What did you do in the garden today?

[Lazy Gardener]

If they are asparagus beetles, they shouldn't bother any other crops. No... I can't advise. Perhaps run your chickens through the asparagus bed at the end of the season. cut all the fronds and burn them. I'd pen a few chickens into the asparagus bed for a couple of weeks at end of season.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Good idea. I will need to look up asparagus beetles.

Looks like the cash cropper planted soybeans across the road again this year. Deer are out every night munching on the sprouts. I guess I will need to pull out my Japanese beetle traps again and set them up.

 

[Britesea]

@wyoDreamer on all of my raised beds I have a 4x4 on each end, with a piece of rebar across the top, like a ridgepole. With that setup, I can drape frost cloth or shade cloth or (in the case of the strawberries) a hard cover of chicken wire in a tent configuration. The guys stapled a couple of pieces of lathe along the edges to make it less floppy, and the two sides are hinged at the top with wire loops so I can lift up a side to get at the berries. I've tried bird netting in the past, but I hate the stuff- it catches on any little splinter in the wood and the plastic is really only good for 1 or two seasons before it starts to degrade and tear easily.
I also used the ridgepole to support a trellis on one side of the bed for my cukes to climb up- the theory is that the cukes will hang down underneath so I can see and pick them from the open side, as well as grow some shade loving lettuce underneath.

I've never seen beetles on my asparagus bed, but it's only about 4 years old; maybe they haven't found them yet. I also let the chickens into the garden at the end of last season, and I've really seen a difference in the number of pests so far. The chickens also patrol all around the boundaries of the garden regularly. Of course, we haven't seen the hot weather yet, which is when the bugs come out in force. By then, I hope the mantids will be hunting too. I keep hoping to attract a toad or two, but no luck yet.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Probably, the toads don't dare cross the chicken's path!

 

[Lazy Gardener]

@wyoDreamer on all of my raised beds I have a 4x4 on each end, with a piece of rebar across the top, like a ridgepole. With that setup, I can drape frost cloth or shade cloth or (in the case of the strawberries) a hard cover of chicken wire in a tent configuration. The guys stapled a couple of pieces of lathe along the edges to make it less floppy, and the two sides are hinged at the top with wire loops so I can lift up a side to get at the berries. I've tried bird netting in the past, but I hate the stuff- it catches on any little splinter in the wood and the plastic is really only good for 1 or two seasons before it starts to degrade and tear easily.
I also used the ridgepole to support a trellis on one side of the bed for my cukes to climb up- the theory is that the cukes will hang down underneath so I can see and pick them from the open side, as well as grow some shade loving lettuce underneath.

I've never seen beetles on my asparagus bed, but it's only about 4 years old; maybe they haven't found them yet. I also let the chickens into the garden at the end of last season, and I've really seen a difference in the number of pests so far. The chickens also patrol all around the boundaries of the garden regularly. Of course, we haven't seen the hot weather yet, which is when the bugs come out in force. By then, I hope the mantids will be hunting too. I keep hoping to attract a toad or two, but no luck yet.

What are your bed dimensions?

 

[Britesea]

I made my raised beds 9'x3', so that I could use 12' long lumber with no waste. It's also really easy to reach across if I don't feel like going to the other side of the bed to grab a weed.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I've been viewing some videos by a market gardener. He states that the industry standard is 30". So, I think you are wise by not going as wide as the back yard gardener standard of 4'! He uses 14" between beds. I intensively plant my beds, so a lot of stuff spills over! No way could I get by with a 14" path. Of course, he trellises matoes and all vines, and otherwise, it appears that he plants a lot of greens and harvests young. He puts out permanent stakes, so the beds and paths stay put. I like what he's posting, so may emulate some of it.

 

[wyoDreamer]

ALL GOOD IDEAS AND SUGGESTIONS REGARDING THE RAISED BEDS. Thanks.

DH and I are thinking long term here, and when I am older and greyer, I will not be able to get down in the dirt like a younger me could. Raised beds are going to extend my gardening years. I told DH that I was leaving this place feet first - so everything we do is to make it easier for old folks to live here. We are even discussing possible location for a home elevator in the future, so we can keep using the bedrooms upstairs if someone becomes too feeble for the stairs.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Good planning. We built a raised ranch. Not exactly user friendly for the geriatric population. The saving grace is that we put in a wide stair way at the entrance. So, one could put in one of those seat gliders if necessary. Along with that, hubby wants to eventually move the laundry upstairs. We don't have an easy location to do so. It may mean giving up the second bath, bumping a kitchen or bathroom wall out onto the deck. But... That COULD be done, and if we did so, we'd not give up any foot print in our already small house.

I am also thinking forward to my possible future, and realizing that some cut backs will be necessary: flock size, garden size... perhaps even giving up the main garden and doing all of my veggies in the flower beds on S and W side of house. You can take the farmer out of the garden. But you can't take the garden out of the farmer. I consider my current efforts at gardening, homesteading and taming my 4 acre parcel to be my last hurrah before old age steals my strength... be that one day or 30 years from now.

 

[Mini Horses]

The asparagus patch near the garden has alot of beetles on it. It always has beetles on it. From what I can tell, the wild asparagus around here hardly ever has beetles on it. Any advice on controlling the beetles so they don't invade the garden.

I'd plant a few wild ones in that patch...….the something they don't like may keep them off of your other plants.