A friend at work said her grandmother always used crushed eggshells because they would not crawl over them. Much like the sand idea I supose.

I had not read this tip anywhere, but it seemed to have worked. I think next year I’ll try the sand AND eggshells combined

I’m questioning including the cost of your time though. First, Kris clearly views the time in the garden as pleasure, not work. (“Jd was aghast that I spent 15 hours in the garden in May, but I would spend MORE time if I could! There’s nothing like digging in the dirt to make the work-day’s hassles disappear!”)

Secondly, if you are going to include the time spent growing vegetables, shouldn’t you also include the time spent shopping to get a fair comparison? (and perhaps include gas/wear and tear on the vehicle, if you live any distance from your chosen shopping location)

Anyway, please keep updating on the garden! This is our first year doing a *real* garden (just a lot of containers last year) and we are beyond excited. We live in Northern California though, and have planted a very sunny spot, so our growing season has been cruising along for a while now. Great to hear about the Toro blueberries – we definitely want to put those in next year!

This month I’m hosting a little thing called 30 Days to a Better Garden if you’d like to play along!

Oh and for the slug/snail thing we use copper piping around our most suseptible plants. The copper gives the slugs and snails a little charge that quickly makes them retreat. It is a bit expensive to buy the copper but it lasts year after year!

Our marigolds were stripped to the ground, and since we replanted and sprinkled lime they haven’t been touched.

~M

I have a client who is one of the largest privately held commerial farmers in the state. He tells me to save some wood ash and apply around the stems of plants and the slugs will not be long for this life.

I am trying it this year– no more midnight, flashlight slug picking!

To reply to some questions:
Slugs. Yes, well, I’ve tried all the conventional things. And as much as marigolds seem to be known for preventing slugs, my local slugs appear to actually prefer them to other diets. In fact, I’ve come to think of the marigolds as the first line of defense to protect the other things. That is, as long as there are marigolds around, my cucumbers are safe! But I’ll try the sweetgum pod idea from Jason (#38); that’s a new one! I save Corry’s as a final resort, since we try to minimize poisons in the garden, but I agree that it does turn the nasty things into gooey piles of slime.

The manure: yes, I think it’s worth it, although it would have been better, as someone said, to let it compost in a pile for a year before using it. The weeds coming up are mostly just sorrel, which are easy to remove with a few minutes of hoe-work each evening. Our soil is on the clay side, so the manure is a welcome amendment.

The tomato stakes were purchased four years ago from Gardener’s Supply Company. They seem pretty indestructible and I hope to use them for many years. When the plants start bushing out, I wrap plastic tape or twine all around to keep them contained. The central tower keeps the whole thing upright.

Jd was aghast that I spent 15 hours in the garden in May, but I would spend MORE time if I could! There’s nothing like digging in the dirt to make the work-day’s hassles disappear! Happy gardening, all!

Man am I cheap.

The idea that you can compare produce you pay for at the store and the stuff coming out of your garden doesn’t seam right to me. I would hope that your homegrown stock is of higher quality, similar to the difference between normal and organic foods. So, couldn’t the value of this fresher, higher quality product be reflected in your price?

(I think it was the comparison of strawberries that got to me. Those impostors at the store sometimes look the part, but are often hollow in taste. If you got 3/4 of a pound and it only is worth $3 to you, it seamed an unfair comparison… maybe you should use farmer’s market prices.)

When we gardened in the Pacific Northwest, we got horse manure from a friend who bedded his horses in wood shavings. Each February we would get a truckload and cover the garden with it. But summer, those shavings made a wonderful mulch which was soft, we could walk on it in bare feet, and clean!

Mulch also helps, especially with plants like tomatoes that need consistenly moist soil, by keeping moisture in. And with new seed beds, it helps avoid soil washing away with your new seeds by breaking the force of the water.

I’m now gardening in Mohave Valley, AZ, a much different proposition, but I still generously mulch with straw to help save water. Check out my blog at

http://mohavevalleydesertgardener.wordpress.com/

She also paid her grandchildren and other neighborhood children $0.01/slug. We filled up coffee cans with them and she paid out. You might have to increase the price a bit now–this was 40 yrs ago!

Did you grow everything from seed or get starts? We did a little of both this year, and everything has already germinated.

http://www.poweredbytofu.com/2009/05/24/how-to-build-a-container-garden/

LG

http://www.laughingduckgardens.com/ldblog.php/

Regarding the horse manure – compost is the answer. If you obtain next year’s manure now, compost it in a large pile (if you’ve got room, otherwise in dark colored composter), those weed seeds _should_ cook away. As with so much else with gardening, patience and foresight will get you a long way.

http://saraskitchen.blogspot.com/2008/10/braised-radishes.html