voles away, and fencing above the ground to keep deer from eating vegetables the voles don't get.

Sounds like sufficient cause to question anyone's sanity … even a stubborn old gardener like me.

So what's the GOOPs? Had I, at the start of my gardening life in my current location, build raised beds with liners I could have avoided much of this grief. Of course I did not know I would have vole problems – deer yes – not voles. But many good raised bed plans suggest hardware cloth to keep creatures from tunneling up from below. As far as the coyote pee goes, the only GOOPs there would be spending $15 on something that doesn't work. If I see little coneflower buds in a few weeks then no GOOPs committed. If deer continue to munch then I'm the chump.

Now that you've read my GOOPs how about sharing one of yours? Either leave your GOOPs in a comment below, or post your GOOPs on your own blog – just leave a teaser comment below with your link. Need ideas? Take a gaze at previous GOOPs posts.

Categories: Creatures, Gardening, GOOPs-Gardening Oops, Techniques.
Tags: coyote urine, deer, gardening oops - GOOPs, hardware cloth, voles.

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How life’s guide steers your gardening path

joenesgarden — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:30:50 +0000

Winter months present northern gardeners with ample opportunities to slow down and reflect, and in doing so I began to wonder how a quote I live by has guided my gardening path.

This thought was sparked by one of the blogs I try to visit regularly. At first glance you might think BIKE WITH JACKIE is about bicycling, but it's not. Jackie writes about finding inner strength and turning obstacles into opportunities. In a recent post, Quotes to live by, she asked readers to list a favorite quote they refer to when times or events get tough. Her favorite , by Margaret Thatcher, inspired Jackie to write a list of good, uplifting thoughts to consider when needing a self-confidence boost – but you'll have to visit BIKE WITH JACKIE to read these.

I had no problem coming up with a quote in response to Jackie's request. It's from one of my favorite writers, Anna Quindlen. In her book, Black and Blue Quindlen writes, «The life you have led doesn't need to be the only life you have.» I read this book years ago, but this one line hit home so deeply with me that I have it written in an easily referred to place … and I do refer to it often. This quote has helped guide me through so many life events. It certainly pertains to my life-long desire to immerse myself in learning about plants and gardening, and most recently helped me decide to pursue certification in landscape design. Translation: your current trade doesn't need to be your only trade.

Extending this line of thinking towards more tangible, daily garden-related affairs, I realized just how often I apply the mantra 'If it doesn't work, FIX IT!' which, in essence, is the same message as Quindlen's above. Here's some examples:

The lawn you have need not be made only of grass. When grass would not grow at in more shady areas of the lawn, but moss did, guess which won. The variety of mosses that have replaced previously seeded grass is much more interesting and much less labor intensive than lawn grass could ever be.

If deer like the plants you've planted, plant those the deer don't like. I refuse to look at munched, unattractive shrubbery and plants, and can't come up with the bucks to fence deer out completely. So where they roam, I plant things they don't particularly like – foxglove, lamb's ear, anemone, peony, Siberian iris, thyme, low-growing sedum, astilbe, campanula, sage, lady's mantle, globe thistle, and narcissus to name a few. Then I give winter protection to any evergreens I want to keep unmunched. Yes, deer might nibble a little on some of these unprotected plants in early spring, but this I can live with.

The vegetable garden need not be the only place tomato or pepper, or lettuce plants grow. When the fenced in vegetable beds no longer offered ample growing space, containers filled in. When the vole population grew incrementally after a mild winter and voraciously ate the roots of nearly everything planted in the vegetable beds, I planted veggies in large plastic pots sunk into the soil. When we constructed a fenced in area elsewhere, I interspersed edibles with perennials to further thwart the voles.

Of course, this line of thought also explains why a pink dogwood tree had two homes before I finally opted to leave it planted in its current location. Why an Endless Summer hydrangea spent a full summer potted on the deck and a full winter healed into a fallow veggie garden bed, before it found a permanent home next to a lace-cap cousin. Why a globe-shaped boxwood became the center focus of a circular stone-walled planting bed after its twin succumbed to winter and could no longer balance the other side of the steps where the pair originally resided. Why I rearrange so many perennials in the spring and fall to try and fix what ever it was about their current location that just didn't make it.

I know, as a gardener, I am not alone in these actions, but other gardeners must use other guiding quotes. So what's your quote? What mantra or words of wisdom guide your life, and how do your gardens reflect its message?

Categories: Edibles, Gardening, General, Perennials & Annuals, Seasons, Techniques.
Tags: Anna Quindlen, BIKE WITH JACKIE, deer, edibles among perennials, favorite quotes, flowers, gardening in Connecticut, lawns.

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