From: cshenk@virginia-beach.com   
      
   Snag wrote:   
      
   > On 3/7/2025 9:48 AM, fos@sdf.org wrote:   
   > >On 2025-03-07, Snag  wrote:   
   > >   
   > >>    So far I've got lettuce and bok choi seedlings peeping up thru   
   > the   
   > > > soil . I've also got carrots in a tray and peppers and tomatoes   
   > > > in 4" pots but I don't expect to see any action there for a few   
   > > > more days .   
   > >   
   > > i need to fortify my woodchuck defense before growing greens,   
   > > cauliflower, broccoli, etc, again. last year i got the seeds in   
   > > very early and had beautiful looking plants growing. previously   
   > > i had started them too late and they bolted from the heat. last   
   > > year, the woodchuck got through the fence around the raised beds   
   > > and had itself quite the feast leaving me with mostly plant   
   > > stumps.   
   > >   
   > > this spring i'm going to rototill a trench right next to the   
   > > fence all the way around a foot deep and as wide as the tiller   
   > > tines, about 2 feet, and bury galvanized expanded metal   
   > > vertically and horizontally along the fence in the trench.   
   > > which reminds me. i need to source the expanded metal and get   
   > > my oxy-acetylene tanks filled. welding for gardening? would that   
   > > make it heavy metal gardening? :P   
   > >   
   >   
   > Chicken wire . I use a 24" wide 1" chicken wire with the bottom 6"   
   > folded to the outside . I have a steel wire supporting the top with 3   
   > strands of electrified wire above that . The bottom electric wire is   
   > just an inch or two above the top of the chicken wire so small   
   > critters can't just crawl over it . This has stopped everything but   
   > armadillos including the local bears . 'Dillos just bull thru ,   
   > they're like tanks . The only 2 things I've found that will stop them   
   > is a bullet or my dog . If Max (75 pound Mountain Cur) gets a hold of   
   > one it's crunch city .   
      
   Although my garden didn't work well last year,I DID manage an effective   
   rat defense.  Marigolds and spearmint.   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)