Originally Posted by
roger wiegand
Would that it were true! If we had to rely on what I could grow we would very quickly starve to death. Even the simplest things fail utterly-- over the last decade I've invested a huge number of dollars in soil improvement, irrigation, and fencing and countless hours in trying to grow a decent tomato. I've gotten a grand total of three. The hornworms move in and decimate them overnight, the squirrels attack, and the vines get some sort of nasty virus, curl up and die. I've tried growing potatoes a couple times, the deer jump over the fence and chew them down to a nub; install 8 ft deer fence and the groundhogs crawl over and/or burrow under and chew them down to a nub. There's a big CSA farm right around the corner from us, they've taken to posting guard dogs 24/7 in the fields in addition to their electric fences to try to discourage the deer and other critters. Apparently it's only partially successful. The farmer's newsletter is always lamenting what won't get harvested due to the animals and bugs having eaten it. I'm afraid it's the farmer's market for me for veggies; I've surrendered on home grown.
Originally Posted by
Mike Soaper
Sounds familiar, my daughter gave me the book
The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden
When living in California most years my tomatoes and zucchini were so plentiful they would be taken to work by the grocery bag full to be given away.
Now in a different climate it is a different story. Fortunately the property came with a greenhouse. The deer haven't figured out how to break in to that yet.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)