My first garden plot!!!

[MissS]

I'm wondering if some diatomaceous earth sprinkled around the plants would help get the Rollies out of there. I think that it would.

[Moth1992]

Pill bug or sow bug, are the same or similar to our 'carpenters'. Maybe ours are closer to sow bugs, they don't roll up in a ball, but otherwise their lifestyle is identical. Fond of the damp, fond of the wood, of course we have lots of em in my garden.
They will infest anything that covers the ground and holds in moisture, including pieces of wood, mulch, plant discards, row cover. If they get in your row cover here they can also chow down on small seedlings. They have shown fondness for strawberries, and summer squash, even though they're not generally a pest. They were literally climbing the squash plants which I had trellised upwards one year, in large numbers. They don't show any interest in other vegetables that I know of.

THEY CLIMB PLANTS!?

[bower]

Pill bug or sow bug, are the same or similar to our 'carpenters'. Maybe ours are closer to sow bugs, they don't roll up in a ball, but otherwise their lifestyle is identical. Fond of the damp, fond of the wood, of course we have lots of em in my garden.
They will infest anything that covers the ground and holds in moisture, including pieces of wood, mulch, plant discards, row cover. If they get in your row cover here they can also chow down on small seedlings. They have shown fondness for strawberries, and summer squash, even though they're not generally a pest. They were literally climbing the squash plants which I had trellised upwards one year, in large numbers. They don't show any interest in other vegetables that I know of.

THEY CLIMB PLANTS!?

There was a wooden structure they were partying in and under.... The squash was just an addition to their hotel. But yes, they were all over the plants. And definitely fond of kousa and other white summer squash.

[Tormahto]

Pill bug or sow bug, are the same or similar to our 'carpenters'. Maybe ours are closer to sow bugs, they don't roll up in a ball, but otherwise their lifestyle is identical. Fond of the damp, fond of the wood, of course we have lots of em in my garden.
They will infest anything that covers the ground and holds in moisture, including pieces of wood, mulch, plant discards, row cover. If they get in your row cover here they can also chow down on small seedlings. They have shown fondness for strawberries, and summer squash, even though they're not generally a pest. They were literally climbing the squash plants which I had trellised upwards one year, in large numbers. They don't show any interest in other vegetables that I know of.

THEY CLIMB PLANTS!?

There was a wooden structure they were partying in and under.... The squash was just an addition to their hotel. But yes, they were all over the plants. And definitely fond of kousa and other white summer squash.

Hmm, wondering if dark green squash gets too warm, in the sun, to their liking. Do your bugs come out to play in the daytime? I hear that the rolly pollies only come out at night.

[bower]

Carpenters are not especially nocturnal @Tormato . Of course they like it cool and damp and if you uncover them they will scamper for cover. But a bit of overhanging shade from the rhubarb is perfectly alright to crawl up and noodle into a strawberry!!

[Moth1992]

Propping the strawberries with staples is helping a lot. Still they nibbled on some but not too bad. The strawberries are delicious.

The tomato plants look way happier than the ones in my balcony. They get more sun and they get less fog and it shows.

The gophers seem busy muching on my neighbours stuff. But they are not putting traps. Im keeping an eye to when they decide to approach my plot

Met one of my neighbours today. She low key shunned my metal fortification and the fact that I had used some miracle gro soil. Apparently im not organic enough for her. She is planting marigolds to deter them.... Good luck with your marigolds lady.... Thanks for keeping the gophers busy and fed far from my tomatoes!

[Tormahto]

Propping the strawberries with staples is helping a lot. Still they nibbled on some but not too bad. The strawberries are delicious.

The tomato plants look way happier than the ones in my balcony. They get more sun and they get less fog and it shows.

The gophers seem busy muching on my neighbours stuff. But they are not putting traps. Im keeping an eye to when they decide to approach my plot

Met one of my neighbours today. She low key shunned my metal fortification and the fact that I had used some miracle gro soil. Apparently im not organic enough for her. She is planting marigolds to deter them.... Good luck with your marigolds lady.... Thanks for keeping the gophers busy and fed far from my tomatoes!

Ooh, a double feature, for the price of one admission.

Gotta pace myself, so the popcorn will last.

[Moth1992]

Oh today was a good day! I was at my shift at the wildlife rescue and lo and behold, we have a california gopher snake!

And she is ready for release!

Went at sunset after my shift, found a nice sheltered spot next to the garden plots...

And off she goes!!

[JRinPA]

Better hide the shovels...we have some garter snakes at our comm garden, and I'm worried for them. Around here it is "I thought it was a copperhead".

[Moth1992]

I hope she is savvy and stays away from trouble. I put her in a nice spot where she can hide from birds and she is away from people and there are lots of burrows and squirrels.

But then...she did get to the rescue because she got in some absurd trouble so who knows. I can just hope.

[Tormahto]

I hope she is savvy and stays away from trouble. I put her in a nice spot where she can hide from birds and she is away from people and there are lots of burrows and squirrels.

But then...she did get to the rescue because she got in some absurd trouble so who knows. I can just hope.

