Container gardening with marginal success.
I decided early in the spring that instead of planting flowers on my deck like I always have in the past, I was going to fill some of my pots with plants and seeds to grow vegetables. The effort was less than successful.
I bought a pack of zucchini seeds which the chipmunks dug up and ate every time I replanted them. Pretty soon I gave up. My pack of seeds was empty and all I had accomplished was feeding the chipmunks $5 worth of zucchini seeds.
I planted some green beans in a big pot and protected them with some chicken wire supported with a few bamboo stakes and even put a chicken wire lid across the top and that kept the chipmunks out. The bean plants grew but I only got a handful of beans and realize that I would need many more plants to have a successful harvest!
And peppers! I have 6 different kinds of pepper plants. They are blooming nicely. The pepperoncini produced this lovely pepper, and then GONE! Who knew chipmunks would even eat peppers! I hope their mouths were burning! I will be moving all the pepper plants onto the screen porch tomorrow!
I planted a variety of mini cucumber that has done well. I moved it onto the porch when I realized all the tiny cucumbers were disappearing and being carried off by the rodents and it has done pretty well.
I have had a steady supply of cucumbers, and even had enough to share with others.
I bought my lemon tree 18 years ago and some years it has had as many as 13 full sized lemons on it.
This year it has one. It probably needs to be repotted, but since it needs to be brought in the house every winter I'm rather afraid that a larger pot will make it completely unmanageable.
I planted leaf lettuce, spinach and arugula in my raised bed. The cover has protected it and I have had many meals from my little patch of greens this summer.
It needs to be pulled and a fresh crop planted to enjoy this fall, but the hummingbirds are loving the flowers that are growing on the arugula plants and I hate to pull them!
My cherry tomato plant is growing on the back porch and giving me a few ripe tomatoes everyday. It would love more sunshine than what it is getting, but the chipmunks were stealing the little tomatoes while they were still green and this was the only solution I had for at least getting a few!
The herbs have all done well out on the deck. The basil plants have flourished, as has the rosemary, mint, parsley and dill.
Not only do I NOT have a deck full of beautiful flowers, I do not have a bountiful vegetable harvest like I had dreamed of!
But I am already thinking ahead to what I can do differently next year!
Great job my friend @melinda010100 it is good to produce food even if it is just to boost what we have to purchase. It will also taste better and be better for you than anything you can buy, have the greatest one
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That's the beauty of gardening - there's always next year. Looks to me like you did quite well for your first year. My first year I got nearly nothing except for cherry tomatoes, which grew so high the rodents couldn't reach them. I don't think it got a whole lot of sun either. The screened box is a great idea. Plant flowers too! There must be flowers that repel rodents. I have good luck repelling rodents by putting short lenths of thorny stems on top of the dirt. Good luck next year!!!
Thorny stems! That will be worth trying. I have tried sprinkling cinnamon and hot pepper around and that had absolutely no effect. I'll keep trying!
It's very satisfying when you figure out how to grow this or that. The only way to figure out what not to grow is to fail a few times. I'm getting rid of rhubarb and not growing sweet potatoes again, for instance, because they attract Japanese Beetles. You;ve got quite a lot of space there, I'm sure you can produce quite a lot.
I do have space, but much of it is densely shaded. Keeps the house cool, but not ideal for growing most things!
It seems us Ecencials are all thinking gardening right now as we all made a post today or yesterday lol... i cant believe you did not have luck with the veggies on your deck. How big are the chipmunks? With Chipmunks I am always thinking of Alvin and the gang:
They are little and totally fearless!
Let’s hope next year will go better.
You did great though for a first year. 😎
What a pleasure of harving the own backyard, i got mangos a tree and lemons too. 😆
I suppose how else will you learn what you can and can't do there, but to try..... and it looks like you gave it a good shot.
Glad you are at least getting some of the fruits of your labor. There always seems to be some sort of critter that thinks the free food is for them. LOL.... How dare they?
