Beginning Gardeners

[Zeedman]

No I haven't. I think it's birds eating my newly sprouted beans. Not sure if the garlic would deter them.

Mary

If all of the sprouts are being eaten, it could be ground squirrels. When I gardened in East Palo Alto, there was a nest on an adjoining property, and they were a major problem.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Mary, it could be birds. So put some netting over them until they sprout and grow a little. See if that works.

I've had issues twice with critters eating my beans as they sprout, One time it was rabbits. I shot 16 rabbits out of my garden before I got the last one that was eating beans as they sprouted. I'm sure not all 16 were eating beans as they sprouted but at least one was.

The other time it was a rat. I had the beans planted along a fence (pole beans) and a rat was living under mulch I had in that area. That rat was eating maybe three plants a night, starting at the end and working its way down the row. I happened to walk by when it was out so I knew what it probably was. I set a rat sized trap and took care of it. When I caught the rat the problem went away.

There are many things that could be doing it, it's hard to know exactly what it is. If they are pulled up I'd think birds. If they are bitten off I'd think of little furry critters with teeth.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Mary, I forgot to mention, I had a cutworm cut down a bean plant yesterday. But that was just one plant, not several. Lots of things like to cut down bean plants.

And thinking of your other post, cutworms are caterpillars, not grubs.

 

[Marie2020]

Nothing is really easy or really Hard to grow, IMHO.
Beets and radishes probably are. If you start your corn in clay soil it will probably fail bc it is a heavy feeder.
If your neighbors have squash bugs and squash vine borers, the new gardener will wake up one morning to failing squash and tears and their squash crop is decimated.
I REALLY need to start a survey about favorite/least favorite garden chores.
MY least favorites are planting/harvesting.
My favorite is ironically...weeding.

I would really like to find some kind if weeding tool. Weedin is a really hard chore for me.

I managed too grow corn from pots once but haven't been in the position to properly grow anything at all this year.

 

[digitS']

@Marie2020 ,

When I read @ducks4you 's comment about weeding, I stopped to think if I might agree with that. Most of my weeding is done sitting on a stool.

That can be a little uncomfortable when the sun is high or the wind is strong. It can be tiring after several hours but the opportunity to take a break is continuous. Sometimes I have some difficulty standing and moving forward or walking around but ...

Hand tools are light and easy to use. My digitS' don't tire much. It always helps to have a variety of tools to choose from. I might be able to use only one the entire length of a bed but move to another area and be faced with different weeds or, more likely, weeds of a different age and size. Also, the desired garden plants vary in difficulty to work around.

• Deep roots, long skinny, tool.
• Tough mat of weeds, heavy, strong tool.
• Tiny weeds, broad scraping tool.
• Difficult to reach weeds, small scraping tool

digitS'

 

[Zeedman]

I would really like to find some kind if weeding tool. Weedin is a really hard chore for me.

I managed too grow corn from pots once but haven't been in the position to properly grow anything at all this year.

I agree with @digitS' , you will usually need more than one tool for different weeds. Sometimes more than one function is built into a tool; but for me, the bare minimum is a digging tool, and a cutting/scraping tool. If I had to use only one tool, a small pick hoe is probably the most versatile for me.

 

[flowerbug]

@Marie2020 ,

When I read @ducks4you 's comment about weeding, I stopped to think if I might agree with that. Most of my weeding is done sitting on a stool.

That can be a little uncomfortable when the sun is high or the wind is strong. It can be tiring after several hours but the opportunity to take a break is continuous. Sometimes I have some difficulty standing and moving forward or walking around but ...

i use a ground pillow, a hard short stool is too hard on my butt and lower back and it also puts me too far from what i am working on. sometimes i am sitting and other times i am using the pillow as a pad to kneel on. it depends upon how much time i'm going to be in that spot as to if i sit or kneel.

Hand tools are light and easy to use. My digitS' don't tire much. It always helps to have a variety of tools to choose from. I might be able to use only one the entire length of a bed but move to another area and be faced with different weeds or, more likely, weeds of a different age and size. Also, the desired garden plants vary in difficulty to work around.

• Deep roots, long skinny, tool.

large wooden handle steak knife or flat bladed shovel if it goes down deep enough and i care to chase it down all the ways to extinction. normally it won't survive a mostly dug up extraction to recover and regrow. i know which weeds are which by now.

• Tough mat of weeds, heavy, strong tool.

flat bladed shovel.

• Tiny weeds, broad scraping tool.

between rows, stirrup hoe. close to plants the knife or the trowel.

• Difficult to reach weeds, small scraping tool

steak knife or small mason trowel.


weeds that form mats in the grass i can scrape most of them away with the stirrup hoe which gives the chance for the grass to grow again once it isn't being smothered. i have chickweed in some areas and a few other weeds that it reduces their population enough to give the grass a chance again. of course, in some places i'm removing everything to restore a garden so i can replant it again (20ft to go!).

my attitude towards weeds and weeding changed a lot once i figured out that weeds are worm food and soil conditioners and breakers for clumps of clay and drills for drainage. they do a lot of good things and on top of that some are edible themselves.

i enjoy sitting or working outside here, i can go out for any amount of time and find something to do that i can do, even if it is sitting along an edge and picking gravel out of the dirt or removing some weeds. i can do that and think about whatever else is going on or enjoy the birdies and/or the wind chimes or the sunshine and breezes. when harvest time comes around i get those results to enjoy.

i noticed yesterday that the garlic (including the green garlic) is up and growing and the earliest daffodils are out.

also saw the deer tracks.

 

[baymule]

I just plop my butt down in the dirt and scoot along pulling weeds. Gotta watch for ant beds.......

 

[Ridgerunner]

Depends on where I am and what I'm doing. I made a cushion out of heavy canvas and foam I can kneel on. I use that on concrete when I'm cleaning out the drains and in some other places if I'm going to be there a while. I tried a pillow case and that was shredded on the concrete in just a few uses. Heavy canvas with enough to spare for repairs.

Mostly in my raised bed garden if I need to kneel or other places like landscape beds I use those strap on knee pads. I have to keep adjusting them when I move but they protect my skin and my pants if I'm wearing long legged pants instead of shorts.

And in some conditions I just kneel. It just depends on what I'm doing. I almost never scoot on my butt, I'm the one that washes my work clothes, it's harder to get back up, and that often puts me too far away from what I'm doing unless I pretty much ay down. I try to stay flexible.