Absurd trouble is often someone just seeing a snake.

Yes, people should be cautious around them, if they don't know what they are dealing with. With just enough distance from them, it then becomes hard to think about what harm they could do. Living in eastern timber rattlesnake country, with three dens within about 4 to 10 miles of me, and knowing that their range from the den is about 2 miles, my home is in no danger from them. I have to go out into some rough steep rocky terrain to be within their traveling range. And I do. I've observed the rattlers enough to know what they do when not provoked into a defensive mode. I've had them slither over my hand, placed under them at about the midway point of their body. A rattler stretched out, and not partially coiled, cannot strike. The rattler never even knew that it was moving across my hand. There may still be one snake with a defective rattle, still around, the rattle being silent. Luckily they do much of their traveling over fallen forest leaves. When this one shakes its tail, usually some rustling leaves can be heard.

[Wildcat82]

The snakes around here creep me out. There are no venomous snakes (as far as I know) in the upper midwest but not here.

Once, as a kid, I was checking some fenceline in our pasture. My eyes were focused to make sure every single staple was in place and I didn't watch where I was walking. Suddenly something felt something kinda squishy under my foot. I had stepped on 2 six foot bull snakes wrapped around each other mating.

I nearly crapped my pants.

[Tormahto]

The snakes around here creep me out. There are no venomous snakes (as far as I know) in the upper midwest but not here.

Once, as a kid, I was checking some fenceline in our pasture. My eyes were focused to make sure every single staple was in place and I didn't watch where I was walking. Suddenly something felt something kinda squishy under my foot. I had stepped on 2 six foot bull snakes wrapped around each other mating.

I nearly crapped my pants.

One year I was walking some RR tracks (a private short line, with a slow moving train that comes through once a week), and heard a strange sound. I knew it wasn't the 17 year cicadas, because that happened the year before. Then it dawned on me what the sound was. So, I very s-l-o-w-l-y turned my eyes and looked down, without moving my head . One more step in front of me were 2 timber rattlers mating between the rails. They were intertwined, so they could not strike. I then stepped back slowly in order to not agitate them. A few seconds later, the train's air horn sounded. I knew that it would be here in less than 5 minutes. So, I searched around for a stick, a very long one. It took about a minute to find one, and then it was over to poking the rattlers in their tails to get them moving. They cleared the tracks after first being extremely agitated.

[Danny]

LOL, being poked with a stick in the tail while trying to make babies would upset most species, even if it saved thenm from the train.

[Moth1992]

Tomatoes seem to be growing ok. Temperatures have been all over the place and we had a lot of wind so i was a bit concerned but they are growing slowly but steadily.

They however are growing at very different speeds, ive had to arrange a florida weave that I can easily remove and reatatch as the shorter ones catch up.

Karma Purple is still the frontrunner in size. With Black Beauty a close second. Weirdly the Kimberley in my balcony is doing better than in the ground one, but its the only exception to the rule.

My peppers are just not growing. They are not handling well this crazy weather Im afraid and my maglia rosa is going to overshadow them soon.... Lesson for next year I guess. Lets see what happens, but im glad I didnt even attempt eggplants.

I have cuc seedlings waiting in my balcony to be transplanted but they have been stop and go with the temp changes. I might just plant them this week and be done with them.

No gopher attacks so far. The hose was pulled into a gopher hole. I dont know if someone was attempting to drown them or the gopher was going for a drink.

Some above ground visitor nibbled my garlics. Thats ok.

No sightings of my snake friend. I hope she is chilling around after a good meal.

[bower]

Everything looks great! And gopher proof!!

[DriftlessRoots]

That looks great!

The hose was pulled into a gopher hole. I dont know if someone was attempting to drown them or the gopher was going for a drink.

Whenever I find a gopher tunnel I stick in the hose, turn it on and go do something else for a while. They don’t come back. Being surrounded by over 500 other, drier plots gives them a place to go.

[Moth1992]

That looks great!

The hose was pulled into a gopher hole. I dont know if someone was attempting to drown them or the gopher was going for a drink.

Whenever I find a gopher tunnel I stick in the hose, turn it on and go do something else for a while. They don’t come back. Being surrounded by over 500 other, drier plots gives them a place to go.

So neighbour is flushing them towards my side. Hmmmm. Not cool.

[Tormahto]

Once large fruit start to establish, it's best not to remove any Florida weave, only add to it. It's easy for a branch to collapse or crack if its support is removed, even for a very brief time.

[Moth1992]

Once large fruit start to establish, it's best not to remove any Florida weave, only add to it. It's easy for a branch to collapse or crack if its support is removed, even for a very brief time.

Thankyou I had no idea!!!

Today I transplanted cucumbers into my garden. I attempted @worth1s techinque @GoDawgs told me about. I think it went mostly ok but not flawlessly. Hope there isnt much transplant shock.

Also met another of my neighbours and she was lovely. She gave up on The Gopher Wars and decided to grow a flower garden instead of a vegetable one. And its beautiful and wild and the bees love her plot.