badmonkey

I just got off of the phone with Dr. Smrekar. She seemed like a kind and knowledgeable  person.  She is sending a tally form to me and I will be ready to go bright and early on Jan 3rd. Thanks to all who posted information. I appreciate it.  

Thanks. I will try to call her this week.

I think the person you want is Dr. Jocelynn Smrekar at Clarion University

814-393-1622  [mail]jsmrekar@clarion.edu  [/mail]

Can someone point me in the right direction to registar for the Christmas bird count? I have a busy, established bird feeder in my yard and would love to take part in the count. I did it many, many years ago in The Pittsburgh area and it was cool. Thanks!

I have used salt before and it worked. As mentioned, one of the problems is that it takes a long time for it to leave the soil which means that almost nothing will grow in the treated spot for a long time.  

My bushes were loaded today with a variety of butterflies. It is about time!

Some butterflies finally arrived this week. There have been several flying around and feeding from my bushes but, there still aren't as many as in previous years.

My corn looks great. I have been planting Silver Queen for the last four years and it seems to get a little better every year! I use a hill & row method. I plant three plants per hill and the hills are in rows. I make sure to shovle lots of dirt around the base of the plants and tie them  to posts in the rows when possible. A couple of years ago I had a great looing garden with lots of nice corn stalks loaded with developing ears and we had a storm. It knocked down almost all of my plants. They weren't only knocked down but they were twisted at the base which killed the plants.  

I ate some more tonight. They taste great. There is a clear difference in taste between the tomatoes that I grow and those that I buy in grocery stores. I' m not sure why but, I always put my store bought tomatoes in the fridg and keep my garden tomatoes on a counter. They taste better warm.

At least my butterfly bushes look nice this year. *smile*

Two of my 36ish Butterfly bushes grew quickly this year and have been in bloom for a couple of weeks. The rest of the bushes should be in bloom within a week or so. I noticed that there aren't as many butterflies around this year compared to previous years. Anyone else notice a chnage? I am still getting about the same number of Hummingbird Moths and an increase in Hummingbirds at my butterfly bushes.

I switched most of my plants to Goliath plants thhis year and have been pleased so far. I have been picking and eating them for a little more than a week now. The tomatoes are meaty with few seeds. I haven't had any ripe ones on our Pounder plants yet but, they are moving along. My Granny Smith plants got a late start and now have tomatoes about the size of tennis balls now. I will wait a little longer and start picking the Granny Smith tomatoes. They are a green tomatoe that doesn't turn red. If you are into green tomatoes, I HIGHLY recommend Granny Smith. We have been growing them for years and they haven't let us down yet.  

Most of my tomatoe plants are located inside a fenced in area and are growing tall fast. I do have a couple that are planted in other gardens and there are a couple of the plants inside the fence that have tops that can be reached from outside the fence. The deer trim those back every year. I have found that the ones with natural tops that haven't been chewed off by deer tend to produce better.

I can probably come up with something. I have a roll of screen (like the kind used in windows) laying around here somewhere.

The squash leaves that have been eaten are in a different garden than the peppers. These two gardens are located on two different sides of my house and one can't be seen from the other. I know that Rabbits travel a bit and cover a lot of ground but from what I have seen during the evening, the rabbits seem to stay on one side of the house. I'm not sure why. Of course, they could switch sides after dark. I thought about covering the ground around the pepper plants with flour and then seeing what kinds of animal tracks show up in the flour.

If rabbits are eating the squash it is probably rabbits in the peppers too. I've had moderated success with the coyote urine products on groundhogs this year and I'm trying out the Liquid Fence. It is recommended for rabbits and deer. It is also supposed to be rain resistant. (Someone on here also said it didn't work on rabbits so I don't know.)

With peppers, since they are so small, you could try a physical barrier. They make that fine plastic netting which works but you need a support or the leaves grow up through it. You could probably bend wire hangers into hoops to support it. You can also buy them. I used to make a tunnel and cover my broccoli plants but they get so big it didn't seem worth it just to keep the cabbage moths off. This year I did a temporary cover until the plants got big enough for Mr. Groundhog to lose interest. I laid tomato cages horizontally over every two or three plants and draped with the mesh.

I will give it a try. We already have Robins, Catbirds, Blue Jays and several other species of birds at the feeder but it is always nice to give them a treat!

