Gardens, Farming and all things of our great ecology by Mangolo

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Me! Meeee! I became addicted to flowers a few years back, and now our garden is virtually LITTERED with them. No veggies, just color. But at least 50 hanging baskets, urns on the front steps, stuff in the ground, and on and on.

Oh, wait, this year I AM trying some veggies--did years ago, but criters got 'em. I tried those upside-down hanging tomato things this year, and man, are they going NUTS! Made my own from big old containers like small trees come in, and planted nasturtiums out the top to hide the containers.

I have a couple of physical disabilities, so I spend a lot of time in my recliner in front of the TV. I do my deadheading, pruning and planting of the hanging plants/urns/pots there...not very kosher, admittedly, but I sweep up every night and I thoroughly enjoy myself.

I'm NOTHING like your more serious endeavor (wow!) and that is SOME kind of avocado! I love 'em, especially guac on burritos, but 'cados all by themselves are shiny, too. Unfortunately, what we get in the store can't hold a CANDLE to home grown, and don't I know it!

Hope all your farming goes fantastic; you're lucky to have the space to do it, and I'm sure all the hard work will pay off in the end!

I'm still learning, just getting used to ripping up roots to air things out (ouch! HARD! I'm a woos)...I'm beginning to get the feeling I can go on doing this the rest of my life and still be learnin', y'know?

Some of my babies:

LOVE to mix and match colors, and thoroughly addicted to calobrachoa ("million bells) and nemesia (prolly 'cuz both come in so many colors!)

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Sunday, August 16, 2009 2:35 PM

Nice pics. We love our flowers too!

The last one is called a Bat Plant - been really into propagating them!

What kind of critters you having problems with?

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Monday, August 17, 2009 7:04 AM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Wow,you've got me beat by a MILE! That Bat Plant is spectacular, I'm deeply impressed!! So is that huge blue ??iris?? ??lilly?? Magnificent! Virtually all my stuff is done in pots or window boxes of one kind or another--I like to replace the annuals with others each year to match the perennials in the pot--so I can't grow the "big guys" like you.

Critter? RATS! I have bird feeder, squirrel feeder, hummer feeder and suet out, as do neighbors, redwood "grove" and lots of ivy in the back yard and surrounded by forest and redwoods, we all get 'em. Only problem I ever had was them eating my plants (which is quite bad enough!!) until the bird feeders, now it's WAR!

I started by putting flypaper on the beginnings of the chains that hold up all the hanging plants. Caught a fledgling bird (he was okay, I got him off right away). Tried chicken wire bent backwards at the same places...the went right over it of course. Then "deer netting"--one hung himself, the rest walked over THAT as well.

So I got a Havahart...not into killing. Caught a few over the past couple of years and relocated them up away from civilization. Then I caught a Stellar Jay (they're everywhere)...I released him but we found him dead the next day. Broke my heart, it's obvious from disappearance that he was one I'd known for years who "talked" to me and I talked back. Haven't forgiven myself.

But last year they started NESTING here, and I couldn't catch them; once one dies, others avoid it. So I got desperate and gave up my principles for poison. Got a number of them, but the day I found one dying, asked hubby to off it (also a woos), picked it up and found its mate and babies, dead, under it, I gave up poison.

The whole thing is sickening. I got a bebe gun in hopes of scaring them off (hahahahaha), ended up killing on this year who got too close--didn't actually mean to, forgot what the salesman said about it being the "highet velocity" one they had. Ooops.

Went the regular trap route, caught a few more. Been shooting at them--figure my aim is bad enough I'll probably have no luck (husband shoots to kill) but also more afraid of wounding one than killing it outright.

I swept up everything under the feeders several times a day and took everything in at night. Now they're back to munching on my flowers...sigh.

Put out more regular traps and caught a couple more, but then one morning I caught a Stellar and another beautiful bird I've never seen before, so now the traps are inside boxes.

I THINK we've got all but one or two by now, but Winter approaches, so I assume it'll start all over. I just put together a flat, square board with edging which I attached to the hanging bird feeder, hanging squirrel feeder, and the squirrel feeder attached to the bridge from our kitchen door to the back yard, to catch droppings. It seems to be working fairly well so far, tho' I still see evidence of rat poop, so there's at least one still out there...sigh...

