The Fence Seems to be Spoiling Dinner for Bambi

Since the gate was installed on the Bambi fence, no deer tracks have been seen in the garden. The depredations on the young plants has been minimal and mostly attributed to Bugs Bunny. Ricky Raccoon does not seem to be bothering the garden, but I believe he has been trying to get into the beehive.

A have-a-hart trap will be placed under the beehive tonight. If Ricky stays away he won’t have a problem. If he doesn’t stay away, he will have a very bad night.

Everything in the garden has come up except for the okra and some beans and cucumbers that were fill-ins for things that didn’t come up. The fill in sugar peas have come up and the yellow squash in the front yard has come up. Dill and zinnias were planted in the front yard on Friday. The zinnias have come up. It may be a little early for the dill.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

I Love My Garden

Every year is a perfect garden year when the garden is in the planning stages. As the greenhouse gets going, little failures creep in. Then comes the spring planting and some things don’t come up. If everything comes up, Bambi and Bugs Bunny come in and have a feast on the small plants, which leaves nothing. Several improvements this year have helped maintain the garden quality. Of course it is very early in the season.

A new greenhouse was purchased and assembled before the greenhouse season really got going. This tripled the amount of surviving plants. Everything planted came up and flourished except for the basil and the nasturtium. A Bambi fence has so far protected the garden from Bambi. Bugs still comes to dinner, but so far he hasn’t eaten much. A big red-tailed hawk is a welcome visitor to the garden. He does eat some of the songbirds, but his favorite dish is rabbit. The asparagus bed was loaded up with about 4” of compost at the end of the last season and asparagus is being cut at the rate of about 4 per day.

The biggest disappointment each year generally comes from the spaghetti squash. It usually has a poor germination rate, producing only 1 or 2 plants. Then there is a low fruit set, and finally there are pickle worms. This year a new bed has been made around about 1/3 of the garden. Everything in that bed has come up extremely well except for the cucumber. There are actually so many spaghetti squash plants that they will have to be thinned.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Too Much of a Good Thing

The ideal situation is to plant grass and have immediate rain. Thursday saw the last task as putting out grass seed. It was too late for mulch. Thursday night saw rain to wash away the world and probably the grass seed. The straw was spread Friday afternoon. That was closing the barn door after the horse gets out. I suppose if the grass doesn’t come up, the yard can be reseeded over the straw.

Everything in the garden is planted except for the okra. The yellow squash was planted in the front yard. I did not tell my wife. We’ll see if she raises Cain. There is still a good bit of work to do in the ornamental beds.

Potatoes have been planted in sand bags for the past several years, because the soil in the garden was unsuitable. This worked out well but makes it almost impossible to grapple the potatoes. The garden soil has improved greatly over the years, so the potatoes were planted in the garden this year. They have come up already but are not big enough to hill up yet.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Good Friday really was (good)

It rained all night Thursday and Friday, but the days were nice. A lot of plants went in the ground. The gate to the garden had to be installed 1st or Bambi would eat the garden. Bugs Bunny can still get in, but he doesn’t eat much. A big red-tailed hawk has been hanging around the yard, so we haven’t seen many rabbits this year. Why doesn’t it eat squirrels?

The greenhouse was way too productive. Loads of plants have been given away and there are still too many for the garden. Some of the tomatoes have blooms. All of the marigolds have blooms. Herbs are planted all over, but this year there is a dedicated bed for herbs in addition to the ones that are in the vegetable and flower beds.

Rotten Saturday was a beautiful day, but my father always said the anything planted on rotten Saturday would rot. The main thing we did on Saturday was pickup and situate the bees and get the front yard ready to plant grass. It is almost ready. Maybe grass will go in the ground today. Clover seed is being mixed with the grass seed to give the bees a little extra nectar.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Getting Ready to Plant

Written 3/13/13

Tomorrow morning is the last predicted freeze between now and March 22. The garden is almost ready for planting

A new bed 2’ wide has been built around 1/3 of the perimeter of the garden with landscape timbers. It still needs to be filled with landscape timbers and dirt. All but 4 of the old beds have been reworked and some of them have been planted with early crops. The kale and mustard have sprouted.

The plants in the greenhouse are either going to have to go in bigger pots or the ground. It is probably too early to plant things like tomatoes and peppers, but the traditional day is Good Friday which is the 29th. Tomorrow after things warm up a little, a few plants will be put outside to harden off. They will be brought in at night. The cilantro and parsley can be planted. One each of tomatoes, peppers, marigold and black peony poppy will be planted this weekend if the 10 day forecast still predicts no freezing.

The marigold can take a light freeze. The others will still be small enough to cover with a 2 liter bottle if a freeze is predicted. Even though it is sad to lose any plant, the greenhouse has more than I will be able to plant or give away.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Drying Soil

This summer we will wish for rain like we’ve had lately. For now it has been keeping the soil too wet to till. Yesterday (Thursday) the ground in the garden and a front flower bed were too wet to till. The front yard, that just needs enough tilling to be able to rake smooth, was tilled. The tilling was started 4 months ago, but “projects” have gotten in the way of completion. Now it has to be raked and then it will be ready for grass seed.

Hopefully the front flower bed will be ready to till this afternoon. That soil drains really fast. If no rain comes the garden will be tilled Saturday. Then some new beds will be built and filled with mushroom compost and dirt. The compost from the bins is almost gone. There are probably 2 wheelbarrows full left. It takes 1 wheelbarrow load to refresh a bed. It takes 4 to make a new bed.

The 10 day weather forecast calls for no freezing weather after today until St Patty’s day. That forecast is very frequently wrong, especially this time of year. I am resisting the urge to set out some summer crops. Even if the weather stays warm, it really doesn’t speed the harvest. The potatoes for the spring planting still need to be planted.



David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

A Tale of Two Marigolds

Parsley, Cilantro and Marigolds (only a few of each) were put outside during the day to harden off. Friday night they were forgotten and left out all night. Since the original intention was to plant them on Saturday, this was not a problem. They did not get planted Saturday. The temperature went to 25 on Sunday morning. This was not a problem except for 1 marigold. One thrived and one died.

The cilantro and parsley were set out Sunday. The surviving marigold was taken back into the greenhouse. Kale, Swiss chard, onion sets, radishes, mustard and sugar peas were planted over the weekend. Two asparagus plants were hardened off, but their planting is being delayed until the asparagus in the bed start shooting up. One has poked its nose up, but it has only grown 2 inches in 4 days.

The soil in the garden is still too wet to till. Freezing nights and windy sunny days should dry it out fast. If it is not dry by Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday more rain is predicted.



David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/