Robins are probably at your feeders to eat the insects around the fallen seed.  You can feed them soaked raisins if you want to give them a treat.  Just soak them in a bowl of water over night, drain them and then set them out.  Catbirds, Orioles and Blue Jays will eat them too.  

Will do but, at least when I look from my porch I will see a decent looking tree (this year). *smile*

You have been a bad boy. Go sit in the corner of your porch and

This is the first time that I have had Robins at my established bird feeder. There are two Robins hanging out at the feeder nearly daily. They don't perch on the feeder but they do eat seeds that have fallen to the ground. So far they are playing nicely with the other birds. Anyone else have Robins at their bird feeders?

I took the advice of someone here at GoDuBois and I pruned my apple tree early this spring. They said to cut no more than 1/3 of the canopy. I did just that--I cut out approx 1/3 of the canopy and trimmed off some branches that were growing vetically. Well, I was sitting on my porch the other day looking at my apple tree. It looked terrible! I climbed the ladder and took out the rest of the canopy. I will let you know how it does next year. (It looks much more symetrical now *smile*)

I am still having problems with something eating my pepper plants. Whatever is eating them seems to like the green peppers better than the hot peppers that we have planted. I have dusted them with sevin (sp?). That works rather well. Nothing bothers them when there is sevin on the plants but, as soon as the rain washes it away, the plants take another hit. I have also tried covering the plants with suds from clear Ivory dish soap. That works until the rain hits.

This is the first year that I have had this problem. In the past I have lost a plant or two but this year they have cut plants off about three inches above ground (approx 20 plants!!!) Some of the plants have bounced back and look VERY strong but none are at the point they should be by now. Whatever is eating them hasn't bothered anything else in my garden. In one of my other gardens I had a problem with Rabbits eating the leaves from squash plants. I never had that problem before either. I know that Rabbits were hitting the squash plants as I watched them do it. Grrrr...

My Goliath plants have tomatoes hanging that are about the size of small baseballs. They are still green but, I am hoping that they will be ready soon. Maybe another two weeks or so. Nearly everything that I have is growing well so far. The combination of warm weather and frequent rain is helping out a lot.

I don't know how many quarts of berries I have picked so far but this is easily the best year that we have had with berries since I moved to DuBois some twenty five years ago. I used to live in the Pittsburgh area and had to look along highways and under powerlines for berries. It is great to have more than I need right in my backyard.

I haven't had much luck getting them to make it through the winter. I have tried to protect them by mulching but, no luck! I hope that yours do better than mine did.

Thanks for the info. I will pass it along to my father and maybe he can try it in the muskrat holes in his yard. If he does, I'll let you know how it works.

I didn't plant any peas, onions, lettuce, or radishes this year. Now that the weather has been cool at night with lots of rain, I wish that I did. The last few years that I did plant those items, they didn't do well. I blamed it on hot nights with little rain. The rest of my plants are doing well. They were growing faster about one and a half weeks ago and have since slowed. They are still well ahead of where I usually am at this time of the year. I have a few tomatoes on a couple of my plants. I didn't notice them until I was hoeing today.

I switched to Goliath tomatoes this year. I have never tried them before but, I have heard good things. I also planted Granny Smith tomatoes and several, "Pounders" that I bought from the gardening club. I can't wait to see what we get. Some of the Goliath plants have flowers. The other plants are growing slowly. That could be a good sign! One of the best tomatoes that I have grown were Russian Ox Heart. I got the seeds from a neighbor years ago. He has since passed away. I have tried buying & planting Beef Heart tomatoes but didn't have much luck with them.

I tried these for the first time two years ago. I paid about $3.00 for each pant. I didn't have much luck with them. The few that did grow tasted great. They were VERY sweet. I have friends who plant them every year and have had great success with them.

I just bought several of these tomato plants and was wondering if they are any good? Also, do they grow nice?

 

This is my first year growing anything but flowers and strawberries so any help is appreciated!

Cucumbers and Broccoli went in yesterday. The rest were plants that do better in warm/hot weather. I may have jumped the gun a bit. It seems cool tonight.

 

Ok, OK, I'm going! I've been lazy. Hubby is retilling right now. He tilled early for the peas, lettuce, onions, spinach and stuff. (Lettuce is almost ready!) Weeds are up and running. Soon as he's done I'll start on the cole crops. Brussel sprouts look nice this year.