Over the years I have attempted to grow plants (flowers) from seed to save money with the final results being of me going to the store and buying flats of flowers to plant. Why? Because my flowers die while trying to sprout. This year I had a min-indoor greenhouse and I grew flowers and some garden veggies from seed into plantable products. They weren't the perfect specimens but still, I hope they will grow to full production size. I realized my mistake and next year I will attempt it one last time - if it fails, I will never attempt to grow from seeds again. I truly do believe I've mastered the art.
Still, there are some things about gardening that I'm in the dark about. I had a fantastic crop of sweet corn growing. I watered it and could smell the head smell and knew the raccoons would attack. I took the precaution and plastered a concoction of tabasco, cayenne and hot chili sauce onto the corn. The coons attacked and had a hot corn salsa fiesta that night and my full sweet corn patch was destroyed during the dark.
To say I was livid would be an understatement. I promised myself I would put up an electric fence and not waste the time hooking up to a battery or house outlet but directly to the electric pole of 220. The raccoons would hit that wire and be blasted into space, landing a mere 60 miles away in Toledo. My sons convinced me I didn't need to be quite that drastic.
My wife convinced me over the winter months to give up the idea of growing sweet corn since we are so close to the wilderness, living out in the country. I really wanted my sweet corn but agreed... well, until about 12 hours ago. I came home from church, had a lovely dinner and then in the extreme heat of the day, decided to till up the in-ground garden. I also have a raised bed garden. Anyway, I blended in some topsoil and compost and went to town.
Then, like a moth drawn to a lamp, I pulled out the remainder of last year's sweet corn seed and planted 5 rows, about 20 ft long... thus creating a new sweet corn patch.
Is there electric fence? No.
Is there any fence? No.
Will there be fence, electric fence. YES! If all goes well, I hope to have the standard electric fence, 36 inches high, placed around the gardens to enclose them. The raised bed is fenced in but I will still put the electric fence around to include it. Then, just inside the electric fence which will keep out the raccoons, ground hogs, and rabbits, I will place deer fencing to keep them from jumping over the electric fence.
IF the above scheme doesn't work -- my gardening days will be over at the end of this production year. Any tomato and peppers from the raised bed will be made into salsa, stuffed peppers and stewed tomatoes. The ground garden also has watermelon, cantelope, cucumbers and squash growing.
IF I don't get any sweet corn this year -- the following Spring will see the area leveled and a very large, above ground pool will be installed; either 16x32 or a 24 or 27 ft circular.
IF I can't garden, then by cracky I will enjoy the area by swimming during the heat of summer. I already know how to heat the pool for earlier usage by April and extend it into late October, early November.
Yes, I know. I probably should have put the pool in this year but ... well, Hope springs eternal.
Until next I ramble on...
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