Food Declaration

Moles, Voles & Gopher Holes!

We are so fortunate to live on the the eastern plains of Colorado (i.e. prairie). The wind blows most of the time, we get blizzards in the winter, and we are still inside a drought period. It's usual to get summertime hail storms, and parts of the country are in the path of tornadoes. It's a good life if you don't buckle under! To top off all of that, our ground is mostly sand or silt, depending on where you dig into it, which is very nice for little creatures that burrow in it. There are prairie dogs, ferrets and ground squirrels galore, which are prey for all the wonderful raptors that live in this state. Since there are so many raptors, I do not wish to reduce their food supply by destroying moles, gophers, voles and ground squirrels as well as rabbits. My only option is to make them move out of my space.

I have tried every gopher trap and poison known to man. Gophers are smarter than a trap. I had a neighbor once who resorted to shooting them with a rifle, but that requires sitting and waiting for them to emerge above ground. Leave that to the cats.

When we first arrived at our house the ground was so bumpy with dirt mounds it was impossible to mow over. Our neighbor shared a little device that scares off the moles, voles and gophers. I was very skeptical (based on past failures) that anything would work the way it's suppose to, but my husband proceeded to make at least a dozen of these contraptions and place them wherever he saw gopher or vole activity.

I have to admit, we no longer have any signs of gophers, voles or moles around the house, driveway, orchard or any where we place these gopher chasers. Our long driveway edge is smooth and even, and easy to mow. The snow that lands there is smooth and flat, making it easier for it to blow away from the driveway path, and easier to plow snow when it gets that bad.

Here are the instructions for making your own gopher chasers:

You will need:

1. Metal poles about 4-5 ft long, any kind of metal, should be unpainted.
2. Save up and wash empty food cans like those from a can of tomatoes or corn, etc. Large gallon cans are too big for this project, and those tiny chopped olive cans are too small. Beer cans are much too thin and don't survive.
3. Sturdy wire that is bendable but thick enough to survive a beating. Coat hanger wire is about the right thickness, but it can be a little stiff to bend, but go ahead and use it if it's all you have on hand. Floral wire is too soft for this purpose.
4. Tools you will use are a hammer and large nail and pliers.
5. Optional: spray paint.

Each Gopher Chaser will need one pole and five cans. If you are going to paint your cans a pretty color, do it first and let them dry before you continue. Originally we painted all our cans thinking it would help to preserve them from rusting too much, but the paint cuts down on the vibration and sound the cans make, making them a tad bit less effective. Different paint brands have different abilities to stick to metal and withstand the knocking around it gets. Different metals take paint differently as well.

My recommendation: don't bother painting your cans, let them age naturally to a nice part rust verdigris finish. They are actually less conspicuous that way. They have a tendency to be obvious anyway. We had a lot of gopher chasers close to the house for a couple of years, but now they are all very far away and we only hear them in a really bad wind storm, like some weather alert device.

• Use the hammer and large nail to punch four holes in one can, equal distant apart near the top opening of one can.
• Punch a single hole in the center of the bottom of four cans.
• Cut four lengths of wire about 12" long.
• Make a curly coil on one end of each wire that is large enough to prevent it from slipping through the hole.
• Put each wire through a can hole going in from the inside and out the bottom so that when you hold the straight edge of the wire your can is dangling on the other end with the open end facing down, something like a bell on a string.
• Put the other end of all of the four wires into one of the four holes in the can with the four holes and bend the wire over to keep it on the can. Do not make the closing of the wire tight, keep it loose so the wire can move easily without coming off. If this part is too hard to figure out, ask a boy scout to show you a loop knot pattern that you can use for this application.
• Now, you take your set of cans and the metal pole out to where you want to place it and insert the pole into the ground. A gopher hole is an excellent starting point to put them.
• Then you place the can with the four holes over the top of the metal pole. Your done.

Nature will do the rest. In the breeze, the cans will rattle and make a vibration under the surface that ground dwellers find irritating and they will move away from it. Place the gopher chasers strategically, up to 40' apart, starting close in to where they have been making mounds. Leave them in place for a few months at least.

I found a gopher hole in one of my raised flower beds and stuck a gopher chaser in it. The gopher stopped working that hole and after one month I moved the chaser into a hole further out in the yard. When I did that, the gopher started using the hole in the bed again, so I had to move the chaser back to it. I then left it there for about 4 months, and then moved it into the outer hole, and have had no more gopher activity in that area since.

