One of mine is half dead too. We have two, no idea how old. I've been told the extra cold winter we had probably did damage. The other tree is perfectly healthy.

Our gardener recommends that with damaged fruit trees......you give them a good start in Spring and then prune based on what has sprouts (keep) and what doesn't (prune)

I thought they were tropical :(

One of my three shows life today but the other two are done for I think. The branches are dry. They're little guys so I guess I'll just start over. I had a nice variety going too darn it!

I planted 4 blueberry bushes last year but they didn't survive the winter. I have four more (2 of 2 different varieties) but I am wondering if that is enough. I remember something about them needing to cross pollinate with each other. So I'm wondering if I need more (an expensive risk, since my last ones died) or if I ought to plant them a particular way (like in a square instead of a row). Any suggestions?

I would plant them in a square, and technically you only need 2 plants to cross pollinate so the 4 that you have should be just fine :-)

New to this board...but thought it might be worth asking if anyone has any tips (besides bebe guns and poison) for evil, squash obsessed squirrels? This year we doubled our plants, thinking at least we'd get enough to share (Seriously, last year, the squirrels hardly left enough for us to enjoy and zucchini is notoriously prolific) Now, every time the plants start to fruit, the squirrel gets so excited that he eats the plant all the way down to the roots. This is getting expensive!

We've tried coffee grounds, pepper spray, putting up nets (which help for a few days, but then he tears them apart and has a squash party), electronic squirrel deterrents, spray scarecrows and little plastic mats that have straight bits sticking out of them to make it uncomfortable to stand on. I think he jumps over them to land on the netting.

My mom likes to live on Zucchini over the summer, so I'm hoping to find something that works!!!

Some can self pollinate. I had a self pollinator that always yielded about a cup of berries each year...I just wish I had the knack for pruning so we could increase the yield! (I thought I lost it during this year's freeze, but it just started sending out leaves, so we'll see what happens this year.)

Wonder if planting Chili Peppers nearby would deter the little varmit?

I actually planted my zucchini in a wine barrel, next to where my cats like to lurk. My big cat brought me 4 dead squirrels last year, so I am hoping he protects the plants this year.

Are they still super prolific in the wine barrel? We have a raised bed and the squashes tend to totally take over. When the squirrel lets them grow, anyway.

Bwahaa...I read that as Squash obsessed Squirrels ...as in Squash Squish them.

I would try caging the plants with chicken wire. I've never had squirrels go after my squash, however I do get moles who come in from underneath. I had to completely empty my 4x8x1 raised beds to put chicken wire underneath the soil to prevent critters from coming after the plants.

Good luck!

sun7flour

Squirrel stew with a side of squash casserole. I ain't kidding.

*squirrel season is in winter but whatever*

I haven't tried them in a wine barrel before, but the strawberries do really well. So I thought I would try this, as last year the squirrels trashed the squash in my garden.

Try this it will be much cheaper than what you are doing now. Buy your produce from your local farmers market. :)

I've only made squirrel stew once but it got ate up quick. Get a strong man to skin them. I think we had 5. Boil them for an hour. Then 2 cans condensed creme of mushroom, one can of water. Then the dirty south Holy Trinity. Saute celery, bell pepper, and onions in butter & throw those is. I put the oven on bake 350'. Covered for and hour or so.
That pre boiling1st step is key to keeping them tender. Enjoy, y'all.

Try buying a bottle or two of Skunk Juice from the hunting section of any big box department store. Put it around the perimeter of your garden and property. Stuff stinks to high heaven but I know it keeps deer away, it might work with squirrels too.

My father used to mix hot sauce and/or cayenne pepper with ivory soap flakes and water and sprayed it on garden plants to prevent deer from eating everything. I don't know the ratio of each ingredient to make the spray, but he always cautioned us to wash everything well before eating the vegetables. Maybe this would work on squirrels.

My dad was talking about trapping them...but it looks like trap and release, poison and snap traps are all illegal...plus we're squeamish.

I try to support the farmer's market and local urban farm, but my mom prefers overgrown squash...and they always cut them when she thinks they're way too small. Besides...it's nice to be able to go out in your backyard and grab some veggies.

I'm thinking that's what it's come to...some sort of wire enclosure. Only problem is how to make the bed accessible for weeding and harvesting.

We put down some sort of critter proof mesh when we built the raised beds...didn't think the squirrels would be quite so greedy. And this year we even planted enough to share, the silly things just won't give them a chance to grow!

What I do know is that beeping rodent repellents do not work on squirrels! At least not these ones.

Do you live near a zoo? I've heard of something
called Zoo Doo. It's basically lion poop.
It claims to keep *everything* away.

S~N~K

You could go to an outdoors store and buy the cougar or some other predatory animal urine scent and put a few drops of it around....Never had that problem so I'm guessing here...but it is supposed to be a very strong repellant.

I've got pickles in right now, pounding the coffee to get through tomatoes tonight. I've made many delicious loaves of zucchini bread, and have stacks of pre shredded zucchini in the freezer. We've even got cauliflower to put up, in spite of the rabbits and worms! It's been a great garden summer in Western NY. How have your gardens grown?

My cucumbers, watermelon and summer squash were all a bust. My garden consists of weeds and a hundred volunteer tomato plants. I only planted 3 heirloom tomato plants and they didn't do anything. How many cherry tomatoes does a person need. Every single volunteer was a cherry tomato plant!

All I have canned this summer was strawberry jam and raspberry jam.

I found this recipe while I was surfing. Sounds like a good way to store those little cherry tomatoes. http://www.healthygreenkitchen.com/pickled-cherry-tomatoes.html

I'm not that into tomatoes to pickle them, (my plants aren't doing that great anyway) but did you see the homemade oreos on that page? YUM!!! Plus a great post about sugar.

I didn't plant that much due to the drought here in California, but I did plant some tomatoes and peas. We got a few peas to munch but the plants never took off and I have 2 healthy tomato plants but they aren't over producing. So I don't think I'm going to have enough to freeze. However I have at least 4 varieties of pumpkins that volunteered. They are all tiny, I think some may be sugar pumpkins so I'm hoping I can cook those. The rest are mini jacks and some weird looking white thing that I don't know what it is at this point. I have a strange relationship with pumpkins. If I plant them they don't grow. If I don't plant them they emerge from my compost and take over the garden.