Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with vegetablegarden

Planning victory for my victory garden

thecaddy — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 15:06:02 -0800

I am completely overwhelmed with all the information online about starting a vegetable garden. Looking for personal anecdotes about what works and what doesn't; bonus points if you started on extremely clay-based soil. I'm in Charlottesville, Va., which is somewhere on the border of zones 6 and 7 and has some soil with very high clay content (red bricks come from here!). I'm planning on building raised beds in a sunny spot in our backyard, probably four 4'x8'x18" beds.

Our backyard is on a slope, so I'm prepared to dig the beds level, as well as mixing in some compost into what I dig up before adding the soil and compost mix. After building the beds, I plan on adding another foot and a half or so of chicken wire to keep out the pests (we've got a decent number of deer here, though usually not so close to the city center as I am; but I'm more worried about squirrels).

Now the catch is that I'm completely inexperienced, born and raised in the city, and don't really know the first thing about gardening. Do these plans make sense? If I get started on this in the next two weeks, will I be ready to grow by spring?

Bonus points if anyone can point to me to a good "start a garden guide," especially if it's focused on the SE / Midatlantic.

(If it's impotant: I'm planning on growing several herbs, carrots, tomatoes, zucchini and/or summer squash, garlic, onions, bell peppers, and at least one kind of spicy pepper so I can make my own chili powder)

Help me de-vole my garden. Humanely.

chowflap — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:44:52 -0800

Help! I have voles! How do I get rid of them? Do those repellent sprays work? How about those sonic things? I have a small (about 15-foot-square) vegetable garden with raised beds. It was covered with mulch all winter, and I put landscape fabric on it a few weeks ago to keep down the weeds. I also used to have a nice, healthy poppy plant -- until I visited the garden yesterday, and noticed that my poppy plant was now just a handful of shriveled-up leaves. There was a perfect hole where the root used to be, and a tunnel leading to it (I felt this with my hand -- it's all under the plastic). I had high hopes for a row of tiny carrot seedlings I planted weeks ago, but now I fear that they are doomed. How do I vole-proof my garden, while keeping my vegetables organic and safe? And can I do it without mass varmint carnage? Do those various chemical sprays work? How about those sonic posts?

Assassin bug or squash bug? ...Or something else?

mojabunni — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 19:07:06 -0800

Garden pest/beneficial id needed of these little nymphs - squash bug or assassin bug? Or something else? Lots of pictures inside. A few days ago, I noticed this large squash bug near my watermelon for the first time, and I squashed it (haha, no pun intended). Then yesterday, I noticed several of these little nymphs, immediately assumed they were baby squash bugs, and sprayed them with insecticidal soap blends. Those sprays did not seem to kill a single one, despite that I sprayed the bugs directly. Here is closeup#1 and closeup#2 of the nymphs.

Then I thought, maybe they're actually assassin bug nymphs? I've been checking the undersides of the watermelon leaves and have seen nothing resembling squash bug eggs. They closely resemble this picture and this picture I found through a Google search of Assassin bug nymphs.

By contrast, these squash bug nymphs don't seem to look anything like the bugs on my watermelon.

I wonder though, because I only saw this assassin bug once, briefly, a few weeks ago, about 12 feet away on my tomatoes! If it laid eggs, doesn't that mean it established a home? Wouldn't I see it more often? I inspect my garden every day, and often at night with a flashlight.

At this point, I am pretty sure they're assassin bug nymphs... But what the heck, I'll post this anyway. I'm not totally sure, because a few days ago, this baby watermelon fell off the stem, the underside of it chewed up (as if it had been bored into by something). If those nymphs are not responsible then something is (any ideas?).

Also, bonus points to anyone with advice on how to control these little stinkers (stink bugs) on my tomato. Repeated garlic/insecticidal/cayenne/pyrethrum sprays haven't seemed to do much, or at least not that I noticed.

Note: I am in Central Florida (Southeast US for those who don't know)... a very humid, hot climate, though not like Miami.

Vegetable garden pest questions.

mojabunni — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 16:11:14 -0800

Garden pest questions and a couple insect identification requests for this bug and this bug. I saw this bright orange and black bug yesterday (here is a blurry closeup) on a leaf on my tomato plant. I only watched it for five minutes as I watered - it didn't seem to hop or move quickly, but actually rather slowly, almost as if it didn't seem scared of me, yet went to hide under a leaf. Is it a pest, or is it beneficial.. or neutral?

A few weeks ago we saw the red wasp-like bug in the above link indoors on our window screen and I am just wondering what it was! That's unrelated to the vegetable garden.

Otherwise, should I be concerned about ants in my vegetable garden? Do they eat anything that I would want to eat (i.e tomato, spinach)? I've noticed some on spinach leaves, but otherwise they mostly like the tomatillo flowers. I am a little concerned about carpenter ants seeing as how I have raised beds made with untreated lumber ("IP wood," whatever that is). Should I be? Do ants aerate the soil? Seems a few have decided to make a home near the spinach (notice long trails consistently in a certain spot). Fire ants are the mainstay here, though I've seen at least one very large red and black ant (presumably a carpenter ant), many tiny black ants (those are the ones I've seen on the spinach leaves especially) and crazy ants. There really are a lot of them. Does anyone have any experience with this?

...Or with flea beetles, for that matter, and how best to control them? Those are a known problem, though a combination of garlic-cayenne spray, insecticidal soap & pyrethrin has seemed to keep them mostly away.

I am in Central Fl., Zone 9b. I am new at this (one month) and the lumber is new (if that matters). Any help or advice is appreciated!