The raised bed was just off the patio at the back door, so we had to listen to the fairly constant rattle of the cans for a good six months, but it was worth it to get rid of that critter. When the dogs smell a ground dweller, they start digging holes to get at them, making the mess bigger and harder to fix.

 

60 Days of Tulips (at least).

Multicolored Tulips

If you are a tulip lover, you can enjoy their beauty for a longer time if you plan and plant so they bloom at different times during the flowering season.

For many years the tulip bulb catalogs have listed the approximate time of bloom so that you can compare it's season with the bloom time of other bulbs. If you want to have a big splash all at once, you can plant bulbs that bloom during the same few weeks as others in the same bed. If you are looking to rotate the color or area of bloom, you can use differing bloom times to plan where to put which bulbs. Mapping it out on paper first makes it easier when it comes time to do the actual planting.

Autumn is the right time to think about bulbs, order them and put them into the ground. A lot depends on the garden zone you are in. If you are looking at a tulip variety that blooms from "Late April to Mid May", you should take into consideration that the listed bloom time might not be the same for your area. One way to test this is to keep track of when a bulb blooms in your garden or landscape and compare it with what the catalogs lists as it's usual bloom time. If this bulb in your garden blooms at the same time as that listed, you can use the catalogs listed times to be the same for your garden on any bulb. If your bloom time differs by a week sooner or later, you should judge all the bloom times to be equally earlier or later than what the catalog list it as. Once you know your own bloom times, it's fairly easy to plan a whole bulb planting simply by adjusting the bloom period in your head when reading the catalog and choosing bulbs.

Planting bulbs in the fall for blooms in the spring is an act of faith and hope. Faith in the earths ability to nurture and care for that bulb until it triggers it to grow into something beautiful; and hope for the future and the changing of the seasons and the perpetuation of all of nature. You are putting something alive into the ground before the long, cold, dead period of winter. You have faith in what the future will bring, and hope for many tomorrows. This is the deepest connection to earth that gardeners alone have. It is more profound with the planting of bulbs than the planting of seeds. Bulbs test your faith and patience much more because of the long waiting period. They are good teachers for our fast paced, rushing around life styles. They force us to dream slowly, believe long, and look farther ahead.

Tulip bulbs ready to plant

The BULB catagory of plants is easily expanded to include Iris rhizomes, lilies, ranunculus, etc. Crocus will begin to pop up and bloom while snow is still on the ground as early as February in some zones, and you can extend the bulb season well into June or later with other types of bulbs or eye-roots like Hardy Geraniums. Bulbs of all kinds are part of the cottage garden look, and can easily be formalized into colorful beds neatly divided. Bulbs should be part of every garden. They are considered perennials, although after many years of blooming, some will need to be replaced, divided or split.

When it comes to purchasing bulbs, I recommend you use a catalog company that has a good replacement policy in case of failure to bloom. You probably won't need to use it, but a little insurance is good, especially if you plan a large planting as you will have a substantial investment in bulbs.

If you intend to put bulbs in 'virgin' ground, that has not been amended, you will be much happier with the results in the spring if you add some bone meal and bulb food to the holes below the bulbs. It will also enable the bulb to store up the food it needs for blooming in the following years. Another good practice is to buy a large bag of bone meal and keep in on hand. Then when the rainy season begins in the fall, put on a raincoat and take the bag of bone meal and sprinkle it over every bulb bed you have. The rain will carry in down to where the bulb can use it. I used to do this once a year in the fall, but it can be done any time of year, and doing it when it's raining just makes it easier and more fun.

Gardeners are great at looking ahead, and bulb planters are even better at it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is Hurricane Katrina a blessing in disquise?

Conservationist and weather scientists have been concerned about the Gulf Coast and it's environmental susceptibility for the past 70 years.  Back in the 1970's they were predicting a huge storm and a huge impact from it because of the lack of conservation and preservation practices in the Gulf Coast states.

In the wake of Hurrican Katrina, their warnings take on new impetus, their work is more urgent than ever.  Maybe now the government will listen to what they are saying and make some of the right choices for a change.  The Army Corp of Engineers thinks it's a good idea to make some high cement walled arteries through the Mississippi water delta course, which will prevent the flood waters from spreading out.  All they see is the easier shipping of goods in boats.  Never mind about all the environmental impacts it creates.  It is one of the most devastating moves they could make on the delta region.  Their projects have a domino effect that reaches all the way up the Mississippi River.

