ducks4you
Garden Master
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- Sep 4, 2009
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I don't know about YOU but I always have more jobs to do than hours in a day. I thought we could talk about the jobs we do to prepare for planting and to repair our lawns and flower beds that aren't as FUN as showing pictures of what's growing but make them all better bc we took the initiative to do them.
Here's what I've done so far--
November, 2011-February, 2012
1) moved stall waste to cover my 55 ft x 65 ft horse training area (it dries out in the summer to be too hard to ride)
2) brought 13 geraniums and repotted and brought in salmon impatiens, pot of two hot pepper plants, and potted strawberry--all to go outside next Spring
March, 2012:
1) removed five 3-5" wide stumps from those stupid trees-of-paradise that want to forest my property!!!**
2) Used my reciprocal saw to chop down all saplings along my 75 ft old cattle fence by John Street
3) Used my reciprocal saw to chop down branches from the Ash tree that refuses to die by my driveway
4) moved 6 big wheelbarrows full of compost to street fence, 10" wide on street side (for flowers), 25" wide on property side (for vegetables)
5) Removed cut down saplings and branches to my burn pile in my 3 acre north pasture
**How I did it
I used my shovel and dug down about a spade's worth to uncover the roots. Then I sawed the roots and pulled out the stump. Then, I covered with soil. I learned to do this several years ago with 2 stubborn stumps in my vegetable garden and they never grew back.
What have you done that you'd like to brag about?
Here's what I've done so far--
November, 2011-February, 2012
1) moved stall waste to cover my 55 ft x 65 ft horse training area (it dries out in the summer to be too hard to ride)
2) brought 13 geraniums and repotted and brought in salmon impatiens, pot of two hot pepper plants, and potted strawberry--all to go outside next Spring
March, 2012:
1) removed five 3-5" wide stumps from those stupid trees-of-paradise that want to forest my property!!!**
2) Used my reciprocal saw to chop down all saplings along my 75 ft old cattle fence by John Street
3) Used my reciprocal saw to chop down branches from the Ash tree that refuses to die by my driveway
4) moved 6 big wheelbarrows full of compost to street fence, 10" wide on street side (for flowers), 25" wide on property side (for vegetables)
5) Removed cut down saplings and branches to my burn pile in my 3 acre north pasture
**How I did it
I used my shovel and dug down about a spade's worth to uncover the roots. Then I sawed the roots and pulled out the stump. Then, I covered with soil. I learned to do this several years ago with 2 stubborn stumps in my vegetable garden and they never grew back.
What have you done that you'd like to brag about?
So I'm also using white plastic on the lower parts of the perimeter, also, anything that they may see I made wire cages that i can wrap to hide the fruit. Also, I'm not planting much of their favorite goodies again this year. No cantaloupes, durn it. my gophers don't like beans. heavy on lots of unique beans again. other things they won't enjoy, amaranth, quyinoa, flint corn, peas, etc. there are 12 species of gopher in the U.S., and here in north lake county ca. we have 2 unusual species, both are very picky gourmet gophers. I looked it up. deer are easy to stop long as you don't use plastic netting on the lower 4 and a half feet. That's where the chicken wire goes. I have to keep the chicken wire out of the soil except for incidental contact. regulatiopns. towhees and junco birdies have to be stopped, so the garden has to be covered. the netting is fine, long as there are no gaps. Ravens never seem to bother, strange huh? As a last effort, if the gophers do decide to come in, i have a good sized portadog modified to be a comfy cat house for Clevland the gophergitter cat. but i prefer him to be an indoor cat. He is good about staying in the garden when out though. this is the woods. mountain lions, bears, golden eagles, bald eagles. my other cat was an outdoor cat who had a close call with probably a golden eagle. he survived, and is fine, but it was a 383 dollar vet bill, and a ton of worry. they are indoor, but the garden would be safe if necessary. probably. 
always too loud and obnoxious. We have an 8 foot tall board fence, the kind with NO gaps between boards.) And we can still see the lights, hear the drunks and they occasionaly pitch the empties into the yard. grrrrr. 
But then we only have about 12 to 15 feet between the side of our house and the back of the tavern. 
