Gardening as therapy.

GardenArtist and everyone: PUMPKIN CARVING AVATARS FOR CAREGIVERS, new discussion. It was their idea!

I wished I had an electric fence last year when I had squirrels destroying absolutely everything, even plants that were supposedly poisonous to them. I don't think they're barbaric, but then I grew up on a farm and managed to get zapped fairly often myself, not pleasant, but not really cruel unless the animal is too stupid to learn a lesson!

SendMe, the raccoons in my area haven't bothered the pumpkins (or corn) until the former is a few weeks to 1 week before being harvest ready, and the corn is a few days from being harvest ready. These smart little critters know enough to leave the green plants alone.

I've used fencing or chicken wire, and some folks use hoops to keep out the critters and also retain the heat. Sometimes it's hard to maneuver and anchor though.

Human or pet hair also will deter the raccoons. When I had cats, I saved their fur and rubbed it on the pumpkins. But that has to be done after every rain as the scent washes away. And when I had 28 pumpkins one year, I didn't have enough cat fur for all the pumpkins. Raccoons got about 1/4 of them that year.

I like the idea of alarming the pumpkins to keep the raccoons away. I'll have to try that. Do you use the small battery operated motion alarms?


Jazzy, without being personal, how rural and how far north are you? Are you in northern Canada? I'm in zone 5 - 6, with a summer sometimes too short for melons, but the squash do manage to mature.

Some gardeners do use electrified fences, which I find barbaric, unless they're rigged to active alarms or lights before the rabbits or other critters come in contact with the actual fencing.

I didn't mind the rabbits and grew extra for them until they began nibbling on a sweet little Wake Robin (a burgundy trillium) that appeared as a volunteer one Spring. I walked out 2 - 3 times a day to see the flowers. Then one day they were all gone. I put fencing around them to save the seeds, fenced them again next year and the blooms remained intact.

Up here where I lived in a rural community growing anything is a challenge. Tried growing green and red peppers but the rabbits got them. Did create a flower bed of impatience on the side of the house and wouldn' t you know...they're still
blooming.

Coloresue, no, aspergers won't tell you anything, not even when they do something good and sweet. Instead, he hides it. Even though that's not his name, Shane is a perfect nickname, as he walks away mid-conversation.

Garden Artist, thanks for answering about growing pumpkins, I will use a planter on the porch and try to fence off the baby punkins to protect them from the racoons. Also, using a high-pitched alarm at the front door, that'll scare them and me too! For some reason, being awakened at night doesn't seem to bother me as much anymore. If it is expected, planned for, it's just not that bad for me. I could garden in the moonlight if there were no black widow spiders. (Guess not, just another crazy idea).

Ok maybe 2 tomato plants Lol!!

Sendme,
Shane is creative, isn't he? It sounds like he set a trap for you. Unintentionally. You certainly have to watch what he does! Can you get him to tell you when he does this stuff? It's good to vent, but also good to know where potential problems are. Enjoy your garden!!

Linda, I'd never heard of the Glass Gem corn so I did Google it and was amazed at the variety of colors. The kernels actually do look like glass beads. They're beautiful!

I've already added this to my list of corn to try next year. I just hope the kernels taste awful so the raccoons leave them alone.

This corn would be beautiful in a fall arrangement.

Thanks for the suggestion!

I've noticed the birds are more active in the garden now that foliage is starting to die back, and perhaps the worms or insects are more exposed?

On the other hand, the neighbor's Mouse Squad Queen isn't visiting as often. Perhaps the supply has been exhausted, or perhaps there's nowhere for the little critters to hide.

Saw on one of the garden forums I occasionally visit that a regular member and her family are making their own cider. Several bushels of freshly picked apples are stacked up waiting for their turn to become that delicious drink so loved in the fall.

I'm thinking again of digging out my Mother Earth magazines and toying with the idea of building my own cider press. But what else could I use it for? It's a lot of work for just one fruit.

Today, in the afternoon, there were playful little blackish birds with a top notch. They seemed really interested in whatever was in the neighbor's yard in one specific spot. Stayed around for several minutes. Don't know what kind they were.

Coloresue, 'shane is in trouble tonight'. He has become even more creative when covering the car, adds bungee cords alongside, in the dark pathway. Trying to understand. Worried next time I will fall all the way after tripping. Even a small trip can send a person out of alignment, a fall could be serious. I just don't know how to fix this anymore, but it's ok, I am really just venting. As someone posted just today, it is a choice---choosing to be in my garden more, complain less.

Hi gardeners, and cooks too! Just checking in, things are still alive in the garden even though we're having another week-long heat wave in the high 90's.

You must be a good tomato grower for 1 plant to give you all you need! We don't do so well. You could call us tomato growing failures. We do cook, that is, my husband does. It's his education and his area of interest. He's a Culinary Institute of America graduate (CIA) and is a far better and interested cook than I. All of our sons are better cooks than I because they're interested and have been taught by their Dad with some help from me..

Cooking around here will change drastically when he's gone. He's not expected to survive more than a few years due to a recurrence of cancer. But you never know....he's been breaking records since he 1st was diagnosed. I'll have to cook again when necessary. It will be forced labor.

Colorsue-Lol!! I misunderstood. That is what I get for reading and posting late after work.

I don't want extensive work t
o do in the garden, I will only plant one tomato plant which will be mire than enough for us ( most people I know don't cook anymore).

