Hard Lessons

What are some things you learned the "hard way" due to your region or site conditions?

An example for me would be that southern exposure in the south is its own category. When a seed pack says "full sun", it may or may not do well in our central MS full sun. It is absolutely brutal.

i have a tendency to learn everything "the hard way" but I'll try to be brief....

-mulch is not the best thing ever when you live in snail/slug central
-tropical clay will eat all the organic matter you can throw at it, practically before your eyes
-tropical insects (in areas where you never get a hard frost) are not fooling around and require different strategies than non-tropical gardening.
-likewise, in certain climates, composting is not easy or necessarily even the best option. I banged my head against that wall for years before realizing it was so much better to just trench in the clay.
There are hundreds more, but these are the ones off the top of my head.  

Deer will eat almost everything, except rosemary ...

Feral hog love Egyptian Walking Onions ...

Anne Miller wrote:Deer will eat almost everything, except rosemary ...

1# of raw deer meat has over 500 calories. You would not be able to stop them but you could get a return on your gardening investment if they are eating your food and you eat them......food for thought

Tereza Okava wrote:i have a tendency to learn everything "the hard way" but I'll try to be brief....

I banged my head against that wall for years before realizing it was so much better to just trench in the clay.
There are hundreds more, but these are the ones off the top of my head.  

What do you mean with this comment please ?  

Jonny Mnem wrote:

Tereza Okava wrote:i have a tendency to learn everything "the hard way" but I'll try to be brief....

I banged my head against that wall for years before realizing it was so much better to just trench in the clay.
There are hundreds more, but these are the ones off the top of my head.  

What do you mean with this comment please ?  

Trench composting beats plain composting in my climate.

Jonny Mnem wrote:What do you mean with this comment please ?  

She digs a trench in the garden, then puts all compostables in the trench. Some folk bury it, some folk leave it open.

Bears like our apples as much as we do.

Cut firewood early and often. Late summer problems can lead to winter wood shortages. Keep a couple easy, dead, dry trees in your back pocket.

Letting a useless, gossipy 'neighbor' use your road while he lollygags four years finishing his will leave you with destroyed roads overused during the worst of spring breakup, and tales of woe spread to any who listen, when you cut his self-entitled, demanding butt off when the maintenance help he promised was never delivered. Once you allow access, it is assumed it extends to any he invites to his place for any purpose, and taking it away is harder than just being a firm no in the first place. Lock your gates and enjoy your peace.

Purchase price of used heavy equipment is only a down payment. Better be able to fix anything that comes along your self.

Never underestimate the power of water to go where you don't want it, wreck or rot things you don't need abused. Same with cattle.

Never underestimate the power of a hot woodstove and coffee shared on a cozy couch with a view of beautiful winter morning to smooth over any or all of the above, and allow you to truly appreciate what you have accomplished.

For years people told me to cover my solar batteries.
Why I would ask?
Everybody does! but why?
After 30 years I recently damaged $20,000 of solar batteries which got very wet.
It seems water running down the front can cause a draining of the charge, much like leaving snow on an auto battery.
Nobody knew why though.
It reminds me of the story about a newly wed couple,
Bill asked,  why are you cutting the leg of lamb in half to roast it?
Mum always did!
Lets ask Mum, ........ because Gran always did!
Gran why do you cut the leg of lamb in 1/2 to roast it?
So it would fit in the oven!!

Josh Hoffman wrote:

Anne Miller wrote:Deer will eat almost everything, except rosemary ...

1# of raw deer meat has over 500 calories. You would not be able to stop them but you could get a return on your gardening investment if they are eating your food and you eat them......food for thought

We are happy to have them as our friends.  No raw deer meat.  No food for thought...

Anne Miller wrote:Deer will eat almost everything, except rosemary ...

Feral hog love Egyptian Walking Onions ...

Anne, have you had any luck with using Rosemary as a barrier to deter deer? When I first moved here, to deer country, I didn’t have a fence (I thought if I planted enough, I’d have enough to share- another lesson learned the hard way!) but the deer seemed to leave alone my rows of people basil and anything close to it. They also seem to spend less time around fruit trees that have lavender planted around them.

I only have one rosemary bush.  It protects a rose bush planted next to it to keep the deer from devouring the whole plant.  Deer still get the young tender leaves and it never gets to bloom.

A solid row of rosemary bushes might act as a fence though the deer could just jump over it.  Though the deer might be afraid that they cant see what is on the other side.

Sage is another plant that my deer leave alone.  I have autumn sage and blue sage. I have lots of wild verbena so I guess the deer don't like that either.

So could we formulate a theory that deer, like slugs, tend to avoid plants with intense scents, not sweet like  roses, but other types of intense smells?

Tommy Bolin wrote:Bears like our apples as much as we do.

Along those lines. We had a skunk in the yard yesterday, only second we've had in the last decade. Since we have a bunch of dogs, and plenty of cat type places for him to hole up, he had to go.
Took a canoe ride, dogs always follow along the shore, figured it would give him a chance to p**s off. No luck.
The solution, just like one of last years really persistent bears, was the firehose. Knocked the treed bear out of his perch, sent him off with the dogs following, He did not return. Damn near drowned the skunk, he was easily dispatched. Anatomy reminds me of a badger.

I can't keep my mini carrots I grow in the fridge without putting them in something, otherwise they wither and aren't viable,  I harvested a few lovely ones with potent flavour but after three days in the veggie drawer I found them soft and gone off, next time they need to be sealed somehow, I've got more growing.