Lazy Gardener's Little Town Farm

[Lazy Gardener]

Note to self: Bug spray + sudden rain down pour = "stab my eye with a pencil" pain caused by stream of watery bug spray dripping into the eyes!

Breaking up the cement hard area in front of the garden to prep for laying paving stones and mulch has failed at 2 attempts:

1. I was gonna use the troy bilt to break up the sod/soil. Even with the tines raised to the shallowest setting, that thing took off like a bucking bronco hooked up to an old fashioned plow, with a little ol' lady hanging on for dear life. The ground was too firm to allow the tines to get the slightest purchase into the soil.

2. So... I went back to my original method of busting the sod/concrete soil with a spade. That's gonna take all summer!

3. Next plan: Gonna have to make the garden bigger. Well, not really. But, if I'm gonna re-do things... might as well go big or go home. With boss' permission, I'm gonna push S side of garden out an other 16". That will give a NICE walking path between ends of adjacent beds, and the fencing. I'll take the S-L-O-W Lazy Gardener approach, and do absolutely NO digging. Plan is to lay heavy layers of cardboard to kill all of the aggressive rhizome weeds. Cover with a LOT of mulch. Soak the ground where the pavers are going to go, and lay them right on top of the sod. Hopefully, a good winter with freeze/thaw cycles, and a lot of moisture + lawn mower weight will sink those pavers down to same level as sod.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I am overjoyed: My Elderberry is going to bloom. It has about 6 flower bracts on it. Just in time for the deer to browse on it, I'm sure!

 

[baymule]

Yay for elderberry blooms!

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Oh, blessed, sweet, refreshing rain! What a perfect day to be out working in the garden, and seeing the daily growth. Newest planting of lettuce, herbs, and carrots are up. Garlic will be harvested in a couple weeks: leaving a bed free for the next planting. Zucchini will be fruiting next week. Same with bush beans!

It rained off and on all day. Got up to 85 when sun was shining. Otherwise, a nice refreshing rain that was ok to be working in most of the time. I laid cardboard and dumped 2 barrels of stable litter over the S end of the garden where I've pulled the fencing. I just may build up a good layer of deep lasagna style mulch in that area for the rest of the summer, and follow with the pavers this fall. That lasagna mulch can then be heaped in the various raised beds.

Watering, before the rains started dislodged a huge mouse from one of the beds. He went scurrying across the garden. Time to put out some traps. Will need to cogitate on the method, cause birds always seem to get caught in the mouse traps. There's a rat that's been tunneling into the chicken run. He needs to go also. I'll put out some "special" food for him. I always hate to do that for fear that a chicken, duck or Maggie will get into it. I use a bait station, but if the varmint is able to carry the food off... or there is secondary poisoning... it's a fear for me. When working in the front of the garden yesterday, I found 5 pinkies. The ducks were more than happy to help dispose of them.

I had an "A-HA!" moment yesterday: I've been dumping grass clippings in the garden. Thus: Any ticks on the lawn automatically get transported to the garden! I really need those clippings... unless I can come up with an other mulch. Wood chips are too labor intensive. Hay carries the same risk.

 

[baymule]

Pile up the green grass clippings, maybe add some brown, such as leaves, manure or pine needles. Let the heat from the grass clippings cook those ticks!

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Have you looked into RatX? It's supposed to only effect rodents, basically after they eat it it tells them they aren't thirsty, so they dehydrate themselves to death because they forget to drink. Doesn't harm any critter that eats the dead/dying rodents. Doesn't work as well during the rainy season tho for obvious reasons.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Pile up the green grass clippings, maybe add some brown, such as leaves, manure or pine needles. Let the heat from the grass clippings cook those ticks!

that's kind of what I've decided to do. I can get lightly used stable litter at the town compost facility. (shavings + a few nuggets and raisins) Have some left over leaves, lots of chicken/duck bedding, and can add grass clippings. I'll build a lasagna style compost heap over the area that will be the expanded walking path at front of garden. This fall, it should be well cooked, ready to add to the beds, and I can then level that area, and put down the pavers and a thick layer of wood chips.

Have you looked into RatX? It's supposed to only effect rodents, basically after they eat it it tells them they aren't thirsty, so they dehydrate themselves to death because they forget to drink. Doesn't harm any critter that eats the dead/dying rodents. Doesn't work as well during the rainy season tho for obvious reasons.

Thanks. I'll look at the RatX. As far as I know, D-Con is the only rat/mouse bait that is approved for organic gardening. It's active ingredient is Vitamin D3. Toxic to rodents in large amounts, but not toxic to other species. And, supposedly there is NO RISK from secondary poisoning. Could be that RatX is the same active ingredient as D-Con. I think it's Cholecalciferol.

 

[Britesea]

Would RatX or D-Con work on ground squirrels? They are a real problem here. DH uses an air rifle on them, but that's limited to him seeing them above ground before they see him.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Label attached, active ingredients are corn gluten meal and sodium chloride.

Google doesn't think it will work on squirrels, only rats and mice.

 

[CrealCritter]

Hornets nest? How do you get rid of that without getting bombarded?

At nite quickly slip a plastic garbage bag over the hive tie it tight at the top. Come back after 3 nights and 2 days, dead wasp hive.