Last week we talked about how to grow peas. Ordinarily it’s easy as pie, but what do you
do when creatures of the night and/or sky make it their business to snatch up all your delicate sprouts before they have a chance to take hold in the soil?
Another great question came in this week:
“Hello, I have a worm bin that I use to throw all my compostable items in such as veggies,eggshells, paper etc. I also have a big compost bin next to my worm bin, it is about a quarter full. I
throw junk mail and grass clippings, tree clippings, whatever is too big for my worm bin goes in this big bin. Could I add worms to this big bin as well to aid in the speed of the …
Gardens are springing up everywhere – providing snack bars for woodland creatures all over the globe. Here’s a question that came in last week:
“Dear Gardenerd, I am starting a garden in my back yard. I would LOVE to
convert my useless front lawn into an edible estate but can’t spend
thousand of dollars on a fence to keep out the wild rabbits. Do you
have a simpler suggestion to keep the rabbits at bay? Thanks, Caroline”
I can make a few suggestions, but honestly a fence is the best answer.
Rabbits burrow, so any fence you put in needs to go down at …
After being gone for 10 days up the coast of California during what could be called the most beautiful summer-like winter weather Northern California has ever seen, my husband and I have returned to find the gardens thriving. Some veggies are just coming into fullness, while others – like the Osaka Purple Mustard – are finishing up. We came home to find a bright yellow flower shooting out the top of overgrown mustard greens (we couldn’t possibly have kept up with the production of those giant leaves). We also found tiny, bright white, waxy cauliflower heads starting to …
A new gardenerd wrote in recently:
“Any suggestions [for a rat-proof compost bin]? We do trap and try to control the rats but they just exist and like to
come around compost in our neighborhood.”
There must be a global increase in rats this year. We’ve been seeing an increase in these critters around our community garden as well. I had them nibbling away at my tomatoes all summer. Here are a couple suggestions I can across in my research:
First of all, you will want to make sure that you aren’t composting any animal fats, bones or flesh. Rats are …