Well, over the weekend I planted my first vegetable garden. I have wanted
to do this for several years but being an apartment dweller has prevented
this. Now that I am an official homeowner, it was one of my first projects.
Here are some things I learned:

- Trees have lots of roots. I planted the garden by a large willow and it
has roots everywhere. There was nary a spot I could dig without
encountering roots. I fear these tree roots till compete with the plants.
Maybe I'll need a raised bed next year.

- It's a hell of a lot of work. Even with a tiller I borrowed it was tough.
It was a good tough, though. I feel good, even though I am sore. Getting
my hands in the dirt while putting the plants in was a very rewarding
experience. I work in information security and simply cannot get this "very
basic" feeling. Very nice and spiritual.

- I bought too many plants, probably. There's only two of us and I have a
total of 36 or so plants. If they grow I'm going to have tomatoes out the
ears. That's OK, though. It gives me an opportunity to share with other
people and recruit my mother for some canning.

- If I get some kind of bug eating these, I'm screwed. I'm still at the
stage where I'm just going to point to the plants and grunt something that
vaguely resembles, "grow!"

Anyway, the neighbors have said that we have rabbits in the area. Any idea
how I can keep them away? Mothballs around the perimeter?

Tips on organic fertilizers/frequency? I used some peat moss and Nutrabrew
initially, on the advice of the local garden store. Thanks in advance.

Congratulations, you are now one of us 8-).

Re the rabbits--it depends on what you are growing. They usually leave
tomatoes and peppers alone. They are very fond of lettuce and other greens.
They will wait until your green beans have four sets of leaves, and you are
congratulating yourself on how well they are growing, to nip them off all
along the row. The only sure defense is a fence, but I've had some luck
with deterrents. Mothballs are a bad idea, they are fairly toxic and you
don't want them around your food. Cayenne pepper powder sprinkled right on
the leaves can help, and this year I'm experimenting with commercial Hot
Pepper Wax spray. You need to reapply after a heavy rain. Once the beans
get a bit larger and tougher, the rabbits generally leave them alone.
Rabbits are also very fond of clover, and I have watched my local rabbits
ignoring the garden to eat the clover in the lawn.

Good luck with your endeavors,
Cheers,
Sue

In article ,
"Seeker" wrote:

Well, over the weekend I planted my first vegetable garden. I have wanted
to do this for several years but being an apartment dweller has prevented
this. Now that I am an official homeowner, it was one of my first projects.
Here are some things I learned:

- Trees have lots of roots. I planted the garden by a large willow and it
has roots everywhere. There was nary a spot I could dig without
encountering roots. I fear these tree roots till compete with the plants.
Maybe I'll need a raised bed next year.

Watch the tree. I was a rookie last year, and my first big mistake was:
planting too near the trees. This was bad because, in very early spring,
the locusts had not yet leafed out. What I thought was a sunny spot
became a shady spot that vegetables would not grow well in. Then the
mulberries set fruit, right above the garden, and dropped hundreds of
mulberry seeds which became a huge weed problem. Next, the moles moved
in. Moles may not eat vegetables, but something was running around in
their tunnels that ate everything- even garlic and onions. Finally,
anything that survived all this was killed by the twigs and branches
that drop off the locusts like flesh off the zombie-corpse in the horror
movie.
Location, location, location. I decided I didn't really have a good spot
for a vegetable garden, so I'm sticking with fruiting trees, shrubs and
vines and mixing some herbs in with my flower beds. I may change my mind
later, but delicious farm-fresh vegetables are so plentiful in West TN
that it's hardly worth the space it takes to grow my own. I'll leave
that to the pros and grow things I wouldn't be able to just buy off the
farm.

On Mon, 09 Jun 2003 20:02:39 GMT, "Seeker"
wrote:


Anyway, the neighbors have said that we have rabbits in the area. Any idea
how I can keep them away? Mothballs around the perimeter?

The *only* way I know to keep rabbits out of a garden is to
fence the garden. Chicken wire with 1" mesh, two feet high,
has always worked for me. It's pretty cheap, and you can
just staple or tack it to wooden stakes.

They've never bothered tomatoes in my experience...but
they'll surely eat up your lettuce and other greens.


Tips on organic fertilizers/frequency? I used some peat moss and Nutrabrew
initially, on the advice of the local garden store. Thanks in advance.


I use fish emulsion - available in garden stores. There are
a lot of kinds though. How much fertilizer, and the
frequency depends on what you're growing.

I'd suggest you get a couple of basic books on gardening
from your library. I recommend 'Square Foot Gardening' by
Mel Bartholomew - but remember if you read it, his way is
*not* the only way to do things. I use a lot of his ideas,
and modify some of them to fit my own circumstances.

Pat

We have loads of rabbits around here but don't get them in the garden as we
have a dog & 2 cats - the cats do a daily "patrol" around the perimeter of
the garden - quite funny to watch - we don't have fences, just hedges, &
they do a slow prowl right along the hedges several times a day looking for
mice so I suppose the bunnies steer clear!

Our neighbours do get the rabbits in though & they have a fine mesh chicken
wire fence around their vegetable garden.

:-)
Jayne



Anyway, the neighbors have said that we have rabbits in the area. Any
idea
how I can keep them away? Mothballs around the perimeter?