Better Be Planting This Year. 2022+ And Up MEGATHREAD

Squirrels



I've had enough, LOL. Bad enough that they raid the bird feeder in winter, but this spring when I removed that to place a hummingbird feeder- eventually they started to grab that to guzzle the sugar water. My son bought some containers and put Romas and basil on the deck. I added some super sweet cherry tomatoes. I got rid of all the chipmunks via rat traps, but now the squirrels have invaded and have wiped out every single deck tomato. If they are too small and not ripe, they pull them off, take a bite, then dump on the deck. For the first time in 10 years they have also destroyed the tomatoes in my garden as well. Added insult they are chewing on a corner of one of my deck steps.

This means war.
 
Mountain said:
Squirrels



I've had enough, LOL. Bad enough that they raid the bird feeder in winter, but this spring when I removed that to place a hummingbird feeder- eventually they started to grab that to guzzle the sugar water. My son bought some containers and put Romas and basil on the deck. I added some super sweet cherry tomatoes. I got rid of all the chipmunks via rat traps, but now the squirrels have invaded and have wiped out every single deck tomato. If they are too small and not ripe, they pull them off, take a bite, then dump on the deck. For the first time in 10 years they have also destroyed the tomatoes in my garden as well. Added insult they are chewing on a corner of one of my deck steps.

This means war.
Click to expand...

Try an air rifle if you're in the suburbs. Had good success with less risk of collateral damage. EDIT: cats also work well and do less garden damage.

This year I have groundhog(s) and raccoons. Trying to trap and euthanize the groundhog for now but if someone has other ideas/tips it'd be appreciated.
 
Mountain said:
Squirrels



I've had enough, LOL. Bad enough that they raid the bird feeder in winter, but this spring when I removed that to place a hummingbird feeder- eventually they started to grab that to guzzle the sugar water. My son bought some containers and put Romas and basil on the deck. I added some super sweet cherry tomatoes. I got rid of all the chipmunks via rat traps, but now the squirrels have invaded and have wiped out every single deck tomato. If they are too small and not ripe, they pull them off, take a bite, then dump on the deck. For the first time in 10 years they have also destroyed the tomatoes in my garden as well. Added insult they are chewing on a corner of one of my deck steps.

This means war.
Click to expand...

I’ve only had to battle chipmunks in my deck garden. This works for me when heavily applied and repeated bi-weekly. Only spray around the base of the containers, not on the plants. HD/Lowe’s, doesn’t degrade the deck wood at all.
IMG_2474.jpeg
 
Sauer Grapes said:
I’ve only had to battle chipmunks in my deck garden. This works for me when heavily applied and repeated bi-weekly. Only spray around the base of the containers, not on the plants. HD/Lowe’s, doesn’t degrade the deck wood at all.
View attachment 911041
Click to expand...
Might have to try that sometime. Mostly I'm 'live and let live' with the critters given that we live at the edge of ~2,000 acres of uninterrupted forest and around 3X that with some roads intersecting. Bears, coyotes, bobcats, birds of prey, foxes, etc. are all frequent visitors. Might try the spray around my A/C unit to keep the chipmunks away as I've already had $2K in damage when they chewed wires and shorted the compressor.

The resident squirrels had become so aggressive and destructive I opted for a permanent solution with a couple tube traps from Wildlife Control Supplies in CT. We've lived here over 10 years with occasional squirrel issues but no permanent damage to structures. The dearly departed [laugh] ones were chewing up the deck in random spots and raiding birds nests for eggs and chicks. I like the birds for bug control. Anyway, the below trap was incredibly effective.

WCSTUBERR_main2a_540x432.jpg
 
Garden has been crazy this year. I’m glad my two older boys are big enough to harvest. We have been getting 3+ lbs of cucumbers a day for over a month, dozen of bell peppers, hundreds of hot peppers, dozens of eggplants, tons of beans, celery, squash, probably close to 100lbs of tomatoes. We haven’t bought produce since early July for our family of 6. And have given away more than we ate. I have 20 pints of sauced canned and another 15 or so boiling today. I should end up with enough for 1-2 pints of sauce a week for the year.

Only big fail so far may be my succession planting again. I didn’t get my second round of carrots along with beets and turnips in until the first week of August. I’m not sure they will have enough time.


IMG_3083.jpeg
 
Pulled the rest of the summer carrots last week. Probably 30% were rotten or too woody. But that still left me quite a few. Fall carrots and beets are actually looking decent - if I can get another couple weeks they will be good. Still some big enough now. After tonight it looks like it is going to warm up so I’m hopeful.

I didn’t grow any oregano last year and ran out of my 2022 crop this spring. But I think I got even more this year than in 2022. It turns out all my boys and I love oregano so I think we will eat this all in a year.

IMG_3102.jpeg

IMG_3108.jpeg
 
Cleaned up most of the garden yesterday. I had some grass take root in the summer I wanted to get out. I used a stirrup hoe which is the best tool that I never knew existed. It’s really meant for cultivating but works great to get out shallow root weeds like grass. I would highly recommend it.

Pulled the last of the winter carrots today. About 25 lbs on top of the 10 or so I pulled a few weeks ago. What really grew for me was turnips or rudebagas - I’m not exactly sure what they are. But the family doesn’t really like them so there are lots left in the ground.

These carrots should last us through January or so which would give me seven months of all my family’s veggies coming from the backyard. Plus canned tomatoes and frozen peppers probably for the year. And got to teach my boys about hard work with your hands and the miracle of life. I hope next year goes just as well!

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Cowgirlup said:
How are you cooking them? I oven roasted some in avocado oil and butter with carrots and potatoes and kohlrabi until they caramelized.
It takes any bitterness or harshness out of the flavor. Served with beef roast.
Click to expand...
Thank you, I will try that! We have been oven roasting them, but with olive oil. Butter and avacado oil sounds better. And maybe we haven’t cooked them enough. They have definitely still been bitter. I don’t really mind the bitterness. But I can only get the kids to eat a couple small pieces and even my wife won’t eat much.
 
For those who may be interested I’ll be leading a seed starting workshop for the Hardwick Farmers Co op on Saturday, February 8th @ 10am.
We’ll discuss techniques and tip for better indoor germination.
What to start inside & when. What to start outside and when. We’ll deal predominately with veggies but also touch on fruit and nut trees & fun odd plants.
You’ll get tips on spacing, depth, stratification, UV requirements, scarification, inoculation & more.
I’ll probably bring a few cool seeds to give away.
The talk is sponsored by my favorite store, the Hardwick Farmers Co op in Hardwick ma.
Call the store to reserve your free spot @
1-413-477-6913.


I’ll also be doing a pruning talk on March 8th for the co op. Same deal.
I hope to see ya there.
 
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