I didn't know Mr. Bender was one of those high class models in another life. ;^)
Posted on 10/21/2011 5:04:45 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning gardeners. We have had the first frost of Fall this morning in East Central Mississippi. It will warm up into the 70s the next few days and possibly even up to 80s by Tuesday. Not much gardening will be going on for me until next Spring.
I hope all your Fall gardens prosper.
If you are a gardener or you are just starting out and are in need of advice or just encouragement please feel free to join in and enjoy the friendly discussion. Our Freeper community is full of gardeners, each with varying interests and skill levels from Master Gardener to novice.
I have chard and beets left. Going out today to get everything else into the compost pile. Then to get the garden spot tilled this next week. I would prefer to spade it, and it is not that large, but I have an ankle that will not allow spading- I have never learned to spade left footed. I have tried but it is a lost cause.
I have tons of squirrels here and have never noticed them bothering my Knock Out roses. I wonder what makes the difference.
I learned a couple years ago beans will recover when chawed down to the ground by rabbits. I did not know what else would recover. Interesting. Probably alot more things would recover if need be. Provided they had time before the heat hits or whatever.
Thanks for posting that website. I am curious now to see how it agrees with how the next several months go.
My rabbits will not recover after I shoot a pellet through their skull.
Evidently I have enough to eat that what they do eat is not noticed. I remember when a neighbor had her tulips eaten down to the ground about four times one spring, and that was finally the end of the tulips trying. I presume the bulbs composted into Mother Earth. On the other hand I was living on my acre and while I had rabbits all over the place, I never was aware of any damage.
Squirrels on the other hand, with freshly planted daffodil bulbs was another story. They sat on a tree trunk watching me plant them. Supposedly the daffodil bulbs are poisonous to the squirrels- I can only say (again they left one out of 25)I truly hope so.
I do not have enough for the bunnies to eat that I will not notice. Several years ago I planted 4 35’ rows of corn. The second and third night after it sprouted and got about 3-4 inches tall, the bunnies ate it all (every sprout) down to the ground.
I killed four or five bunnies that summer. Took a long time and several plantings to get my corn started. I am unwilling to share my corn with rabbits. They can thrive by eating lawns, instead of corn. I refuse to do so. They could eat my weeds, and I would not kill them.
Guess I have failed as a rabbit educator. I am better at killing them than training them, or sharing with them.
It’s a instinct called survival and I use it in my garden on skunks, raccoons and a possum or two with traps and a 22. I use a impulse sprinkler with a motion detector to deter raccoons getting the corn.
Ah yes- but you have to deal with corn eating desperadoes.
The year my corn as well as my son’s was demolished, (which entailed two large plantings in separate parts of my acre) it was not rabbits, although we certainly had them. It was the annual crow invasion that plucked the inch tall corn sprouts right out of the ground, corn kernal and all. My only solace was while mine was not treated, his was. They ate right at a pound of treated corn.
The crows never came into town until an old gentleman died, and the powers that be gleefully took out his ponds south of town that were lined with tall mature trees. That was where well over a hundred thousand crows roosted when migrating. Crows like people go where they can find housing, so they just moved into town.
That was an experience, every year for many years, migrating coming and going.
Meanwhile yep- you have to defend your territory er garden.
Yes! What a neat way to do fresh corn!
Have you or anyone you know tried the Microwave sweet corn in the husk yet Red?. We are too set in our old ways to experiment with anything new. Garden cleanup is about done here on the Vast Bender Estate and I have two new compost bins cooking. I cleaned up the Blue Berry bed and put tools away today plus I picked a quart of lovely Strawberries and ate a few Raspberries from the second crop. I can’t believe the pumpkin vines are still green and healthy as is the late planting of cucumbers altho they are not producing any little cukes. Lady Bender is badgering me to cut the Pumpkins but I say they are still growing as the stems are still green and healthy?
I have not tried that method. There is no fresh corn in the stores in my area this time of year.
I prefer my corn cooked in the microwave, in the husk and covered in plastic wrap.
I talked to a couple of vendors at the Farmers Market and they both husk their corn, wrap them in damp paper towels, nuke them for 2 minutes, turn them over and do 2 more minutes. I may try that if there is still fresh corn tomorrow.
South FL Garden UPDATE
Current Pictures:
http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/6958/1000218t.jpg
http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/9453/1000217f.jpg
http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/3500/1000214u.jpg
http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/6840/1000213r.jpg
http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/1403/1000211i.jpg
http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/2523/1000210ha.jpg
http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/2986/1000208a.jpg
http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/2918/1000207o.jpg
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/5865/1000206v.jpg
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/5191/1000205c.jpg
http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/9404/1000204z.jpg
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/25/1000203a.jpg
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/7103/1000202g.jpg
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/36/1000201m.jpg
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/9084/1000199a.jpg
http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/1060/1000198.jpg
http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/8355/1000197y.jpg
http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/4898/1000196r.jpg
GREAT GARDEN!!! I can’t believe how healthy and bug free your plants are and I love that old Big Wheel Cultivator. I have a small wheel model but it is only 40 years old.
I didn't know Mr. Bender was one of those high class models in another life. ;^)
Looks like someone I knew but in all honesty I think I sent you that link from eBay. That must be a 12’ cotton pickin sack. The first thing Mama did was sew a patch from a worn out sack on the bottom of the new ones to extend their life...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.