Had some mole or gopher or something (maybe even the rats) destroy my lovely huge cuke, a bell pepper plant and some other stuff the only other time we tried to grow veggies...number of years ago. Haven't tried since, but the upside-down tomatoes are doing great, and so are the bell pepper plants I'm growing in a huge pot on an old bridge table.

Have the usual "pests" and diseases I battle on the flowers, but if I could just get rid of the rats...I'd be SUCH a happy camper! Hey, I can dream!

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Monday, August 17, 2009 7:55 AM

Lilies to answer your question.

We don't have a problem with rats (we have three cats), but we do trap our share of mongoose!

Never had a bird problem so can't help you with that.

Pests on the plants- try a light soapy solution- simple green soap.

Also, cayenne in a solution works for other kinds of pests.

Slugs and snails- you can make a beer garden. A tray or dish with beer in it. The slugs love that smell and drown themselves.

Hope this helps- happy gardening!

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 9:08 AM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Never thought of it, but maybe it's that the lsat of our cats died that brought the rats. In fact it makes perfect sense, because although they started showing up when I got into flowers, that was about the time the last cat left us, too. Hmmmm...

Got no problem with the birds, they're the reason for the feeders in the first place! We LOVE it now they come around so much...and I forgot also a finch sock, which is COVERED with finches especially in Winter. It's the bird feeders bringing the rats, which eat my plants as well.

Yeah, not much problem with snails and slugs. Sluggo...and this year, few at all; think it's the drought.

What's "plain green soap"? I hate using insecticides, but my beloved calobrachoa seems to always get mites, so I just said to heck with it. Would like something more organic, if it works.

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 9:32 AM

http://www.simplegreen.com/

Any soap will do, but Simple Green is still relatively cheap and an "all-Purpose Cleaner is the leader of non-toxic, biodegradable, environmentally safer cleaning products used for household cleaning"

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 9:35 AM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Thanx! I'm going there and will give it a try. Like I said, I hate using pesticides, for many reasons!

Does Simple Green (didn't realize that was the NAME of a product) harm ladybugs and stuff, too? I stopped putting them in when I started using pesticides, obviously, but I'd rather...

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 9:41 AM

I don't think so- putting soap on your plants keep the leaf eating bugs (aphids mostly and to a lesser extent caterpillars) from being able to munch on your leaves. You have to reapply every time it rains.

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 11:55 AM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Oh, that would be kewl. I loved having lady bugs around, and even hatched some praying mantis once...adorable!

Will check it out right away, thanx again.

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 11:55 AM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Damn...happened again. Posted twice, sorry.

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 12:33 PM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

I've got a few things growing around the house. Peach trees, pecan tree, a mulberry, some blackberry briars, a few pepper plants, tomatoes, onions, garlic (basically almost everything I need to make fresh salsa and pico de gallo!), and several spices - rosemary, sage, parsley, cilantro, spearmint, citronella, and a pineapple that I planted on a whim, that's actually growing. There also appear to be some wild grapes that are climbing all over the place.

I'm planning on adding some citrus trees (lemon, lime, and grapefruit), a couple olive trees, and maybe an avocado or two for next year.

The squirrels and birds seem to eat more of the food than I do, but I said at the outset that I was planting the stuff just to see if it would live, and if I never got anything but relaxation out of it, I'd be fine. So far, I've gotten some of everything, but not really enough of anything! Ain't that just the way of the world, though?

Mike

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 12:39 PM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Wow. That's impressive! I planted some herbs, which have since all gone wild and I'm gonna rip them out, and "gave" Jim a dwarf apple years ago which has really gone crazy and this year is gonna give us one helluva crop! Other than that, you guys got me beat by a mile. Good on you!

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 1:37 PM

STINKINGROSE

Cheater! Living in tropical paradise so you get to garden year round!

I am jealous. We get six months of wintery stuff here, so we make the most of the growing season we've got. I'm contemplating making cold frames or a greenhouse so we can do some winter veggies. Maybe not this year.

