Monday, May 7, 2012

greenhouse monday

Somethings been nibblin' on my morning glories.  Set up the game cam last night to see the final strand disappear - thanks to a mouse.  Good news is...so far they have left all the other vegetation alone.  Disuading mice from my oasis will be a bit of a challenge.  Someone suggested cats - might be time for some felines to move into the courtyard as soon as I get it buttoned up a bit more.













Bush beans and squash are flourishing. 

My test with two earthboxes is rather revealing...both boxes have identical plants started from seed on March 25th and transplanted on April 4th.  Each planter has 3 Mexico Midget tomato plants and 2 wild organic spinach plants.  The earthbox that is winning was planted as per their instructions http://www.earthbox.com/...the other was planted using no fertilizer - just potting mix, native soil, and old cow poo.  The message here isn't that I have to use chemical fertilizer. I have to work on getting really good compost.  86,97,60,0,W,0
Posted by at
Labels:

13 comments:

Scuba Steve said...

John, is that Red Orach?

May 7, 2012 at 8:30 PM
Dale said...

The one with potting mix probably needs some dolomite to raise the ph to neutral. potting mix is mostly peat which is low ph.

May 7, 2012 at 9:48 PM
Dale said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
May 7, 2012 at 9:49 PM
Bob from Athens said...

I would gladly trade you one tree rat ,aka squirrel, for two mice. I took out five in the last three days and they are still eating my tomatoes faster than I can pick them.

May 7, 2012 at 10:04 PM
Ben in Texas said...

Best to get those mice gone, NOW.. Mice are snakes favorite food. If you got mice you WILL have snakes.

May 8, 2012 at 5:15 AM
everlastingblogstopper said...

I agree with Dale, I think that is more likely a ph problem that is stunting those transplants. Get a little ph tester and check. As you likely know, slightly acidic is good for most veggies, from 6 to 7.

May 8, 2012 at 7:12 AM
islandsisle said...

cats will very possibly asv they often do!! USE YOUR GARDENS as a litter box..you have to then start deviseing ways to keep the cats ..out of the beds...it's a viscious circle!!maybe a NICE resident snake would work!!?? but I don't think they eat a big volume or numbers of them.

May 8, 2012 at 8:39 AM
jmick said...

Well that opens up the rattle snake question again, and so too my suggestion for a road runner coop. As you probably know road runners eat mice and rattle snakes.

May 8, 2012 at 5:24 PM
jmick said...

I wonder if Carl would be interested in a road runner GF? Hmmm

May 8, 2012 at 5:28 PM
Allen Hare said...

Seems that cats and chickens would not mix well. A local cat either ate, or chased off, my little hen. There are little sticky mouse traps that you can get at most grocery stores. They are like a cardboard triangle that you place along the baseboard, or some other crawl space. Once Mr. Mouse steps inside, a powerful glue ensures that he goes no further.

May 8, 2012 at 6:52 PM
Dani said...

A field mouse at the field lab - somehow appropriate :)

May 9, 2012 at 12:46 AM
Anonymous said...

cats, Karl, basil...very interesting, dude

May 9, 2012 at 7:22 PM
misho said...

Good to see your earthboxes™ are working out. I planted tomatoes in mine, as well as two big pots, and they did very well for about a month then they all died in one night.

May 10, 2012 at 5:22 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)