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Old 06-04-2016, 01:24 PM
509 509 started this thread
 
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First red tomato of the season is on the vine!.

Couple of weeks early this year. Way behind the record of April 28th of years ago!!

I am not a fan of gardening, but homegrown tomato's are worth growing. Only two plants this year to supply us until November.
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Old 06-04-2016, 07:58 PM
 
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I have 9 tomato plants, among many other vegetables. So far only the snow peas, asparagus, artichokes and Kale have been bearing. The tomatoes are just now blossoming, but are still ahead of most years.
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Old 06-04-2016, 10:55 PM
 
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You must not have human-habituated deer. Lucky!
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Old 06-05-2016, 08:22 AM
 
Location: Washington State. Not Seattle.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pikabike View Post
You must not have human-habituated deer. Lucky!
Lol! I agree. If you try to grow anything in my area, you need a fencing system tougher than Fort Knox, or you have nothing left by now.
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Old 06-05-2016, 10:11 AM
509 509 started this thread
 
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Originally Posted by pikabike View Post
You must not have human-habituated deer. Lucky!
You know, that is a good question.

We are actually in some of the best deer winter range in the Wenatchee Valley and you can see the deer trails in the snow ALL over the hillsides from the house.

According to local a realtor the area is "just now being developed for the poor people from the coast that cannot find housing in the Wenatchee Valley". Well, those poor people have expensive tastes. So no gardens, and I have seen only one person mowing their own lawn!!

I have NEVER had a deer in my yard. I did have some bighorn sheep. Coyote's and mountain lions are all over the hillside. Sometime you cannot go to sleep due to all the howling going on!!

I wonder if it is the lack of gardens and the high coyote population that keeps the deer population from being a pest?? WE do lose LOTS of cats to coyote's. It takes about six or seven cats before you get one that is coyote savy.
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Old 06-05-2016, 11:11 AM
 
9,868 posts, read 7,648,489 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 509 View Post
You know, that is a good question.

We are actually in some of the best deer winter range in the Wenatchee Valley and you can see the deer trails in the snow ALL over the hillsides from the house.

According to local a realtor the area is "just now being developed for the poor people from the coast that cannot find housing in the Wenatchee Valley". Well, those poor people have expensive tastes. So no gardens, and I have seen only one person mowing their own lawn!!

I have NEVER had a deer in my yard. I did have some bighorn sheep. Coyote's and mountain lions are all over the hillside. Sometime you cannot go to sleep due to all the howling going on!!

I wonder if it is the lack of gardens and the high coyote population that keeps the deer population from being a pest?? WE do lose LOTS of cats to coyote's. It takes about six or seven cats before you get one that is coyote savy.
Oh, invasive deer numbers definitely relates to human population density and penchant for growing produce in yards. Also, lack of hunting, and lack of big predators such as mountain lions. People blame the leash law for "causing" deer running amok, but literally every day I see dogs running loose despite leash laws, and it has not deterred deer. Just moves them around more, but always within the city limits.

Where I used to live, some years the deer population would spike up, but it always got knocked right back down in a year or so, thanks to mountain lion predation, collisions with cars, much harsher weather, hardly any gardens for miles around, and hunting.

I don't know how much coyotes prey on deer, but the very few that live near here excite paranoia about little dogs getting eaten. People would be happy to have someone shoot the coyotes because they *might* eat FooFoo, but they scream against hunting the overpopulous deer. And so we have deer, everywhere, eating things that people planted because deer allegedly don't eat them. But hey, the City loves the sales tax revenue from the tens of thousands (maybe hundreds of thousands) of dollars spent each year for fencing.
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Old 06-05-2016, 01:19 PM
 
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,331 posts, read 80,658,912 times
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The deer and rabbits love our Hostas, but I grow the vegetables in a greenhouse that I built to be secure from all pests. That was after a few years of hard work and nothing to eat. We also have squirrels and raccoons that would like to dine on our plants. It got up o 107 in there yesterday, and the tomatoes wilted but we're OK again by 7pm.
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Old 06-08-2016, 08:33 AM
 
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Default What is the average planting date for seedlings?

When I lived in Corpus Christi, we'd set out plants the second week in January, and have ripe tomatoes in March. Now I live in northern Indiana, and might still get a frost until Memorial Day.
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Old 06-08-2016, 08:41 AM
 
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I don't have a deer problem, so I haven't tried it; but I have read that stringing fishing line around the garden repels them. Supposedly they can't see the clear monofilament, and when they hit it they get scared and run. It sounds worth a try. I read that you should use 2 strands- one at 2' high, and one at 4'. I'd try 90 lb line or stronger.
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Old 06-08-2016, 01:00 PM
509 509 started this thread
 
6,323 posts, read 6,997,335 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wooly Bear View Post
When I lived in Corpus Christi, we'd set out plants the second week in January, and have ripe tomatoes in March. Now I live in northern Indiana, and might still get a frost until Memorial Day.
When I first moved to Wenatchee....everybody said said to plant your garden when the snow melts off Mission Ridge. It is June 8th and there is still snow up there!!!

I did look up the statistics and for Wenatchee the last killing frost is in early March. So I started asking around and got the answer that frost is one issue, but wind is also a problem.

I did find a sheltered spot out of the wind with a warm micro climate the second year. I also kept track of soil temperature that second year. That was more of an issue than wind or frost.

So the third year I put heating cables in the ground and planted the garden above it!! Having the lowest power rates in the nation does have its benefits!! It was a small garden, but I quickly raised the soil temperature up to 70 degrees and that was the year that I had ripe tomatoes on April 28th!!! I didn't notice any difference in my power bill, but the area heated was only 8X8 feet.

No heating cables this year. They did burn out after a few years. They are hard to find.

But it was a even warmer micro-climate and the warm weather this spring must have brought up the soil temperature fairly quickly.

I did look today and more ripe tomatoes later this week!!
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