06-11-2019, 03:13 AM
I do my seedlings in a separate area from the garden. A little wire cage surrounding a planting tray and inside the tray lots of little labeled planting cups. After the seedlings grow a few inches then they are ready for transplant and that skips the issue of birds or rats eating the seeds.
As Kaliana said, some rocks surrounding the seedlings solves the issue of the cats digging up the seedlings when using the freshly tilled garden as a new "latrine". Me sitting in a lawn-chair overlooking the garden with a water-hose is another method to give the cats a message. -But you know cats... they do what they want.
Growing melons will present you with a different problem as the fruit mature. The kabocha squash is exempt from this problem because the skin is so thick but as for the others you listed, there is a large fruit-fly that stings them and lays eggs in the melons. A way around that problem is to "bag" your fruit. I've seen cheese cloth, I've seen paper bags, I even once saw someone wrap their cucumbers in newspaper.
Good luck and happy gardening 1v1 [
]
As Kaliana said, some rocks surrounding the seedlings solves the issue of the cats digging up the seedlings when using the freshly tilled garden as a new "latrine". Me sitting in a lawn-chair overlooking the garden with a water-hose is another method to give the cats a message. -But you know cats... they do what they want.
Growing melons will present you with a different problem as the fruit mature. The kabocha squash is exempt from this problem because the skin is so thick but as for the others you listed, there is a large fruit-fly that stings them and lays eggs in the melons. A way around that problem is to "bag" your fruit. I've seen cheese cloth, I've seen paper bags, I even once saw someone wrap their cucumbers in newspaper.
Good luck and happy gardening 1v1 [
]