Western Mountain High Plains What are you doing in your gardens today?

I love watching deer but jeesh they can be nuisances! So sorry about the havoc they play in your gardens.

No kidding Turan, it would be much cuter if it was a fawn instead of a big mule buck. It's too bad the licenses have been handed out and poaching is frowned upon, lol.

Thanks Cheyanne and Rooster!

Last night I thought I was going to die... I trimmed all the beets them took a load of them out to my compost pile it was about 11:00 pm and pitch black I stepped up on this rock a started to dump out my bag of beet greens and something came running at me, I froze and thought it's too bad my husband and kids have to find my carcass in the yard in the morning. The running stopped turned around and all I could hear was the unmistakable mulie pounce... Don't they ever go to bed, now I am missing a few small canteloupes.

I find that pretty frightening. I like country living much better in the daytime. It's in the back of my mind somethings going to chew on me at night.. I enjoy meteor showers but while I'm looking up it's just perfect for something to sneak up and take a bite. or a barn cat comes along rubs and makes me jump.

Me too, I have two outdoor cats that have made me pee myself several times

My son in law has tried many deer deterients and the only thing he has found to be consistantly effective is a 6 ft electric fence.

Kay

It is supposed to frost and it feels cold this morning so I did some picking of things that are especially sensitive.



Marty is talking about making a squash blossom coconut milk curry for tonight. What ever basil he does not use I will freeze, some as leaves and some as pesto depending on the time factor.

Great pictures Turan! Stinking frosts anyways! Well my garden is almost non existant after yesterday, they got into my tomato cages and ate EVERYTHING, they ate all my canteloupes, ENTIRE PUMPKINS, . About the only thing they haven't destroyed are my sweet potatoes (probably will find them tonight) and my lincoln peas I fall planted a month ago. So on the bright side my compost pile is much bigger. Me and the kids emptied out almost all the beds yesterday! I have the day off tomorrow so I will be planting some new things in the plant inn on the back upper deck with no stairs, muaahahahaha, try to get them veggies deer.

Forgot to mention that we did get one last bucket of produce picked before we "cleaned house". About 4 small spaghetti squash, 1 large one, a few turnips, some carrots, and the last green pepper of the year!

I was out cleaning up a tomato/pepper bed and found one more green pepper.

Cheyanne, that would scare the s__t out of me!! And thats terrible they had a banquet off of your garden. I know we have been dealing with drought but those critters could go chew on a neighbor's grass or something. Glad you were able to salvage some veggies.

Turan, your harvest looks great! The curry meal sounds good!

I have fought aphids like crazy for the last month! My garden is being eaten alive! I have used a gallon of soap bug spray but I can't keep ahead of them. My poor green beans have very few leaves but they keep growing new little leaves. So the stalks are good but the leaves are mostly missing.
Little white flying bugs are on my cukes, zukes, yellow squash and acorn squashes. Drives me crazy!
I didn't get a good harvest from most of my veggies this first year of sfg. That is disappointing. I hope to improve my MM with compost from my new composter! Hoping for a better harvest next year.
Happy harvesting to all,
Evelyn from zone 4 Wyoming

Bummer Evelyn, I understand about being disappointed, I had lots of plans for pickled beets, salsa and canned tomatoes, and all I have are pickled beets and dilly beans after what the deer left me! We will just have to keep on learning and figure out how to deal with all of our darn pests!

Aww jeez, I am sorry your guys got pests.....

I wonder if the aphids and white flys would be helped by growing lots of stuff like yarrow and bolting cilantro and other flowers that beneficial insects like. Maybe even buying some of them sp you are sure you have a good population.

I am also clearing up beds. Broccoli and peas and raab and bok choi and tomatoes still producing. Also making a new bed and rearranging stuff.

Cheyanne, I had hopes of putting up beets also but that didn't happen. I am getting so few squashes that I ended up buying a box full of zukes and yellow squash so I had something to put in the freezer! Definitely have to work on a plan to keep the bugs out next year!

Thanks Turan. Yes, I need to plan for good and bad bugs next year. Such is the life of a gardener!

Today I am planting the Egyptian walking onions that I got from Turan Thanks again!! I am also going to plant some garlic (just stuff I bought at the grocery store, nothing fancy).

I had a fun suprise the other day, we were out cleaning the yard up and I got to looking around some of my beds that have been bare for awhile now, I had forgotten about some tendersweet carrots (2 squares), the deer had been eating down the tops all summer so there wasn't much left above ground but when I dug down I found a bunch of beautiful little carrots, their growth was severly stunted from the darn deer eating the tops but they delicious. I also still have lettuce, peas, and radishes in the plant in! I sure will be nice to have fresh salad on Thanksgiving!

Nice Cheyanne, I also got a lettuce surprise in one of my beds yesterday. I had completely forgotten about planting some Red Sails Lettuce back in August! It has gone through lots of overnight freezes and a couple of snows and looks wonderful!

What nice surprises! I wonder what I will find when this foot of snow leaves, if it leaves before Thanksgiving
I think there is a few bokchoi and radishes and probably kale leaves.

Let's hope the snow melts Turan! Some nice fresh goodies for Thanksgiving sounds wonderful! This will be the first year I have ever had garden fresh goodies in November!

I know I am just out of the Western Mountains & High Plains, but just barely! Saturday when I was scooping up leaves to pile onto my beds for the winter I found some green carrot tops hiding under the dead tomato plants. I still have some carrots I can dig! Looking forward to seeing how big they are and how sweet they are now that we have some freezing weather.

GG/N&C MidWest

Ooh yay, carrots get sweeter when they get a little freeze! Wow fresh salad for Thanksgiving!

I do have to tell this story. One year when doing the old way of gardening I had not pulled all the lettuce that had bolted and it went to seed. In the very early spring the next year I was going to switch over to sfg and went out to my garden area. The lettuce seeds had started growing without any effort on my part and much earlier than I would have planted. The seeds did not get covered with any dirt unless it blew onto them and the seeds did not get covered to protect them from freezing. We had a typical winter of snow and freezing weather. The lettuce was spread over about a 3' x 2' area if memory serves me correctly and it was very dense. I would pull some plants out to thin them and eat some then or make a salad later. As time went on I did water them some and kept pulling and eating.

Nice thing about that winter sown lettuce. I do believe that lettuce needs light for germination. When I sow lettuce seed I usually sprinkle the little seeds on top then just press on them. Maybe I will try sowing some seed before the snow comes.

cheyannarach wrote:I had a fun suprise the other day, I had forgotten about some tendersweet carrots (2 squares), the deer had been eating down the tops all summer so there wasn't much left above ground but when I dug down I found a bunch of beautiful little carrots. I also still have lettuce, peas, and radishes in the plant in! I sure will be nice to have fresh salad on Thanksgiving!

I have some late sown carrots still growing in snow covered beds. Also green onions and parsley. Time will tell how long they survive out there. It got down to -8 Saturday night!

Wow that's awesome! Green onions and parsley too! I just used up the last of my onions this weekend and I never got any parsley because the mulies beat me to it .

All are from seeds and I'm surprised they are still growing!