My mint is going gangbusters (spear,pepper,and chocolate), and the roses had a good year. We've got chookies and their uggs. Deer, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, skunks, groundhogs, various insects, assorted avian marauders.. I have foes aplenty. I gave up this year. I think razor wire would have been the only thing keeping them out. Ivory soap hung in old socks on the trees in the orchard seems to help a little with the deer. Then there's the weeds and invasive plants. Sigh. I'm working on a good sized raised bed and thinking about what I want to put in for fruit. I'm trying to make the landscape largely useful, and decrease the sheer amount of lawn.

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 1:56 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by stinkingrose:
Cheater! Living in tropical paradise so you get to garden year round!
I am jealous.

Don't be jealous. I love the year round weather here, but so do the weeds and pests. I used to have a garden on the mainland. Every spring was almost a fresh slate.

Our fruit trees grow quickly (bananas in one year), but we have these junk trees - weedy trees that grow 20 ft in one year. They shade out everything - some of them can sprout from a small piece of branch, drop thousands of seeds, or any little bit of root in the ground. It was easy being an organic farmer on the mainland - here we have weeds that grow 4" in a day!

I plant a lot of bamboos to compete and help control the noxious plants.

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 11:48 PM

STINKINGROSE

Somehow the thought of planting bamboo to control weeds strikes me as odd.. kind of like planting kudzu for any reason.

I've got giant cow parsnip (not hogweed luckily) which grows up to 6feet or so in a season, sets lots of seed, and if your skin comes in contact with it and you then get sunlight on the oils will bring you out in large itchy blisters. Fields and fields of the stuff and we can't seem to get rid of it. It's exploded in the last five years. My aunt who lives next door is an invasive species expert, and she's got us mowing the fields before it sets seed every year in hopes of getting rid of, or at least controlling, the darned stuff. I remember when the field was mostly timothy with milkweed, a little goldenrod, and vetch. The bees used to love it even five years ago when the chickory and knapweed had moved in. Now the milkweed's almost completely gone and we don't see monarchs anymore.

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Wednesday, August 19, 2009 11:33 AM

:(

The invasives are the problem everywhere. BTW We plant clumping bamboo, not runners.

We have Miconia here. It invaded Tahiti before here and wiped out 90% of their native vegetation in less than a decade. Very few native birds are left there because there is nothing for them to eat.

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Wednesday, August 19, 2009 6:59 PM

JILLIAN8020

Got a pretty substantial garden this year. Peaches, blueberries, pears, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, broccoli, strawberries, three kinds of squash, pole beans, bush beans, english peas, okra, and seven varieties of lettuce....and yes, I still have time for Firefly...just barely! lol

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Wednesday, August 19, 2009 7:12 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Jillian8020:
Got a pretty substantial garden this year. Peaches, blueberries, pears, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, broccoli, strawberries, three kinds of squash, pole beans, bush beans, english peas, okra, and seven varieties of lettuce.

Sounds wonderful. Care to share any pictures?

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Wednesday, August 19, 2009 9:09 PM

TUJIAOZUO

I grew up on a small family farm really out in the middle of Nowhere, Central California (the nearest McDonalds? 20 miles away. The nearest Movie Theatre? 50). Cotton, tomatoes, corn, alfalfa, onions and a few times we've done lettuce, pumpkins and Zinnia flowers for seed companies.

Other than that my mom loves to garden, so the yards are well maintained and full of color, and for the past two years my dad has put a garden in outside of the fence for my Grandpa to putter around in. Both dad and Gramps seem to love the garden, and my dad being a farmer seems to like to expand and elaborate on it every year. Now its no longer a little plot, but two acres of corn, watermelon, squash, cucumber, eggplant and tomatoes all watered via some elaborate irrigation drip he cobbled together.

The produce we get is amaaaazing from the garden. A few nights ago I went and picked some tomatoes from there and immediately went and made bruschetta for the family. They all just about died

Your Indian Pirate Lord,
Ash

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Thursday, August 20, 2009 6:55 AM