My 2nd garden

[Elijah Gunn]

This season is my 2nd garden. It's mostly planted now, just have to plant a 2nd block of corn. Heres an update from last year,what I'm planting this year, and a couple questions.

Strawberries. They are doing ok I guess. There is a lot of field grass amongst them so I don't think i'll get to many this year. I plan to move a bunch of them into a new area that I've cleared the grass, and weeds out of after I harvest what I can from them.

Raspberries. New canes are growing,and last years canes have flowered nicely. Should get 3 times as many of them as last year.

Blackberries. Some new canes growing. Last years canes got nibbled down when the neighbors horse kept getting loose. Not as many blooms as the raspberries.

Rhubarb. Planted 2 last spring. They grew a lot, but I don't think they are big enough to start harvesting yet.

Green beans. Doing the pole beans again, and quadrupled the amount from last year. (60 plants this year)

Cucumbers. Doubled last years amount. Can't wait to taste this years pickles!!

Radishes. My daughter had to do a science experiment using radish seeds so I planted the left over seeds in the garden. They are ready to harvest now.

Tomatoes. Planted about 24 tomato plants. Beefsteak, and Roma

Corn. I'm trippling the amount of corn this year ,and staggering the time I plant it.I planted the 1st block a couple weeks ago ,and will plant the 2nd in the next few days.

Sunflowers. Doubled the size of the sunflowers area. I planted a few Russian mammoths, and the rest will be Black oil sunflower seeds.

The deer were a problem last year. I've read that dumping the the vacuum cleaner bag around the garden is another good way to scare them off. However, a lot of what is in our vacuum bag is carpet fibers which more than likely are some type of plastic, and whatever other chemicals they make carpet out of. Does anyone have more info on this method ?  I'm laid off so there is no money for fencing,dogs, or stuff like that.
Regards, and happy gardening!

[bilmac]

If you can grow beefsteak maters, I would suggest you try some Abe Lincolns. You would probably have to start them yourself, as they aren't a popular variety. They are heirloom tomatoes though, meaning that you can save the seeds and replant them year after year. Also they are big tomatoes that are about the best eating of anything I've grown.

[Elijah Gunn]

Last year a late frost killed all my tomato plants,so I'll find out this year how well beefsteak tomatoes do here. I definately want to get into heirloom plants ,and seeds in the future.

[Rustyinfla]

   For your deer problem you might try going to your local barber shop and get a bag of hair that they sweep up off the floor. I've never tried this myself as I've never had the problem, but I have read it several times in several different places. Maybe it's just a rumor started by some barber who wanted someone to come carry his trash off for him.

[Elijah Gunn]

I cut my sons hair regularly and used some of it last year. I think it does work. However it seems like the deer get used to different smells so overtime they lose effectiveness. The deer haven't been around yet thank God.

[OLDHandgunner]

Another thing thats works for deer is Irish Spring soap. Shave pieces of soap with knife. Put them into a small mesh bags ( we make ours mesh bags from poly screen door material ) and hang them around where you don't want the deer. We use hair also. The deer will get used to the same smell after a while so change things around. This has kept those critters away from my gardens and dwaft fruit trees SO FAR !!
I know all about late planting. This has been the latest I have ever planted a garden because of the heavy rains and 3 late frost. Things are looking better now.
Let's all hope for a better growing season and a late fall.

Happy Gardening to all.

[Elijah Gunn]

Update....
I forgot to mention I planted a little herb garden also. Dill,Oregano,Basil,and Cilantro.

This year the weeds are different. I have a lot of grass wanting to grow. It got the jump on my 2nd block of corn, and I had to till half of it under, and replant.

My strawberries were stolen by a deer the day before I planned to pick them. The new area I have for them is almost ready then I'll be able to keep them weeded better.

We had a cool spring so it's only been the past week or so that the garden has really started to take off.

There are some wild grapes here. I found them today. The vine was so heavy it broke the top of the dead tree it was climbing on. Many , many little green grapes. I'm sure they will be purple grapes if they make it to maturity. If I were to keep them watered,and maybe fertilize them do you think they will be eatable?

[bilmac]

You may want to experiment with the wild grapes, taking too good care of them may result in huge grapes that are watery and sugarless.

We used to pick wild blueberrys when we lived in the interior of Alaska, and they were wonderful. Then we found some while we were fishing on the coast where they got more water than any plant ever needs. They were huge, the size of grapes, but they were so tasteless they weren't worth picking.