Predators

Chili & Beans: Predator Patrol

According to some folks at the Symposium I attended last Saturday, dogs and cats are the most effective defences against unwanted garden visitors. And my critters had plenty of practice in Colorado. Chili was an expert deer chaser in her day (now at 14 1/2 years old, she's retired). And Beans would sometimes bring home trophies of dead moles, voles, mice, snakes and birds.

However, that's illegal in Boulder. Well, it's illegal on public property. In a state with a "make my day" law for homeowners defending their personal property, I imagine you can do what you want at home. But on open space, there are escalating fines for companion animals chasing wild animals. In fact, the Humane Society requests that you always keep cats indoors. This is mostly because cats are responsible for killing more small animals than any other predator. But it is also partly to protect pets from mountain lions, foxes and coyotes in the area.

Proceed with caution

Other than squirrels, I haven't seen or heard of much wildlife here. I wonder if the hordes of deer that wander into gardens have any natural predators -- other than New Jersey drivers. I still haven't gotten used to their speed and aggressiveness and hostility to pedestrians. Despite fluorescent signs every 100 feet along a road where I walk my dog, it is the rare driver who stops for us to cross the street.

The traffic is the main reason Beans has never been outside in New Jersey. When the time comes, it will make her day.

Emersion

Yesterday I joined 200 people at a symposium hosted by the Master Gardeners of Mercer County. All the speakers were interesting and inspiring.

Here are some bullet points for the day:

• Pansies and lettuce make a nice early spring planter
• It's vital to learn the Latin names for plants
• Get your soil tested before planting
• 80% or so of the attendees were women over 50 (like me)
• The best time to prune is when you have pruning shears in your hands
• Cats are essential for preventing lawn damage caused by voles and moles
• People in this area are even more upset about deer than Boulderites
• There is something called "Deer Tape" that repels deer (according to a vendor)
• Nothing repels deer -- other than an 8' tall fence buried 2' underground (the buried portion is for ground hogs)(according to the head of the Master Gardeners)
• Don't make any changes to a new garden until you've watched it grow for a year
• When you photograph landscapes, don't center the focal point
• There is a nefarious weed called Microstegium Vimeneum (Japanese Stilt Grass) that threatens to gobble everything up
• When there's a drought, water your trees and let your Impatiens wilt
• There are species of solitary ground nesting bees that live in small holes in the ground, not in big hives, who are only seen around this time of year and are important pollinators of early blooming plants -- so don't kill them
• Soil is what's in your garden. Dirt is what's under your refrigerator.

I'm really glad that I found out about the event. It's a great way to start my gardening adventure.

Discovery

The last two mornings began with a crust of snow on everything. Perfect weather for making soup and clearing out old file folders. I started with two thick folders titled "Garden" and "Garden Info" from my early days in Colorado when I took evening classes, used Colorado State University Extension resources to learn about mile high gardening and clipped articles that caught my fancy.

I got side tracked by an article from the July 1991 issue of "Country Living", titled, "My Fight with Bambi." The writer's amusing attempts and failures to keep deer from eating his garden reminded me of the fights I had and lost with deer. He was successful using a product called Hinder.
Googling that, I found a site that rates the effectiveness of deer repellents. I solved my deer problem by planting a lot and hoping they left me something.

It turns out that the writer,Walter Chandoha is from New Jersey, so I looked him up on Google and found excerpts from a book he did for the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, called "100 Garden Tips and Timesavers".

One site leads to another and I found tons of information. The most disappointing for me is that New Jersey deer eat the same plants that Colorado deer do. So I won't get to have daylillies here either.

Spring Planning

Yesterday was the first day of Spring and I'm starting to think about planting -- even though I won't have my own patch of dirt until May and will probably be preoccupied with unpacking for some time after that.

So, I signed up for e-newsletters from Mother Earth News and the Herb Companion. Then I scanned some of their blogs and learned about a chart from NOAA that lists average dates for frost in New Jersey. Turns out I could have been planting spinach now. On average, May 9 is the last day of frost danger in this part of NJ and you can start spinach seeds 6 weeks before that date. Maybe next year. I'll content myself with spinach from the farmers market when it opens.

The Herb Companion offered free PDF downloads with my subscription. The one on planting herbs in planters has me inspired. I gave my rosemary planter to a neighbor and harvested the basil planter for pesto before leaving Colorado. For now, a planter will be my patch of dirt.

Getting Acquainted

Sunset

Last evening, we met with the sellers of the house that we are trying to buy on the land where I hope to garden. It was warm and perfect. We sat on their patio, sipping wine and watching the sun set as bats fluttered high above and kept the mosquitos from bothering us too much.

The owner gave me a little tour of the garden, pointed out planting areas and promised to leave a list of what has been planted. She introduced me to Lenten Roses (hellebores) and cut me some daffodils that are starting to come up. She has been a Master Gardener and the house's previous owner was a landscape architect so I look forward to watching their handiwork unfold through the seasons.

My house in Boulder was new and we started the garden from scratch with imported top soil and organic matter to augment the poor adobe clay soil. This garden has been expertly cultivated and has its own 3-pile cold compost system. I used to use worms I dug up from the garden in a garbage can on the side of the house to make my own compost until the city of Boulder created a citywide program.

The Master Gardeners are teaching composting on Sunday, April 10 at the Mercer Educational Gardens. They'll even provide some horse manure to get me started (if I bring a covered container). That'll make a great start for my first ever vegetable garden.

My first sighting of Lenten Roses

The daffodils are starting to come up

An Introduction

I moved to New Jersey two weeks ago after living and gardening in Boulder, Colorado for 20 years. I'd gotten used to xeriscape gardening during short growing seasons with hot sunny days and cold nights on a small plot with yardcare-impaired neighbors amidst acres of wild grasses. My garden was mostly native perennials. I am looking forward to learning what I can do in the Garden State.

It's exciting to arrive just as the Spring bulbs are appearing. Every day I walk my dog and watch another patch of crocus sprout up or discover another cheerful forsythia bush.

When I started my Colorado garden 20 years ago, I kept a garden diary for three years and recorded the changes with the seasons. I plan to do a similar thing with this blog while I also observe the differences and similarities of gardening in New Jersey compared to Colorado.

Today I saw a familiar sight: a patch of tulips eaten to its base by deer.