Neighbours talking over the garden gate has long been a tradition. They share gardening tips, complain about the weather and pests yet are ever eager to discuss their gardens. That is what I had in mind when creating this blog. So stop by my garden gate to find out the latest happenings in my garden.
Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome
"All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child." ~ Madame Marie Curie"
Raccoons and Corn
August 19, 2010
Our neighbours to the north put in the most amazing raised bed system I've seen. It consists of 3 larger beds joined together forming a flattened Z shape. They are not growing using the square foot method. In one of the runs they planted corn and they even added a really neat support system that I will use if I decide to grow corn next year. I haven't grown corn mainly because of space limitation. It takes up a lot of room for what you get. However, this neighbour has grown corn and the neighbours two and three houses down both grow corn so perhaps I will try it but I will definitely be making some modifications.
I recently talked about our
garden visitor. He is being rather persistent but other than getting into our garbage once we don't have a real problem. I make sure the master bedroom and kitchen windows as well as the kitchen patio doors are closed enough that he can't get in. I also keep foods off the counter especially during the evening hours when this little guy is busy. Well he got into our neighbour's with the raised beds corn! I didn't realize that they were new gardeners because they had a smaller raised bed last year. Anyway apparently they left it a bit too long so the corn it too tough then to add insult to injury as pictured the raccoon has been helping himeself. What is rather interesting is he hauls the corn stalks from their garden ove into our yard to feast!
I've already decided that if I grow corn next year it is going to be protected by chicken wire to the point squirrels and raccoons can't get to it. It's a shame to have a crop that is over ripe or pilfered by garden pests. We are now exchanging a lot of gardening ideas :)
Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2010
This will be our fourth and possibly last summer at this house if it sells shortly. The house is in a rural area on waterfront property so we have an abundance of wildlife some that are not always as helpful in the gardens as they could be. Early this spring I spotted a second pair of wild rabbits so fully expected to be defending the garden against rabbits this year as well. However they are glaringly absent from our yard and gardens. There are signs of the raccoon still visiting and we catch the scent of an occasional skunk but nothing from rabbits. It is as if they just disappeared into thin air!
Most of the homes on our short dead end street have some type of vegetable garden so the area has been quite popular with the rabbits. Up until the last month or so it was common to see one or more rabbits daily as they moved from yard to yard, garden to garden. It was easy to tell when rabbits were getting into the vegetable gardens as well via the various pest deterrents gardeners were using. As far as I know no one is trapping rabbits here either. In our area the primary rabbit predators include but are not limited to foxes, coyotes, wolves, fishers, birds of prey (eg. hawks, owls) and domestic dogs and cats. Each year vehicles get a few rabbits here as well but I haven't even seen signs of that. There were recent reports of coyotes about 25 km east of us but none for our area and there are foxes in the area but not that close to the houses. We don't have any neighbourhood dogs running loose but have 2 resident cats I call citizens on patrol. However, they too have mysteriously been absent from the yards as well. Something has gotten to our rabbit population!
I suspect perhaps birds of prey and foxes may be the problem but I've seen none around the house and no signs of either. Another factor could be hunting of which our county does allow both resident and non-resident hunting with various open seasons depending on the Wildlife Management Units (WMUs). This is a more likely explanation for the sudden disappearance of wild rabbits in our area.
Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2010
My gosh when I look back at what we have accomplished here it really is amazing. In some ways we did not accomplish what we wanted but with our decision to sell, it is time to do a bit reflection. This property brought about many gardening challenges with the most extensive one being ripping out extreme over growth. The shear volume of ripping out our first two years was so discouraging. Compounding the problem was having to dig up our yard not once but twice to correct drainage problems with the second ruining all the sod work we did.
Vegetation I will not miss from these gardens:
Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome©2006-2010
The Rabbit
June 5, 2009
Wild rabbits are the bane of many gardens. In a very short period of time they can strip your seedlings down to nothing forcing you to replant if there is time. This is my third garden dealing with rabbits and while I have written about them before on this blog (
here) I am taking a bit more of a natural and laid back approach to dealing with them here. We are on waterfront rural property. That means we are dealing with a wide variety of wildlife and quite frankly we like it that way!
Most gardeners view the rabbits that raid their gardens with disdain and I will admit to being one of those when I first started dealing with rabbits. The problem with this viewpoint is it immediately puts you at war with the rabbits and trust me the rabbits are going to win this one. What I quickly realized is aside from munching on tender vegetable seedlings, rabbits love to munch on certain weeds. Their droppings provide natural, organic fertilizer to the lawn and gardens as well. Well the logical solution for this garden is to use a barrier to keep the rabbits out of the vegetable garden and protect any tender trees then give them free range of the yard. At the same time I have been judiciously moving them back from the vegetable garden area by removing their habitat. This is an effective tactic but does not prevent them from finding the garden as they like to graze often a kilometer or more from their nest. Baby rabbits are much like baby humans so will chew just about everything until they find out what is edible and what isn't. So if you want to take advantage of wild rabbits for their weed control yet still enjoy your vegetable garden here are a few suggestions.
