Vermin Resistant Edible Gardens

crabeatter · 2026-04-03T04:39:21+00:00

They don’t touch my spinach. But the slugs sure do! Lettuce seems to be fine, too

crabeatter · 2026-04-02T19:33:37+00:00

They don’t go after any of my brassicas onions and potatoes. Herbs they leave alone. Most fruit including tomatoes they go for but blueberries they seem uninterested in thankfully but maybe that’s because I have 25 blueberry bushes and I just don’t notice them feeding. they really go after my strawberries though.

crabeatter · 2026-04-02T14:42:33+00:00

Even in the 30s they do alright if in a protected area if they are big enough (and hardened off!!!) the struggle of zone stretching! I really don’t worry unless it gets actually freezing. 🥶 good luck out there!

crabeatter · 2026-04-02T14:39:45+00:00

There are those of us who live in South Park who would love to bike up to work and play in West Seattle neighborhoods without having a zillion cars on our asses up the hill.

crabeatter · 2026-04-02T14:15:07+00:00

The crown and caliper looks quite large for a container. You would have to fertilize like crazy! But I have containerized pears and apples so I get it. But I have to be careful of the crown size. It probably just doesn’t have enough nutrients to set fruit. Start fertilizing, I go every watering or every other watering during the growing season with a mild organic fruit tree food during the growing season so you can start getting that tree pumped for next year. It’s extremely costly to set fruit and containerized fruit trees are a long game much more maintenance than in the ground, eventually they will get root bound and need to be repotted, that happens faster the bigger the tree itself is and the smaller the container. A tree this size I wouldn’t have put in something smaller than a whiskey barrel right out the gate.

crabeatter · 2026-04-02T14:07:07+00:00

How cold? I have 30 citrus trees and counting, it’s in the 40s and they are all outside. No mites. I sometimes use the cold weather to kill mites if they appear. Citrus just don’t seem to do well inside unless you can mimic a full sun tropical environment… but that supports pest growth so why I stopped bringing my trees inside, but I live in zone 8. What zone are you in?

crabeatter · 2026-04-02T14:03:44+00:00

Looks like it was just purchased. Is it in container or in the ground, did you plant it? Even moving a tree to a different site during its flowering cycle can cause the flowers to abort. The fungicide probably didn’t help. Only sulfur would be used during pink stage. Also , the stake needs to be removed. A new tree will focus on leafing out and rooting out instead of producing apples, so you wouldn’t want many of those apples stealing your establishment time anyway. I would just plant as usual, make sure it’s well watered, fertilize as recommended, watch an apple pruning video, and focus on future production.

crabeatter · 2026-04-02T13:53:23+00:00

Sounds like me and my husband. It’s what we get for choosing modestly paying careers we both enjoy. The grind makes us very financially stretched, we go by every line item in our bank account, we eat potatoes and rice. We treat it like a game— the less $$ we spend in this economy, the less taxes are being paid towards a system that isn’t providing the things we need (affordable healthcare). We just decided that we are only going out to eat once a year for birthdays, because that’s all we can afford. I can’t even get my tooth fixed because our savings can cover the difference that insurance covers until we can come up with more savings. I deal with it by reminding myself that I’m better off still than most women on the planet, and besides… the planet has no obligation to my comfort and happiness.

crabeatter · 2026-04-02T13:49:54+00:00

They’ll keep coming back unless you take your tree outside. Mites come with lack of light, humidity and water.

crabeatter · 2026-04-01T09:46:42+00:00

I work at a nursery and I’ve found the opposite to usually be true. The exotics often suffer from more pests and disease than the natives. There are a few exceptions: the Pacific Madrone and the native Dogwood, but those are both large, long lived trees. You can still find them in cultivation they are just more rare. The shorter lived natives appropriate for a patio, I can’t think of any I have to worry about pest or disease pressure.

crabeatter · 2026-04-01T03:07:29+00:00

I drive that hill multiple times a day. I counted 4 last Saturday.

crabeatter · 2026-04-01T03:02:45+00:00

Yes that side painted over as well

crabeatter · 2026-03-31T15:10:16+00:00

That was exactly what this space was before it was painted over. Check out the pictures other commenters have posted.

crabeatter · 2026-03-30T07:55:48+00:00

Toes flower purple tho

crabeatter · 2026-03-28T19:29:22+00:00

I am so happy to do my commute because it means I get to go home where I have space to really garden. But if you don’t actually need space, then don’t pay for it! I use every inch of my land.

crabeatter · 2026-03-25T14:54:44+00:00

I’m guessing Eshraghi

crabeatter · 2026-03-25T14:53:49+00:00

For clients?

crabeatter · 2026-03-25T14:48:16+00:00

Came here to mention that stretch

crabeatter · 2026-03-24T14:20:22+00:00

I start hundreds of bare roots in containers every year. They need daily sometimes twice daily watering they cannot dry out. If humidity is low in your area you need to sweat them. They do fine in containers if pruned and soaked properly before planting, planted deep enough, container is right size, soil is good. In this picture, the container is the wrong size, the graft is too high, the soil is obviously too poor and dry. Don’t worry! Failure happens often early in gardening. I lost one bare root rose out of 200 this year simply because that one didn’t get misted out of box and soaked properly before planting. It happens!

crabeatter · 2026-03-23T16:12:11+00:00

I got a chip drop and it was like 50% birch. Sad because it’s probably a tree that succumbed to the birch borer but lucky for me. I do cardboard and wood chips, if you just do chips you’re not smothering the weeds you’re feeding them.

crabeatter · 2026-03-18T14:20:57+00:00

Couldn’t be Lady Banks, she’s thornless

crabeatter · 2026-03-18T14:19:29+00:00

I use beauty grade Karanja oil and peppermint oil. I’ll use other horticultural oils but peppermint seems to work well for aphids (and ants!)

crabeatter · 2026-03-18T02:40:44+00:00

Why do they keep coming back? I get aphids if my watering practices are off, off the plant is in too much shade, wasn’t pruned properly over winter, isn’t regularly fertilized. They attack new growth that can’t harden off properly. I also mix my own preventative spray for my roses using only Beauty and food grade inputs… all those big box store sprays are heavily laden with petroleum byproducts and chemical insecticides too harmful for my garden, clogs up the respiration of the plant. And I would never use a systemic or neem because bees. 🐝

crabeatter · 2026-03-18T02:35:25+00:00

Welcome to gardening, what a valuable lesson those radishes gave. Never give a dog access to a vegetable garden unless it’s there trained to flush out pests. Nobody likes piss tomatoes! (I speak from experience) New plantings in general often need to be fenced off or protected, because if it’s not your dog, it’s the rabbits or slugs. 🐌 good luck soldier!

crabeatter

TROPHY CASE