Urban Gardening and Landscaping

Come here to talk about topics that are not related to development, or even Kansas City.
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LenexatoKCMO
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Re: Urban Gardening and Landscaping

Post by LenexatoKCMO »

I had a relative tell me that if you have a cat you should clean the fur out of your cat brush and put it around the edge of the garden so the bunnies will smell the cat and stay away.  Anyone have feedback on the effectiveness of this strategy?  The downside seems to be risk of cat hair in your vegetables but if you have cats in your kitchen that is a risk we live with already. 
splash
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Re: Urban Gardening and Landscaping

Post by splash »

LenexatoKCMO wrote: I had a relative tell me that if you have a cat you should clean the fur out of your cat brush and put it around the edge of the garden so the bunnies will smell the cat and stay away.  Anyone have feedback on the effectiveness of this strategy?  The downside seems to be risk of cat hair in your vegetables but if you have cats in your kitchen that is a risk we live with already. 
You could always make some pantyhose baggies and tie those around. 
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grovester
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Re: Urban Gardening and Landscaping

Post by grovester »

LenexatoKCMO wrote: I had a relative tell me that if you have a cat you should clean the fur out of your cat brush and put it around the edge of the garden so the bunnies will smell the cat and stay away.  Anyone have feedback on the effectiveness of this strategy?  The downside seems to be risk of cat hair in your vegetables but if you have cats in your kitchen that is a risk we live with already. 
yep cat hair and human hair if you're one of those who does their own hair.  oh and you should always wash your veggies, even if you grow your own!
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taxi
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Re: Urban Gardening and Landscaping

Post by taxi »

You put the pantyhose over the cat's head, cat burglar-like, and then the wabbits won't recognize them. Tah dah! You get rabbit and vegetable stew.
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nota
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Re: Urban Gardening and Landscaping

Post by nota »

LenexatoKCMO wrote: I had a relative tell me that if you have a cat you should clean the fur out of your cat brush and put it around the edge of the garden so the bunnies will smell the cat and stay away.  Anyone have feedback on the effectiveness of this strategy?  The downside seems to be risk of cat hair in your vegetables but if you have cats in your kitchen that is a risk we live with already. 
Nope-I've tried that several times to no avail. Others that don't work-human urine, other animal fur or urine, noises, rubber snakes, etc. 

My cat "patrols" the garden-he loves laying in the veggies lying in wait for an unsuspecting critter. Trouble is, he's out of practice and the critters are onto his practices. They are safe. Safe enough that they bathe in their birdbath all the time with him lying on the base.

If you try the cat hair-you wash your veggies anyway-cat hair will wash away.
mlind
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Re: Urban Gardening and Landscaping

Post by mlind »

FangKC wrote: It doesn't have to be a tall fence. You can buy small, chicken-wire fencing that stands about 36 inches tall and just wrap it around the garden and stake it in the ground with sturdy stakes. Bury about six inches of it under the ground so the rabbits can't dig under it.

You can also plant lavendar and catnip around your garden. Rabbits don't like the smell.

The other option is to keep a beagle in your yard to protect your garden. But then, you still have to fence the garden or the dog will poop in it. ;-)
Where I live, deer are the problem.  The rule of thumb is they don't like stinky or sticky.  That may hold true for rabbits.  Of course, the joke on the west coast is that the problem with lists of deer-resistant plants, is that deer can't read.
heatherkay
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Re: Urban Gardening and Landscaping

Post by heatherkay »

I've heard that cayenne or other powerful chiles work as well.  Of course, if the animal is really hungry, they'll just grin and bear it.
LenexatoKCMO
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Re: Urban Gardening and Landscaping

Post by LenexatoKCMO »

heatherkay wrote: I've heard that cayenne or other powerful chiles work as well.  Of course, if the animal is really hungry, they'll just grin and bear it.
Have to reapply every time there is rain or wattering too.
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Re: Urban Gardening and Landscaping

Post by mlind »

Maybe you should call Elmer Fudd about those 'wascally wabbits'.
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chrizow
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Re: Urban Gardening and Landscaping

Post by chrizow »

you may want to practice your shot.  you can be noshing on some local, sustainably harvested rabbit this spring!
LenexatoKCMO
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Re: Urban Gardening and Landscaping

Post by LenexatoKCMO »

