2024 Gardening

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  • #42873
    chocomouse
    Participant

      Mike, you're right to look for a "good" place for catnip! It can be invasive. I've been pulling it up for 3 years since our cat passed, and it's still coming up.

      #42877
      Mike Nolan
      Keymaster

        We've got chocolate mint that we put in 27 years ago that is still all over the place!

        There was some catnip on the east side of the lot two years ago, but I couldn't find any last night when I took Jack for a walk. (We're trying to leash-train him, and he's not sure about that but doesn't really struggle to get out of the harness.)

        #42888
        BakerAunt
        Participant

          When I tried a leash with the Siamese cat that I had years ago, her response was to sit down and not move.

          I was hoping that we would get to taste the serviceberries this year. There were lovely red ones. They ripen when they turn purple. Yesterday and today, there were chipmunks climbing up the trunk and onto the branches. They cleaned out the red berries. Apparently, they do not mind if the berries are not completely ripe. The same thing happened last year with the cranberries my husband has in a pot.

          #42891
          Mike Nolan
          Keymaster

            The same things happen with my elderberries every year, they're gone long before any of them are ripe. At least with the black raspberries we usually get a few cups worth, though this year will be down because we cut back the ones on the east side and it'll take them a year or two to regrow.

            Last night Jack sat on the back patio for about 5 minutes, then walked around a bit, finding grass to nibble on and exploring the neighbor's driveway. If all he wants to do is sit on the patio, I'm ok with that.

            #42927
            BakerAunt
            Participant

              Our chipmunks are getting more intrusive. They ate some of the beans off the plants in the garden. We have it fenced, but chipmunks are great climbers. They just climb around the chicken wire that keeps out the rabbits, and then they eat what is only just starting to develop on the plants.

              Other than their eating the unripe cranberries off of my husband's bog pot or the squash seed we were germinating last year (these are now in cages until they get past that stage), we have not had wholesale garden pilfering before.

              Any suggestions? We love getting crops of beans.

              #42930
              Mike Nolan
              Keymaster

                I don't really know how big a chipmunk is, could it just go through the holes of chicken wire?

                I see some things advertised on Amazon as chipmunk repellent or deterrent, but who knows if they really work?

                #42932
                RiversideLen
                Participant

                  BA, you might consider setting a trap. There's a guy on YouTube, Shawn Woods, who tests mouse and rat traps (he has thousands) but I think some of them can be applied to chipmunks as well. I'm thinking about a trap called the Dizzy Dunker. It can be used as a kill or a live catch trap. You need to supple your own bucket. It consists of a ramp (so the critter can climb up) and a dunking device that fits on top of the bucket. You bait the wheel of the dunker, the critter climbs up and steps on the wheel to get the bait and then gets dunked to the bottom of the bucket. You can have water in the bucket for a kill trap or no water for a live catch trap.

                  You can get the device on Amazon, he has a link to it on his channel.

                  #42934
                  chocomouse
                  Participant

                    About 18 years ago, I became desperate to get rid of the chipmunks living in our stone walls, stone steps, stone everything and eating my veggies, bulbs, etc. I filled a 5 gallon bucket about 2/3 full of water, added a wood slat for a ramp up the outside (just as Len described!), and tossed in 5-6 sunflower seeds. One day my 6 year old grand-daughter was visiting and asked why I had the bucket of water sitting in the middle of the flowerbed. I replied, not wanting to give out too much information, "It's for the chipmunks." Her response was "Oh, I didn't know chipmunks could swim." I dropped the conversation at that point. They don't swim. And they can't climb straight-up wet, slippery bucket walls. They drown. But they love sunflower seeds. Once we got the population down a bit, our cat managed the rest of them pretty well.

                    #42940
                    BakerAunt
                    Participant

                      I won't be trapping them.

                      I'm not sure why we have so many, but we have one of the few mostly natural areas left along our road, and with so many people taking out trees to build their "dream homes" (in which they will spend just a few weeks in the summer), we may be having more move into our yard. They never bothered the garden before.

                      #42942
                      Mike Nolan
                      Keymaster

                        Cayenne pepper is said to discourage chipmunks, as are daffodils. You might try the cayenne pepper now and think about planting an outside border of daffodils next season. Daffodils are also supposed to discourage deer because of the lycorine in them.

                        We had a problem with raccoons (probably) pooping in a corner of the deck, but I started sprinkling ground black pepper in that area every few days and they moved to pooping somewhere else. Not sure where, but at least it wasn't on the deck or patio.

                        #42944
                        chocomouse
                        Participant

                          Mike, I do have lots of daffodils (but very few tulips) since the deer and small critters don't eat daffodils or their bulbs. Cayenne pepper has not deterred them from the bird seed in winter or other small seedlings in summer. Last summer a (or several?) chipmunk picked most all of my cherry tomatoes on the deck. It then peeled the tomato, left the peels in another pot, sat there and ate the tomato, not 5 feet away from where I was sitting. Now, my husband has made a wire cage, with 1/2" holes, to go over the cherry tomato pot and plant; he is still figuring out the top for it so I can easily remove it to reach down inside to pick the tomatoes. I will try to find my photo of the pot full of peels and post it later. No critters seem to bother the salad or paste tomatoes I have put in the in-ground garden in the back yard. I'm able to plant them outside the electric fence, as a sort of "first line of defense" against raiding varmints.

                          #42947
                          Mike Nolan
                          Keymaster

                            I've seen squirrels carrying off tomatoes that were in the 4 ounce range, nearly the size of a tennis ball, but they prefer the smaller ones. Mostly the critters just seem to take a few bites out of one on the vine, or maybe it is birds pecking at them. I might move the critter cam in August to see who's going after the tomatoes.

                            #42957
                            chocomouse
                            Participant

                              I took this photo last summer. I have not seen Chippy yet this summer, but I'm betting it will be back once the cherry tomatoes on the deck are ripe.

                              Not-Funny‑7.2023

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                              #42971
                              BakerAunt
                              Participant

                                I started picking black raspberries from our terrace. I wish that we would get a little more rain, although up to now, it has been pretty good for the developing berries. My husband thought that the berries on one of the woodland properties were looking good, so I will go over with him one day and see what there is to pick. Several years ago, we had a bumper crop, but since then, it has been a struggle to get enough for even one batch.

                                #42972
                                Mike Nolan
                                Keymaster

                                  We got one black raspberry today, but the big patch on the east side got ripped out last fall and it will a year or two before it rebounds (if it does at all), so I'm guessing a handful a day might be the peak this year.

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