Last Chance

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YumYum

New Member
Ok, so you guys have gave me the will to try once more with an outdoor garden. So I figured I would go all out on this attempt and make sure I have all bases covered. I have been mixing my mulchings and a couple bags of soil in for a couple years now but it still consists of more sand then anything.

This garden is 5ft. X 9ft. so I took a piece of my thick plastic sheeting and layed it out beside the garden. Then while sifting through removing any unwanted debris and roots I shoveled 2ft. of the soil onto the plastic. Then I took my mulchings, 2 big bags of soil, 1 big bag manurer, some perlite, and a very mild fertilizer that I had left over from a couple years ago, and mixed it all up real good.

This garden has some old wooden posts that I used for a border so I whas left with a perfect rectangle which I took another sheet of my heavy plastic and layed it in the whole putting some dirt back in to hole it where I wanted it as I cut it to fit. I did'nt want to nail it in place cause I know I will have to dig this back out in a few years and replace it. I cut some slits in it here and there so it would allow some drainage, but not alot. I hope this will help keep anything form attacking my roots.

I then shoveled my soil mix back into the hole patting it down lightly as I went along. After I had finished filling it all back in I watered it down and took some black weed and moisture guard and laid it out accross the top tacking it down to the wooden posts surrounding my garden. I will surround the garden with some salt, ash from the fire pit, and maybe even some diatomaceous earth to prevent slugs.

I'll be sure to mix up some of the pepper spray before I put my babies in the ground. I will also try the human hair along with the 3ft wire fence I put around it for the rest of the wildlife. Im considering also putting in a motion light set with a bulb on one side and getting an electrical outlet for the other which I will plug a radio into.

So do you guys think I may have a chance at enjoying the fruits of my labor this time around? If this fails..I am done with outdoor gardening here as far as vegtables go. I plan on giving it another wk or two before I start putting them outside...wish me luck!!
 
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mocropot

New Member
I wish you the best luck possible with your garden! Based on all preparation you should succeed!
Would you post a picture?
 

lynpenny

Super Moderator
Staff member
Good luck with your garden. I tried for years to get a good garden going and then I finally figured out the problem. It can be anything but I know that when you are trying so hard to grow and nothing works it is hard to find that problem. Mine was elm trees. Once I got them cut down I could grow a great garden.
 

YumYum

New Member
Lyn I have this plot next to an shed so It will provide partial shade for the plants that need it, and my wife's grandfather ( who lived here before us ) planted some vines that have grown up all over the side of it. I liked the way they looked so I never bothered them but as I was digging out the hole their roots had started to reach the garden plot. I cut them out before laying the plastic down, but now that you mention the trees giving you problems I will look into the type of vine and see if it may be cause of some problems..thanks.

Good news was that there were no ants, but I did see a nice size hole going under the backside of shed which I believe to be opossum. I may have to deal with my unwanted squaters. =( I think I will try to trap them first ( The local shelter lends traps out if you know them ) and if that does'nt work I'll try baiting and snaring.

I will post some pics once I have them in the ground...right now it just looks like a big black rectangle. =) Not much to see now but dead grass, empty grapevines, and sawgrass. There is a peach tree that her granfather must have gotten mad at cause someone mutilated the poor thing and now only a small half remain...pitty cause it is in bloom and the little pink flowers are beautiful. http://plantfinder.sunset.com/images/peach-trees-x.jpg?500:500 Not nearly this nice, but it gives you an idea. I may plant more of these for the late winter early spring blossums.
 

tonya

New Member
good luck yum yum...we have a house dog and i've always wanted a yard cat..but the man of the house is not a cat person...all of my neighbors let their cats help themselves to my beds for their potty business...i don't see why i can't keep a cat outside to keep the critters at bay..i have a screened in back porch and i could get it a house to keep it in but the husb says no...the step grands had 4 or 5 cats on the farm to keep the mice&snakes down but they were never allowed in the house...i think a cat would help with my mole/vole problem also...still working on the husb....
 

YumYum

New Member
thanks tonya....I have two suggestions for the mole problem. First you have to find the active tunnel. If you can see them above the ground then it is much easier, just step on a spot on the tunnels and mark them as you go. If it is active they will fix it within 48hrs and this is the path they are using atm. If tunnels are not above ground then find the exit holes or mounds and take a sturdy, thin stick or a piece of pvc pipe and poke around it till you find the tunnel.

Once you have found the active tunnel you have two options.

1) Get some large jars or old coffee tins and dig out a spot just big enough for them to sit in the ground level with bottom of the tunnel. Then cover it up with anything you can to keep any light out. If you have chosen the right tunnel you should have the critter in the bottom of the jar in no time.

2) Is more like the game you used to play at any arcade...stomp the mole!! For this you make little flags with coat hangers or w/e you have at your disposal. Place all throughout the tunnels making sure not to put them too deep so as the mole cant push it out of the way. Get a shovel, a buckett, a radio, and a glass of tea/beer and wait for one of the flags to be moved around. When it does whack the ground as hard as you can with shovel right on top of him...this will not kill him...Dig up the tunnel as fast as you can and if it takes more then 30 seconds to find him go ahead and whack the ground again keeping him stunned..Once you have found him you have to options...life or death!!! Stick him with your shovel or scoop him into the buckett. This is how my grandfather did it and claims it is how the whack a mole game was invinted...IDK.

Either way your gonna want some grass patch seed to repair the lawn and damage the critter has caused. You could just get some mole traps too, they are not that expensive and if the tunnels are shallow they work good. Either way I wish you luck as well!!
 

Randy

Super Moderator
Staff member
I tried sitting one time, but it was kind of chilly early in the morning and I got tired of waiting. But I didn't try the flag method. I have a steel spike that I use to follow a tunnel and when I think I know an active tunnel, I dig enough of a hole to place a "Cinch" trap in each direction. I have caught at least 25 or 30 moles that way over the last 10 years. But I still have them.
 

tonya

New Member
moles

dear yum yum i really don't think i want to meet these critters face to face and i'm a little to squeamish for the whack a mole method...we live next to a tributary to the elizabeth river so i don't think it would ever be possible to get them all i guess i'm just looking for a deterrent..it's kinda strange though...they tunnel in the front yard where we have more weeds than turf and you never see the tunnels but you can sure feel them when you walk across the yard it is sooo squishy i always worry that someone is going to sink into a run and turn their ankle..but in the back yard i have a section that has noooo turf nothing but stinking wire grass which i will have been trying to get rid of for my 4th year...i can see their runs here but so far they haven't got in to the veggie patch or in the flower beds???strange critters..
 


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