Before Katrina hit, there were signs of trouble in the coastal wetlands.  Relatively few people concerned themselves with those problems.  Katrina has created a beacon of reason and hopefully will shine a light in all of us everywhere.  What we do does matter!  Wherever we are, whoever we are, however we do it.  Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.  We cannot afford to shrug off our own effort as being "too small to make a difference".  We know better now.  It is faulty thinking to let our own effort slide because we believe enough of the 'do-gooders' are going to do it. It has become a moral issue.  Every one who exists today has the potential of impacting the environment, not only in their immediate vicinity, but world wide.  Our world is shrinking environmentally.  We cannot ignore our problems anymore.  We cannot afford to have blinders on.  The time for doing nothing is over.

What can you do?

• Don't buy wood chips or lawn furniture made from the coastal wetland Cypress trees.
• Join a conservation club.
• Lobby your Congressmen and the White House for greater conservation and preservation moves.
• Help with restoration projects.  Google 'restoration' for ideas.
• Plant a sustainable environment in your own backyard.
• Remove all or most of any lawn grass you may have in your yard.  This will greatly impact the amount of water you use to maintain it and conserve it for wildlife or human consumption.
• Plant more trees.  Plant lots of trees.  Use the water you would have used for a lawn to keep them alive.  They clean the air of excess carbon.  We need lots of trees.
• Mulch with compost you make yourself.  Compost will help retain moisture, build the soil, improve plant life, and you don't have to cut down a tree to make it.
• Prevent or correct any erosion you see on your property.
• Be aware of what plants and animals are considered invasive in your area and avoid them.
• Vote for 'no motorized vehicles allowed' in the public parks systems whenever possible.
• Don't build a new home, buy one that already exists.
• Have your pets spayed or neutered.
• Grow as much of your own food as possible.
• Re-use, reduce and recycle as much as possible.
• Educate yourself and your family and friends about what choices are really green (and therefore good for the economy).  For instance:  If you already own a coffee thermos, buying one that is supposed to be 'green' in order to preserve materials just does not compute in the logic books.  Buying a new one creates the need to manufacture more goods.  Maybe your old thermos isn't 'green' (unless it's a Stanley), but it's done, over.  Don't replace it with a new one until you need a new one, and then choose a 'green' one.  And look to be sure it really is 'green' in the environmental sense.  Nothing is 'green' if it came from China or Vietnam.
• Examine all your choices and patterns of behavior to see if you can make some changes that will help the environment.  Like riding the bus to work, even if it does take a little longer to get there.  The payoff is worth it.
• Last but not least: Keep a worm factory working to make vermicompost.  It will help save the world.

 

Seed Sources

This site has a Book Page entry for seed catalogs as sources for obtaining seeds.  One excellent source is not listed there.  It is your own garden.  Saving seeds from your garden plants is the original way of obtaining next years crop, and in some cases, expanding the availability of plants to other areas.  Since man began to cultivate the earth for crops, he has gathered in the 'seed crop' to save over the winter to the next planting season.  Even people near to starving will hesitate to touch their 'seed crop', knowing that without it, the next year's hunger will be even worse.

My garden club visited a seed supply house in the spring, and they told us that spinach seed was very scarce this year, so I decided to let my spinach go to seed and save them.  That got me looking at what else I wanted to save seed from and now my garden and potting shed are full of seed heads from radishes, chives, leeks, onions, Epyptian onions, garlic, bunching onions, broccili raab, parsley, carrots, and whatever else starts to look like it will go to seed.  Most of these are holdovers from last year's garden.  Carrots and parsley for instance, take two years to set seed.  There was a carrot left in the carrot bed last year that came up and set flower right off, so I get seeds for next year.  The same story for the parsley.

It does take some patience to let your garden vegetables go to seed.  They become inedible and rangey looking while bolting, then you have to wait for the seeds to mature on the plant and watch for the optimum time to harvest them.  It does ad a bit of variety to the garden chore list, but a rather nice 'chore'.