Not a bad idea - there's no rule against pellet guns in the city is there?  Not sure I can talk the GF into cleaning the buggers though.  My mind keeps coming back to the distrubing rabbit lady in Roger & Me.
nota
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Re: Urban Gardening and Landscaping

Post by nota »

One would have to have a very lucky shot to kill an adult rabbit with a pellet gun at any distance.
jdubwaldo
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Re: Urban Gardening and Landscaping

Post by jdubwaldo »

If anyone finds a real solution to the rabbit / squirrel problem, please let me know.  I tried about everything I could think of last year other than a .22, and those little bastards ate everything.  They especially liked the cucumbers.  They didn't get to the jalapenos and would generally leave the cherry tomatoes alone, so if I try a garden again this year I might plant just those two.
loftguy
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Re: Urban Gardening and Landscaping

Post by loftguy »

nota wrote: One would have to have a very lucky shot to kill an adult rabbit with a pellet gun at any distance.
Disagree Nota.  A Co2 powered .177 pellet gun is the near equivilent of a .22 rimfire.

It will readily dispatch small animals at 50 feet.
Joe Smith
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Re: Urban Gardening and Landscaping

Post by Joe Smith »

I came across an article in the 2-18-10 edition of the New York Times about Aquaponic gardening, which is kind of like hydroponic gardening, except you have a recirculating system that feeds your plants nutrient rich water from your fish tank and then filters it and sends back clean water to your tank. You can do it indoors or outdoors in a shed. It's got to be warm enough to keep your fish alive.

If anyone is interested in taking a look, here's some links.

Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics

Youtube - Single videos
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... type=&aq=f

Youtube - Channels
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_t ... tems&uni=3

Rob Torcellini's channel. He's got some vids on how to DIY.
http://www.youtube.com/user/web4deb

Rebecca Nelson - Publisher of the Aquaponics Journal

Her Youtube channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/slywoman1

Her Aquaponic's blog - http://aquaponicgardening.wordpress.com/

Earth Solutions website where they sell their Aquaponic "Farm in a Box" and other materials and parts for your garden.
http://www.earthsolutions.com/Aquaponic ... c_303.html

Travis Hughey's Faith And Sustainable Technologies Co. He calls himself an Agri-Missionary and his site has free step-by-step plans to build your own garden. http://www.fastonline.org/ He also has plans for free to build a bigger aquaponic system that you can use to grow plants while at the same time you raise your own Tilapia. He's grown everything from radishes to Papaya trees in his system.

All of the above came from the article which was in the Home section on page D1.







   
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mlind
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Re: Urban Gardening and Landscaping

Post by mlind »

If you kill the rabbits, how are you going to get your Easter eggs? 
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Re: Urban Gardening and Landscaping

Post by KCMax »

Okay, so we're going to make a go at this. When should I start planting? I assume pretty soon with the rainy season coming on?
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FangKC
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Re: Urban Gardening and Landscaping

Post by FangKC »

Here is a planting guide published by Kansas State University.

http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/library/hort2/mf315.pdf
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splash
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Re: Urban Gardening and Landscaping

Post by splash »

We generally don't start planting until around the 3rd week in May.  This may help.

http://www.farmersalmanac.com/calendar/gardening/
ChandraNH
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Re: Urban Gardening and Landscaping

Post by ChandraNH »

So how is everyone's garden doing?

In late April I picked up two tomato plants at the city market, green zebra and cherokee purple (husband wants to know why we can't just have any red tomatoes).  the cherokee purple has buds on it already.  the tomato plants are planted in an earthbox with topsoil, fertilizer and lime.

On Friday I picked up herb seedlings (turkish oregano, another oregano for the butterflies, spearmint, peppermint, thai basil, sweet basil, rosemary), a fennel seedling and a jalepeno seedling.  On Saturday I picked up a canteloupe seedling at the City Market and a watermelon seedling.  Yesterday my husband built me a 4 x 2 x 3 raised bed out of cedar and filled it with topsoil, gardening soil, sphagnum peat moss and mushroom compost and planted this new group of seedlings (the cantelope and watermelon may have to come out, it's my first time with them and I've read that they'll need a place to be cradled). \

I'm planning on getting a dwarf meyer lemon tree and a lime tree from Four Winds Growers and will put them in pots on either side of the walkway up to the front door and then move them into the house this winter.
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