Garden Apocalypse
My name is Dale Johnson and Jon ask me if I would like to contribute to this “Grow It! Eat it!” blog. I jumped at the chance because I love gardening. I am not a Master Gardener (I will be some day) but each year I learn more and I would love to share my experiences – both successes and failures. I also have chickens - layers and broilers - which are a great complement to gardens and I might occasional sneak in an article on them. After all, I grow and eat them too!
I will start off my blogs with both a success and a disaster. My family is proud of our garden. It is productive and beautiful. We were bloated with spring crops – salads, cooking greens, onion, broccoli, cabbage, etc. Our summer crops reach for the sun promising tomatoes, peppers, beans, cucumbers, and squash. It all came crashing down last week. Much of it was eaten to the ground. Particularly distressing was the damage to the peas. We were just starting to harvest them. We only got a couple of bowls full from gleaning the remnants.
The culprit? Deer. The herd that roams our neighborhood has never bothered us before. We thought the deer were afraid of the horses in pastures that surround the garden. Not so. It’s more likely that our old Labrador retriever that died last fall did her job and chased them off in previous years. The family is lobbying for a new dog but until I give in we have baited and charged the garden fence. We painted a peanut butter/vegetable oil mixture at intervals on the polywire rope. When the deer go up to check it out, they get a 4000 volt jolt in the nose or tongue. I get satisfaction just thinking about it. For more information on deer control see: http://extension.umd.edu/publications/PDFs/EB354-C.pdf
I am optimistic that our garden will rise from this apocalypse. I will eat tomato and cucumber salad, green beans with bacon, and squash frittata. We will have a successful garden in 2009.
Peanut butter/vegetable oil deer attractant on polywire rope.
Notice the bare wires that carry a 4000 volt charge.
I will start off my blogs with both a success and a disaster. My family is proud of our garden. It is productive and beautiful. We were bloated with spring crops – salads, cooking greens, onion, broccoli, cabbage, etc. Our summer crops reach for the sun promising tomatoes, peppers, beans, cucumbers, and squash. It all came crashing down last week. Much of it was eaten to the ground. Particularly distressing was the damage to the peas. We were just starting to harvest them. We only got a couple of bowls full from gleaning the remnants.
The culprit? Deer. The herd that roams our neighborhood has never bothered us before. We thought the deer were afraid of the horses in pastures that surround the garden. Not so. It’s more likely that our old Labrador retriever that died last fall did her job and chased them off in previous years. The family is lobbying for a new dog but until I give in we have baited and charged the garden fence. We painted a peanut butter/vegetable oil mixture at intervals on the polywire rope. When the deer go up to check it out, they get a 4000 volt jolt in the nose or tongue. I get satisfaction just thinking about it. For more information on deer control see: http://extension.umd.edu/publications/PDFs/EB354-C.pdf
I am optimistic that our garden will rise from this apocalypse. I will eat tomato and cucumber salad, green beans with bacon, and squash frittata. We will have a successful garden in 2009.
Peanut butter/vegetable oil deer attractant on polywire rope.
Notice the bare wires that carry a 4000 volt charge.
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