The optimum time for harvesting seeds is after they have had time to fully mature on the plant and begin to look like they will fall off if you don't pick them.  It is best to harvest on a very dry day.  Have a container with no holes or creases in it to put them in, and set them in the shed or other dark, cool place to dry out.  Label them when you gather them.

The aroma of all your plants and seeds drying in the shed is a nice benefit for all your trouble.  This year I purchased some seeds thru 4seasongreenhouse.com.  I also had some seeds I saved from last years pea and bean crop.  Those crops are growing very well right now, and I will save more seed from them this year.  Eventually, as you save more of your own seeds, you will only need to purchase or trade seeds when you want a new variety.

Lettuces are easy to save seeds from also.  I let the arugula bolt to set seed.  I noticed the darling little yellow flowers on arugula only last one day.

I can look at most seeds and tell what they are, especially the flower seeds, but the onion family is very hard to differentiate between.  Chives, leeks, bunching onion, bulb onions all have tiny black seeds about the same size.  Be careful to label your seeds as soon as you gather them from the plant.

Flowers and herbs are easy to gather from.  You may not need or want more seed from some of your plants, but if they have already bolted, gather their seeds for posterity.  You can always give them away or trade for some new-to-you seeds.

I always say "Fresh is Best" when it comes to eating, and that applies to seeds for and from your garden as well.

Garden Becky

The Many Uses of a Greenhouse

In our poll "How will you use, or plan to use, your greenhouse?", we ask about your use of a greenhouse and list five options:

1. To grow mostly flowers and other plants
2. To grow mostly veggies
3. To grow approx. equal amount of veggies and flowers and other plants
4. As a sunroom
5. Other

The wonderful thing about owning a greenhouse is the extreme versatility of them. Why not use your greenhouse for all of the above options and more? You can't really know how useful they are until you have one standing in your backyard. Even those attached to your home in the conservatory style will enable you to do so many different things that will add to the quality and pleasure of your life.

Here we will concentrate on the "other" uses. We have so many different regions and needs of each household, that not everything we think of will be something you will want to use, but knowing it in case your needs change will at least get you thinking about possibilities. I hope it will make you dream, change, become more creative in using what you have and take living to an art form.

Probably the first thing to look at is how to get more year round usage of your greenhouse. If you have a greenhouse connected to your home, conservatory style, it's rather simple to just walk inside on a sunny day and enjoy the warmth of sunshine without the bitter winds that blow in the winter. Access is never a problem, and the greenhouse will be warmed by the household heat. To treat yourself and others, you can plan to install a hot tub inside the greenhouse; put a comfortable seating area in it; entertain guest there; or just enjoy a slow glass of wine after the kids have gone to bed. Invite the ladies over for 'Tea in the Conservatory' and put on some low, soft music to go with tea and biscuits.

Plant flowering bulbs for your Christmas decorating plans in your greenhouse in the fall. Once the blooms are spent, the greenhouse is the perfect place to keep them until they have a chance to restore their energy.

Have you been thinking about a winter garden indoors. You will be pleasantly surprized at how much you can grow even in a small 4'x6' greenhouse. Utilizing crop rotation, successive planting, hanging pots, trellises and raised bed, you can pack a lot into a greenhouse over the winter.

Outside of winter gardening and entertaining, there are some other things a greenhouse comes in handy for.

• Repotting houseplants
• Doctoring sick houseplants
• Dividing, cleaning and showering plants
• Initial garden veggie food prep
• A place to keep a worm factory or composter in the winter
• A place to dry out leaves and other debris so you can shred it dry
• A safe place to let the pet rabbits out of the cage for some excersise
• A place to hide things, like Christmas or birthday gifts.
• Starting a new science project so it's not on the dining room table
• A protected and warm place to keep the new chicks you ordered until they are older
• A place with good light for a potter's wheel or artist's studio
• When full of greenery, an excellent photo shoot background any time of year.
• Overwintering plants susceptible to hard frost
• Store outdoor yard decorations or furniture over winter.
• Some people might include 'tool shed' use, but you should protect the panels from tool handles. Put a small tool shed inside to hold them
• Isolating exotic birds until they can be added to the aviary
• Winter housing for caged birds
• A warm quiet place for your female dog to have her pups, or cat her kittens

As you can see, this list could be expanded based on lifestyles, needs and how large the greenhouse is. A greenhouse is not just some elaborate toy, it's a useful, life-augmenting tool with many uses.