The new planting season

[Blues Man]

Do all of you fellow gardeners have any plans for this year?

Last Fall I prepped a long strip on my southern facing fence line. I turned the soil added lots of compost and laid on 3 inches of mulch to get it ready for the 100 sunflowers I will be planting. I have a couple different varieties in mind ranging from the 3 foot to the 12 foot tall flowers of varying colors.

This is one of my personal favorites

Just thinking about these beauties in bloom is making my winter more bearable.

I also have a mind to plant some Dahlias. I just have to be careful that the dogs don't get into them since they are toxic

 

[Compost]

I have plans to put up a better deer fence. They actually bit off some sunflower heads when the plants were about waist high.

I've also expanded the garden area to make more room for vines. Pumpkins and melons have done well so it's time to add some winter squash.

 

[Blues Man]

I have plans to put up a better deer fence. They actually bit off some sunflower heads when the plants were about waist high.

I've also expanded the garden area to make more room for vines. Pumpkins and melons have done well so it's time to add some winter squash.

I am playing around with the idea of establishing a living willow fence.

 

[Compost]

I am playing around with the idea of establishing a living willow fence.

I love that idea. One fence side around on my garden is full of morning glories (they keep coming back whether you want them to or not!). I experimented with a living fence using boysenberry but they don't train well. Thus, they guard the compost area which is a win/win. They grow very well there.

 

[rampart]

Do all of you fellow gardeners have any plans for this year?

Last Fall I prepped a long strip on my southern facing fence line. I turned the soil added lots of compost and laid on 3 inches of mulch to get it ready for the 100 sunflowers I will be planting. I have a couple different varieties in mind ranging from the 3 foot to the 12 foot tall flowers of varying colors.

This is one of my personal favorites

View attachment 892013

Just thinking about these beauties in bloom is making my winter more bearable.

I also have a mind to plant some Dahlias. I just have to be careful that the dogs don't get into them since they are toxic

we had our first freeze last week. i was still harvesting tomatoes!

think i'll start out a few of these seeds .......

gardening is why i like the south.

 

[sealybobo]

Do all of you fellow gardeners have any plans for this year?

Last Fall I prepped a long strip on my southern facing fence line. I turned the soil added lots of compost and laid on 3 inches of mulch to get it ready for the 100 sunflowers I will be planting. I have a couple different varieties in mind ranging from the 3 foot to the 12 foot tall flowers of varying colors.

This is one of my personal favorites

View attachment 892013

Just thinking about these beauties in bloom is making my winter more bearable.

I also have a mind to plant some Dahlias. I just have to be careful that the dogs don't get into them since they are toxic

We plant crop that deer will eat. You probably hate them eating your stuff. We plant it to bring them in. My favorite is winter wheat. When it’s fully mature it looks like the sarungeti. Then we run a roller over it and plant something else. The rolled wheat covers the seeds from the sun and birds.

Just thinking about this makes me happy. Thanks.

 

[Blues Man]

We plant crop that deer will eat. You probably hate them eating your stuff. We plant it to bring them in. My favorite is winter wheat. When it’s fully mature it looks like the sarungeti. Then we run a roller over it and plant something else. The rolled wheat covers the seeds from the sun and birds.

Just thinking about this makes me happy. Thanks.

Not at all.

I try to plant things that will be beneficial to my fellow animals. I don't care if birds eat my raspberries as long as I can get a few bowlfuls

Most of my garden is specifically planted with native plants for pollinators and birds. I love the birds that live all around me and I always count the days until the hummingbirds come back

 

[jbrownson0831]

Not at all.

I try to plant things that will be beneficial to my fellow animals. I don't care if birds eat my raspberries as long as I can get a few bowlfuls

Most of my garden is specifically planted with native plants for pollinators and birds. I love the birds that live all around me and I always count the days until the hummingbirds come back

Good point, but I like the sunflowers because the rabbits leave them alone almost entirely.

 

[Blues Man]

Good point, but I like the sunflowers because the rabbits leave them alone almost entirely.

Yeah once they get going they're pretty immune to most everything

 

[Compost]

For crying out loud, gardeners don't "hate" wild critters for eating. It is perfectly reasonable to set up your garden so that you and your family get a good yield from your labors.

Does everything have become a virtue signal?

 

[JustAnotherNut]

For crying out loud, gardeners don't "hate" wild critters for eating. It is perfectly reasonable to set up your garden so that you and your family get a good yield from your labors.

Does everything have become a virtue signal?

Hey, speak for yourself. Wild animals or even pets can be problematic to gardeners. And for some, space may be limited. Either way, it gets frustrating to put in all that time and hard work only to get 'whatever is left' after the critters have left a destructive path.

Deer and rabbits can decimate a garden of any size, and the more you plant, the more they eat of it.

Here, I deal with squirrels that often dig holes in new plantings in search of that lost peanut, or eat my corn the day before it's ripe enough to pick. Then of course there's our cat that thinks it's one big litter box and last year (2022) the dogs were eating the green beans and whatever else they thought tasty.

I have since fenced off the garden to keep our pets out, but I can't control those pesky squirrels and they know it.

 

[fncceo]

The new planting season​

 

[Blues Man]

Well. Maybe I've mellowed with age. Sure, I get frustrated when I think I've protected the seeding bean plants then rabbits eat them... But hate them? For what? Trying to survive?

Then you've got some folks who brag about how they provide for the critters. How it makes them happy. Spare me.

OK then. You get mad. I focus on finding another way to keep critters out. The guy with the deer decoy laying on its side gets all self-righteous. Live and let live. LOL

Hey I grow vegetables too and I try to keep the critters out of my veg garden but I also other things that will benefit my little ecosystem and by doing that I actually end yp with a better growing vegetable garden

 

[Compost]

Hey I grow vegetables too and I try to keep the critters out of my veg garden but I also other things that will benefit my little ecosystem and by doing that I actually end yp with a better growing vegetable garden

Of course. That's part of gardening.

Look, I remarked to the comments from the guy with the avi of the deer decoy on its side for being a self-righteous bore. Sorry I stated the obvious. I never dreamed it would produce a flood of disapproval and defensiveness.

Best of luck with your garden in 2024.

 

[Dekster]

I plant sunflowers as sacrificial plants. I observed that during japanese beetle time, they much prefer them over other things so I plant them to keep the beetles off the other things.

As for Garden 2024, I am thinking about it, but have no concrete big changes. It wouldn't matter what I planned anyway since those always get tossed to the wind the day the first seeds start going in.

I will be relocating my compost bins closer to the house. The ones with pallets are at the end of their lives and I put them way too far away up a hill and behind a grove of trees. Since they don't much smell, I plan to bring their replacement down into the yard area.

I will do much more in 2025. 2024 is about finishing selling off all my remaining investment property I won't be keeping to pass on when I croak and winding down a business I own. I want to go into 2025 semi-retired with nothing other than a hobby job to bide my time until I can tap into the 401K at 59 1/2

 

[Moonglow]

View attachment 892424

That looks like the old planting season.

 

[Moonglow]

I plan on doubling the size of the garden.

 

[progressive hunter]

 

[sealybobo]

Not at all.

I try to plant things that will be beneficial to my fellow animals. I don't care if birds eat my raspberries as long as I can get a few bowlfuls

Most of my garden is specifically planted with native plants for pollinators and birds. I love the birds that live all around me and I always count the days until the hummingbirds come back

We plant winter wheat, alfalfa, beats, corn, etc. Things that the deer will eat. That way they come to our property from Oct 1 to Dec 31st so we can shoot them.