The critter battle... Deer, woodchucks, squirrels and chipmunks! And then there are those insects! 😁
It is a very good thing when a person grows things indoors by working hard like this, it is very beneficial. We also planted tomatoes. It is a very good thing to pass the time and one also feels very relaxed by going inside and looking at the plants and watering them.
I've been gardening my whole life, but have never done much container gardening before. I'm learning!
Those cucumbers look incredible, very well done!
Thanks! Because they are inside the screen porch I have to water them at least every other day.
Very good
Thanks!
Good
You have a cute little garden. Do chipmunks really dig up seeds? Furry bandits!
They dig them up very precisely! They know exactly where the seed is and just a small hole in the soil!
Well, I also wish to plant cucumber but I don't know if my land is fertile enough to plant it or not. I actually hope that it is...
Your plants look very good. They are looking so healthy...
Cucumbers need a lot of water and I do have fertile soil in the pots. Good luck!
Sounds like you need an outdoor cat or three. Hadn't really thought of chipmunks as much of a menace but I guess they still are squirrels. For me it's been groundhogs but ever since I caught one in a live trap they've left the yard alone.
I know with squirrels at least, they take tomatoes mainly as a water source rather than food, do you have anything like a water source for them in your yard? Sometimes that helps.
A spring, a creek and a river! 🤣
They don't need my tomatoes!
It's great to hear from you! It's been awhile.
And sometimes they're just right bastards :)
It's good to be heard from 😎 Been spending more time in the yard and less on hive, it's been nice but I get to missing everybody. On a vaguely related note, have you noticed your tomatoes ripening later than normal? Seems around here everybody's is about a month behind schedule turning red, we're blaming the wildfire smoke for lack of a better explanation.
Few of my plants are flourishing this year. The smoke has to be having an impact. We are under a blanket of smoke again through the weekend. Clean air has become precious. 😥
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The garden's looking great - very impressed! My folk's lemon tree is now just a few years old and surprising us with some lemons. So awesome to get something from the garden loool. Keep well my friend.
Sometimes my little potted tree has produced enough to make a pitcher of lemonade! You will enjoy having fresh lemons!
Hey there gorgeous!
i hoe that you have been well and by the looks of your garden, you're thriving too!
I'd love to know more about the planter box that you have there. It looks like it has slide out drawers to it?
Thanks! Haven't heard from you in a while! Not necessarily well, more like managing. Hope all is well with you?
No drawers. Slatted sides allow drainage so that the box doesn't fill with water if we have heavy rain.
Ha yes, unfortunately I know that feeling, not managing so well so something had to give and it was (very sadly, Hive...)
It's hard to do your own fun things on a computer when you've been on one all day doing high pressure work- and day for me is actually 1430- 2230 so my brain is fried by the time I get home and then Indy and I go straight to bed for a cuddle (she's my Parrot..) then up in the morning to get life done before work (Indy's mess...) and some important stuff on the computer and then ho ho ho I go...
But we're really quiet at work at the moment, which is why I'm sitting here replying to you instead of doing my job...So I'm taking advantage of the slow time to see everyone on here again.
My mind has never been far from Hive. Infact I have done a lot of Hove based things- just not on Hive.
I might actually explain that in a post...🤣
Anyway, I was thinking with the garden bed, if it was had shelves that would be a great place to grow mushrooms and have another shelf with worms in there eating through your compost....
Wow , next level stuff ! , inspiring ! 🍏💚🌲😁
Its cheaper to feed the chipmunks a pack of sunflower seeds 😂 Too bad the chipmunks are so helpful with your gardening 🙄 Unfortunately there aren't any effective solutions. On the positive side, I have had luck growing peppers inside 🙂
My daughter loves the little critters and feeds them peanuts in the shell, but only at the front of the house! I hate encouraging them to come around to the back near the deck! I actually spray them with the hose if I see them out there, but that doesn't stop them for a minute!
Those darn chipmunks.. I feel ya.
Glad they did not get everything and I hope their mouth burned as well. Lol
It's a battle! 😁