- use a barrier - Use chicken wire to protect susceptible plants or the entire garden. It only needs to be 2' high. This can be temporary or permanent depending on your garden design. An alternative measure is to simply fence off your garden. Soften the look of the fence using a vining plant that rabbits do not like munching on.
- use companion plantings - Protect the plants you know rabbits like with companion plantings they don't like. Rabbits love tulips and will strip them to the ground but if you plant your tulips in with clumps of daylilies the rabbits will leave them alone. Surround your vegetable beds with marigolds to help keep the rabbits out.
- plant in hanging containers and window boxes - Some plants that rabbits enjoy chomping on do quite nicely in hanging containers so take advantage of that. Lettuces and other greens grow nicely in window boxes out of the reach of rabbits.
- pay attention to what the rabbits are going after - This sounds a bit obvious but you might be surprised at what they prefer. For example I have not had them bother with my basil or mints both of which are soft stem herbs yet they will go after my parsley. That means you may only have to focus on what they are eating and ignore the rest. They also don't go after zucchini, tomatoes or peppers so take advantage of that.
Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Last Thursday was moving day. It was an extremely long and tiring day yet I was up at the crack of dawn to explore our new surroundings. I did a walk about the gardens with the camera noting some of the plants that I haven't grown before or have very little experience with.
Greenspace
Our property is on a deadend road. A greenspace dotted with a stand of trees separates our road from the main road. The greenspace buffers any noise from passing traffic while creating a wonderful scenic view when leaving the house.
I took this photo just as the sun was rising on June 29. Sunrise is one of my favourite times of the day. The air was cool with little humidity promising a beautiful day.
Laneway
After walking back up the laneway I turned to take this photo. It was the first photo of our new house to appear on my other blogs. I think it is majestic and peaceful. The boxwood (Buxus) lined laneway beckons exploration. Not shown in the photo is the garage. The laneway ends with an asphalt to the front of the garage for extra parking and a pad at the side of the garage for driving into the garage. I have no experience with boxwoods so will be learning a lot about them in the very near future. Watch for a post focusing on boxwoods soon.
A large weeping willow (Salix babylonica) with a trunk diameter of about four feet or more graces the garden area between the garage and road. I have never had a weeping willow of my own but I grew up with weeping willows. We used to swing on the branches Tarzan style over the river until my mom caught us. These beautiful trees are quite popular along water banks. Years ago we rented a house with a weeping willow so we know from experience that these can be dirty trees for vehicles. Prior to this house, the last experience with a weeping willow was from my neighbour's property. Spring storms clear out a lot of the dead branches and some new ones as well. The only real maintenance for these trees is removal of dead branches and pruning underneath if they overhang laneways as ours does. Saturday we pruned the bottom to allow the vehicles to pass underneath.
On my walk about I noticed the following plants that I have no experience with: buttercup, hostas, miniature rose bushes, coral bells and silver grass. There are a few so far unidentified plants as well. There is a lot of English Ivy being used as ground cover. If you read the previous entry on English Ivy, I can attest it does provide a good habitat for rodents. Other potential pests I noticed were: grackles, squirrels, earwigs, and carpenter ants. Measures are already underway for rodent and ant control.
Stay tuned to see more pictures and read about my new gardening adventures.
Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome
©2007
Standing Guard
Garden 2006
Garden gnomes bring good luck to your garden and work hard to help your garden prosper but sometimes they need a bit help. That is where other garden decorations can help. Garden decorations add a touch of whimsy to the garden but they can also help in pest control. Pests are smart especially the rabbits who likely have group meeting to decide the best way into my garden and how they are going to outsmart me next! The best decorations for this purpose is anything with large eyes or items that resemble eyes because the represent predators. It's best if the eyes have a bit of shine to them especially at night. Other useful garden decorations that can help with pest control are those that move such as streamers or whirligigs and decorations that make noise. For best pest control results be sure to move the decoration to a different location and use more than one type. Motion activated decorations that make noise are more effective than those that make noise all the time.
Quite often farmers will use owl statues and they are popular for keeping swallows away from the boats in marinas or on docks. There are motion activated owls that likely would be more effective. We have two plastic owls, one for our boat well and the other for the garden. In the garden, the owl seems to be effective for discouraging squirrels, rabbits, mice as well as morning doves. The first three pests are destructive while the morning doves, a relative of pigeons, makes a mess. For best effect, I move the owl around the garden on occasion so pests do not become adapted to it's location. That's important since once the pest becomes adapted to your strategy, the decoration will no longer be effective.
Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome
©2007
