I spent hours this weekend pulling weeds and thinning seedlings out in the garden. The weather was gorgeous, and there were lots of birds calling to each other which provided some entertainment, but I still got a little tired of weeding (as did my knees).
A thunderstorm was predicted, but we only got a few sprinkles and LOTS of wind. So I watered the vegetable garden after weeding it and fertilizing with an all-purpose organic fertilizer (since I still haven’t sent away a soil sample even though I keep meaning to). I need to water all of the other garden beds scattered around the property soon since it’s been dry for a while now.
Fortunately, everything (that hasn’t already been eaten by the moles) seems to be growing well. The snow peas are a bit climbing-challenged, but I’m hoping that they’ll get better with age; otherwise I’ll just have three pea vine piles at the base of my teepee, instead of a nice, foliage-covered one as I’ve been optimistically envisioning. The D’Avignon radishes are ready for harvesting; I handed some to my guests who provided favorable reviews, but I haven’t yet sampled them myself.
The number of mole holes and eaten-to-the-ground cabbages, pak choi, and lettuces has reached unacceptable levels in my garden, so I started looking for a solution. Based on the Gardener’s Supply catalog I was ready to order some concentrated garlic sticks to place in the mouths of their burrows, but saw that those weren’t reviewed too well on their website. Reviewed more highly was a windmill-type gadget (Mole Chaser) that contains a ball bearing that creates vibrations that are relayed down into the soil and supposedly distress moles and cause them to move 75+ feet away from the gadget. I liked the idea of a permanent, non-chemical solution. I installed the mole chaser and then filled in all of the mole holes in the garden – now it’s time to wait and see if it works!
Photo #1: The society garlic’s view of the garden.
Photo #2: The garden is looking a little empty now that the broccoli, cauliflower, and some kale plants have been harvested from and removed, but lots of baby plants are busily growing in the background. The mole chaser is in the back of the garden, in front of the purple shed.
Photo #3: The D’Avignon radishes are ready to be harvested
Photo #4: Snow pea pile
Photo #5: Happy spinach
This entry is about
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2010-2012 New Home Vegetable garden |
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Day 125
Tulbaghia violacea
Growing
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Day 125
Coreopsis tinctoria
Growing
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Day 106
Allium odorum
Growing
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Day 63
Brassica rapa (Chinensis Group)
Growing
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Day 63
Allium fistulosum
Growing
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Day 28
Coriandrum sativum
Growing
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Day 120
Brassica oleracea (Acephala Group)
Growing
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Day 115
Allium cepa var. aggregatum
Growing
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Day 115
Allium cepa var. cepa
Growing
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Day 115
Allium sativum
Growing
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Day 115
Allium sativum
Growing
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Day 120
Rubus idaeus |
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Day 28
Brassica oleracea (Alboglabra Group)
Growing
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Day 63
Brassica oleracea (Italica Group)
Growing
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Day 63
Lactuca sativa var. longifolia
Growing
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Day 63
Romaine lettuce 'Winter density' Lactuca sativa
Growing
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Day 63
Lactuca sativa var. longifolia
Growing
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Day 63
Lactuca sativa
Growing
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Day 35
Pisum sativum var. macrocarpon
Growing
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Day 28
Brassica rapa (Chinensis Group)
Growing
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Day 56
Pisum sativum var. saccharatum
Growing
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Day 28
Raphanus sativus
Harvesting
2.0 x item
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Day 28
Anethum graveolens
Growing
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Day 28
Spinach 'Bloomsdale long standing' Spinacia oleracea
Growing
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Day 28
Spinacia oleracea
Growing
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Day 63
Origanum vulgare subsp. hirtum |
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Day 63
Malva sylvestris
Growing
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Day 28
Daucus carota subsp. sativus
Growing
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Previous Journals
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1.2 pounds of broccoli side shoots!
Broccoli 'Packman' Harvesting
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Today's harvest: A Tubtrug full of collards!
Collards 'Georgia' Harvesting
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Harvesting (due to bolting): Dinosaur Kale
Kale 'Toscano' Bolting, Kale 'Toscano' Harvesting, and Collards 'Georgia' Bolting
Later Journals
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Bush Bean 'Goldcrop Wax' Harvesting, Bush Bean 'Pencil Pod Wax' Harvesting, Bush Bean 'Improved T...
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Harvesting & Planting root vegetables
Coneflower 'White Swan' Flowering, Coneflower 'Purple' Flowering, Onion 'White' Harvesting, Onion...
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Harvested the first few blackberries today, with tomatoes and peppers and beans on the way!
Chinese cabbage 'Fun Jen' Under Attack, Tomato 'Sungold' Setting Fruit, and Blackberry 'Ouachita'...
Comments
Armorel wrote:
Your garden looks very neat and the radishes and spinach look very happy :-)
Hope your gadget ensures relocation of the moles away from your beds fingers crossed XXXX
Posted on 07 Mar 11 (over 2 years ago)
Katxena wrote:
Everything looks really lovely!
Posted on 07 Mar 11 (over 2 years ago)
redloon wrote:
Thanks! My fingers AND toes are crossed, in my mind at least. I’ll post an update on it’s success/failure in a couple of weeks or so.
I’m mostly done with weeding for now – I just have to rip henbit out of a few more patches of lawn. After that, I’m going to try to do a little weeding every night after work; now that the days are getting a bit longer, I have some daylight to work with after getting home again. And I’m planning to mulch the veggie garden once the sprouts get large enough that they won’t be damaged (much) by sloppy mulch application.
Posted on 07 Mar 11 (over 2 years ago)
graibeard wrote:
Ah, picked the wrong one did I? It was late and Murphy was obviously better rested than I! ;-) Now, I wonder if we can disrupt the matrix by altering the visible timeline?
An interesting solution to the mole problem. We don’t have them here but I’m also intrigued to know if it works – keep us updated. Ah, and happy weeding! :-)
Posted on 07 Mar 11 (over 2 years ago)
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