Vegetable Garden

It's been three weeks since I first got out in the vegetable garden. Since then, it's been very cool and damp, so the greens and peas are not very big, yet. One thing I've done, though, is to put up rabbit fencing, as seen below.

I am not thrilled about how this looks or how it works, but after having rabbits decimate the garden over the past two years, I knew I needed to take some serious action. If I could only convince Spouse to do the fencing the way I want* I would be much happier, but Spouse is convinced it would be "too hard" and that "it won't work." Harumph.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to do the majority of the planting. We've had such a cool spring so far that it is hard to imagine it being warm enough to plant tomatoes, beans, basil, squash, etc. Even though our average last frost is May 15, I think I'll wait until at least until the weekend of the 24th to plant. I'm not so much worried about another frost as I am about the growth-stunting mid-50s to lower 60s weather we've been having. It's perfect for the peas and greens, but not for the warm-weather crops.

We'll see. I hope to have my garbage can potatoes planted sometime this week, and I'll have pictures.

*What I want is to attach hardware cloth or rabbit fencing to the bottom of the wood fencing around the edge of the garden rather than fencing in each individual bed. We would dig a trench around the perimeter and bury it about 6-12". However, a major portion of the wood fence (and deer fence beyond that) is in the woods, under our huge arborvitae trees that have lots of shallow roots. We also have a very irregularly shaped area that would be somewhat resistant to fencing, but I think it could be done. Yes, it would be difficult to do it, but it would not be too hard, as Spouse seems to think. And then I wouldn't have to have ugly fences around each individual bed.

Comments

[Joyce LaGow]

This reminds of the the "temporary" fencing I used back in WA to keep deer from snacking on my broccoli and cauliflower, which they adored. yours is downright pretty compared to what I did. ugly but functional.

Funny, but I was thinking of you this morning as I was seeding more lettuce, peppers, muskmelons, and eggplants. I've had mixed results here, with some outright disasters that I wasn't expecting. Still a bumper crop of peppers, and now I'm seeding more. it does appear, now that we have cloudy/rainy weather in the afternoon, that I'm going to get a nice crop of leaf lettuce. our Panamanian worker is just agog--he's never eaten leaf lettuce before!

Loved your scolding of Fred! Dog has no sense whatsoever.

[Ali]

Hmmm, I like your idea about fencing the bottom of the wooden fence. Do rabbits dig? Will they dig under the fence if you don't bury it?

Even if you do need to bury it, you could maybe rent an edger to make a narrow trench to bury the wire -- that might make spouse a more willing participant.

How about an invisible fence for Brix, and a nice dog condo in the garden area? (Not that that worked for me with our dog).

[Tracy]

Joyce: If you go back in my archives you'll see what I did for the past two years - window screening and wooden stakes. Last year the rabbits figured out they could chew through the screening and my beans were wiped out.

It makes sense that the peppers are doing well as they're a Central/South American native. I would never guess that leaf lettuce would grow, so congrats to you!

Ali: I think I'm going to go ahead and do part of it this year myself. We're going to be planting in front of the wooden fence this year, so now is the time to do it. Perhaps I will shame Spouse into helping me - it's my only hope.

As for Brix, we've just started working on training him that paths are for walking and beds are for ignoring. We'll see if he gets it - the old dog, Dexter, never did.

[Joyce LaGow]

For some bizarre reason--and I have no idea why--although we had rabbits, they NEVER touched my garden. Deer were the menace--I used to call them our 4 footed vegetarian predators. You could always tell the tourists--they would coo over the deer while the residents (me along with them) cursed them out. Brazen creatures--you couldn't get them to move unless you went right up to them and slapped them on the rump. I once walked out at noon and found a doe on my deck, munching away at ripening apples on a dwarf tree I had planted in a tub next to the deck.

And Ethel, that all-purpose scavenger, was another reason for protecting the broccoli in particular. She loved it.

Then of all things, Ethel and two other dogs we had at the time developed at taste for mustard greens!

I wasn't surprised about the peppers, but I was really upset with the trouble I had with tomatoes. They too are natives of this area. Biggest problem was white flies, which I had never encountered before in my life. As well as how sensitive they are to burning. I water at 6:30 am and even that wasn't early enough to prevent burning. The January and February winds also burned them up. Aphids have been terrible here.

But now that I know what to look for, I'm better prepared.

[vonlafin]

I battle rabbits too. Maybe just do the fencing under the wood fence a little bit at a time. I fenced my fruit garden and so far have not had any bunny's get through it. But I used plastic fence, and then I find out that they will chew a hole through it, so I keep an eye out for holes. They are a menace!

[Tracy]

Joyce: It must be a bit frustrating re-learning how to garden in a completely new climate. As for the deer, well, let's just say I haven't been a "tourist" for years now. We have fencing around the veggie garden - both the wood fencing that you usually see in my pictures, plus deer fencing along a back portion, in the woods. The deer fencing was put up immediately after the deer ate all my two year old asparagus - down to the nubs. It's a constant battle, especially in other parts of the yard.

vonlafin: Yep, rabbits can chew threw just about any plastic. For the last two years I had fencing made of window screening around my beds. It worked fine the first year, but last year the rabbits discovered it was chewable and completely decimated my beans. They've also chewed holes in our plastic deer fencing. I keep threatening the little critters with sending my Spouse out with his .22, but they aren't listening!