Gardening/Maintenance Thread

Postby **NTP66** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 7:45 am

My shed must be delicious to raccoons.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 9:20 am

Do you keep trash cans in there?

Postby **NTP66** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 9:39 am

Nope. Fertilizer, grass seed, gardening tools, and a bag of bird food, which is what I assume they're after.

Postby **Shyster** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 5:45 pm

It's the bird food. The best and cheapest storage method I've come across for bird food is a galvanized metal garbage can. Make sure you get a can with handles on the sides and a handle on the lid. Buy a length of small metal chain at the hardware store as well as a screw-close quick link or a similar fastener. Run the chain across the lid under the handle, through each handle on the sides, and bring it back and link it as tight as you can with the quick link. The chain holds down/on the lid, and critters can't chew through steel. You could try holding down the link with a bungee cord, but I'd bet a raccoon would just chew it off. I can say from experience that a raccoon does have the strength and ability to flip off a metal garbage-can lid, so it must be held on with something.

Postby **NTP66** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 6:02 pm

I may just put the bird seed in the garage. I'm actually impressed that they can smell it with all of the other stuff in there, too.

Postby **Shyster** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 7:55 pm

Critters can smell food very well. While a raccoon won't be able to get into the garage, beware that it might still attract mice. The last time I left a bag of birdseed in my garage, it was chewed open by mice by the very next morning.

Postby **NTP66** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 8:21 pm

I had the bird seed stored in the garage for 5 years without an issue, but I'll certainly keep it in mind.

Postby **mac5155** » Sat Sep 02, 2017 10:29 am

Get a box trap. Catch those SOBs and relocate.

Postby **NTP66** » Sat Sep 02, 2017 1:32 pm

Honestly, it's not that big a deal to me. The shed still functions just fine, and water stays out. I'll simply move the seed and see where it goes from there. It's certainly not worth the $85/critter that the local animal control guy charges, and I'm not buying a cage and relocating them myself.

Postby **mac5155** » Sat Sep 02, 2017 8:03 pm

I've relocated 3 raccoons in the past month because they were eating all my corn in my deer feeder. It worked. I got a beautiful 10 point on camera Thursday night.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Sat Sep 02, 2017 9:15 pm

Bow season started two weeks ago, and rifle season started yesterday...and it goes until New Year's Day.

Most of my friends that hunt don't bother until late October. Too hot and buggy to sit in a stand all weekend.

Postby **LITT** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:02 am

probably looking to create some mulch beds along our house and deck. currently it is grass and clay soil. if i get a tiller and just go over it a bunch, will that help? should i exhume the grass?

Postby **blackjack68** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:13 am

Get rid of as much grass as possible or a heavy dose of RoundUp. Then I'd lay down some weed fabric over the area that you will be covering with mulch. Really suppresses any grow through.

Postby **LITT** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:14 am

oh yea definitely will use weed fabric. love that stuff. should i round up before tilling?

Postby **mac5155** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:37 am

I would just round up and be done. No need to till unless you're planting something

Postby **blackjack68** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:49 am

I would just round up and be done. No need to till unless you're planting something

I concur.

Postby **LITT** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:49 am

hopefully planting within the next 3 weeks

Postby **mac5155** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:51 am

What u planting winter rye?

Postby **meow** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 12:20 pm

probably looking to create some mulch beds along our house and deck. currently it is grass and clay soil. if i get a tiller and just go over it a bunch, will that help? should i exhume the grass?

I did a few of these this past summer.
Sprayed round-up and let it work for two days
Removed the grass and roots with a spade
Tilled
Sprayed round-up again and let it work for two days
Put two layers of weed fabric down.

Postby **Willie Kool** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 1:55 pm

Last May we did a huge new flower bed - probably around 800 sq ft - on a hill I didn't want to mow anymore. In the past, I had always removed all the grass by hand-digging. This time I just scalped it with the mower set as low as I could and spread mulch at least 5" deep. We let it sit unplanted all last summer. Had to roundup a few spots of grass that came up, but the mulch mostly smothered the grass by itself.

Planted it this spring and it looks great. I've spent maybe an hour or two total all summer weeding that bed.

Postby **NTP66** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 3:11 pm

Yeah, I'd probably go the tiller route as opposed to both mowing and multiple rounds of chemicals. 30 minutes and a few bucks later, you're all done.

Postby **Willie Kool** » Sun Dec 03, 2017 7:02 pm

It was 50 degrees and sunny here today. Great day to finish trimming / pulling stuff in the gardens. The lawn had grown a little and I still had gas in the tank, so I mowed.

Also fired up the snowblower, which I'll probably need next weekend.

Postby **LITT** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 3:26 pm

does anyone use peat pots/biodegradable pots to plant seedlings

Postby **blackjack68** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 4:07 pm

does anyone use peat pots/biodegradable pots to plant seedlings

I have.

Postby **LITT** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 6:30 pm

does anyone use peat pots/biodegradable pots to plant seedlings
I have.

Would you recommend them?