Sharyn,
That's what I thought you meant, but I don't have a safe place near a window to get them started indoors. I would have to clear an area of furniture or whatever is there and I'm afraid the plantings would have an accident and end up spilled on the carpet or tile or furniture. Watering can be tricky to do without getting some on furniture, etc. by accident. This has happened before and I don't want to risk it. We're in zone 10 and are fairly free to plant year 'round for most things, so I'm choosing to bypass the difficult or risky methods and look for small plants. Thank you for your interest and suggestions. I'm still open to hearing others that you have. ;o)

Colorsue-what I mean is start the Cosmos indoors from seeds and condition them to outdoor temps then transplant outdoor.

Sharyn,
No, I haven't started seeds indoors. It makes sense but I don't have the energy or desire to do it. Indoor plants can end up being messy and I've long been against them. I have artificial trees and plants indoors and live ones outdoors. I do think your idea is a good one for most people to try.

Bunnies like dandelions too, it's fun watching them start at one end of the stem and gobble it up like a long strand of spaghetti. My lawn is full of creeping charlie, there is no killing that short of total destruction of all growing things, and I'm not sure that it wouldn't pop up even then, or else creep over from the neighbour's lawn. I like to say I believe in bio diversity...

GA, google "Glass Gem" corn - it's a flint corn, used for cornmeal but the kernals are amazing. Not only terrific cool colors, but they have an opalescent quality, and they appear translucent. Just gorgeous. Easy to grow.

I'm going to do winter sowing in milk jugs for spinach and lettuce.

I wonder if white flies larvea over winters in the soil?? Maybe if I sprayed the soil several times turning it over each time, I could get rid of them.

Colorsue-have you tried starting the seeds indoors in a flat, then transplanting outside? I have to be careful with certain seedlings because of earwigs, but once they reach a certain height, earwigs leave the plant alone.

Plants like music too GA. A radio while I garden is motivating,LOL!! I play music when I clean house too.

Sharyn,
I love cosmos! I tried to grow them from seed this year for the 1st time. No luck. I think the soil got too wet and heavy from the numerous heavy rains we had. I'll get small plants next time and cover them with a screen-like covering, no more fiddling with seeds! I wish you great luck with your daisies and cone flowers. I'll bet they're beautiful.

Maybe eventually we can start our own seed exchange group. I had dozens and dozens of lunaria seeds; they're gone now, but they're faithful friends and will be back next year.

GA,
I WISH we had Lunaria because it sounds so interesting. I've only seen it in the silvery dried stage on a visit to MI and I liked it quite a bit. Our dollar weeds are green with a stem leading to a top piece similar to a silver dollar laying horizontally on the stem, but a green color. It travels fast by trailing on the ground, mostly in the grass. Weed 'n' feed doesn't kill it. You can't just pull them up. You have to use harsh chemicals on them, which we don't like to do.

I like your reminder that plants communicate with each other. I remember reading something along that line, also. Not major communication, but a little something. That old saying about people talking to their plants and the plants thriving might actually have some basis in reality...who knows?

I like the Finch's Cottage, such an upgrade for a dandelion. I didn't know finches like dandelions! That could be because we have no finches and I don't let any dandelions bloom before I rip them out. No reproducing allowed for them!!

I used to be able to grow Cosmos but the last few times I tried, they get infested with white flies. Nicotina gets little green catapilars I cant get rid of (I guess it is a moth). I had to stop growing.g both plants. I love cone flowers and daisies (Perinnials) is pretty much the way I go now.

Repeating to myself....thistles can be good, even if they tear up my skin...repeat over and over....

Finches love cosmos, and if you are tolerant of wild flowers (weeds) bull thistles are interesting specimens and finches like them too!

Sharyn, that's a cute little jingle. I'm going to remember it the next time I talk to my plants, especially if I feel I have to apologize for being selective and saving some while pulling up others.

BTW, did you know that plants do communicate with each other? I read about an experiment done to test whether or not plants had methods of communicating with each other to warn of pest invasions. They do. So those little cartoons of plants waving their flower heads, saying good morning, asking if it will rain...just might be true, if a little exaggerated for humor.

Coloresue, are you referring to Lunaria, the money plant? Love your joke about the dollars in the trash!

I usually cut them and put them in a vase with lilacs as they bloom about the same time. The contrast of the lighter and darker violets colors is quite lovely. Later, as they become thinner and silvery, they'll sometimes glint in the sun, as if providing a beacon for traveling pollinators.

Then, as they mature, their foliage if in the sun will begin to turn read, kind of an advance color brigade before trees begin their own annual wardrobe change.

I'm thinking I could also give some plants more upscale names to make them feel more wanted, even if others consider them weeds.

I think mullein could be a nice high rise hotel; it has several inches of flower buds which the pollinators love. Maybe I should call it something fancy, like a Hilton flower (although that's of boring). Names, anyone? What are great upscale hotels that are tall and slender?

I think the dandelion could be the Finch's Cottage; it's the only flower on which I've seen finches.

I'll name my weeds present, ever present and annoying. Then I'll change their names to...you know these... going, going, gone.

We have a lot of dollar weeds, so the day they get weeded we'll have hundreds of dollars in the trash can. ouch....bad joke.

Everyone!!! I am thinking eeny meeny minny moe, you are the weed that has to go, LOL!! and so on!!

From now on when I get frustrated, I'll think of names for the weeds I don't like. Thorny is one I can think of for the ones that love to tear my skin apart. That would include thistles. Those things are nasty.

Who else gives names to their weeds?