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I thought I would write a short post on one of the reasons why fencing around your vegetable garden is a good idea!

Around the end of May a week or so after Memorial Day I decided I would rototill about a 1200 square foot spot in my brothers backyard. I came back a couple days later to plant some tomatoes, squash, muskmelon, and the
Heirloom plant from seed “Scarlet Runner”. This plant germinates and sends out runners to grab anything that will support its ten foot vine growth.

Well it was late afternoon and the sky above started getting dark and gray. Eventually the dark gray clouds
started moving closer and a storm started, you could hear loud thunder and see quite a bit of lightening. I decided to pick up most of my tools and leave some of the vegetable plants outside to catch a little bit of watering from compliments of Mother Nature.

I went inside and had dinner with my brother two nieces and sister in-law. The rain came down hard and I could not see anything in front of me while looking out the kitchen window.

Eventually the storm ended and my brother and I noticed something about 300 yards out towards the back of the yard and we had no idea what it was. We finally walked out back to see what this big black object was. Once we got close enough we realized it turned out to be a snapping turtle.

She just sat there and looked at us after she pulled her head into her shell wondering who was going to make the first move.

My Brother and I decided to turn around and leave the turtle alone. I walked back to the garage attached to the house to put a way a few tools and plants that I would becoming back to plant the next day.

As I went back to my truck which was parked out in the backyard I noticed the turtle did a 180 and headed back to the pond it came from which was about 100 feet a way and six feet down the embankment into the pond.

I came back the following evening to finish planting my garden and all the plants were set to go at least for another week before I needed to go back out to the garden which is about 1/2 hour from my home.

Two to three days letter my Brother sends me an email with some attached pictures for me to view. In the title of his email he sent me, he wrote “Pretty Garden”. Not knowing what he was talking about, I had to open it.

To my surprise! What did he take pictures of? Yes you guessed correct snapping turtles laying eggs all through the garden in different areas.

About 100 feet from the garden my brother had a small pile of loam gravel and clay and in this pile were many eggs about the size of a quarter which my brother’s dog dug up and left. More animals came after this bonus surprise and helped their self. I never new what these turtle eggs looked like until I saw them uncovered.

To my surprise they were the size of a quarter with a leathery white shell on the out side of the egg.

Little did I know but this garden turned out to be garden central for the next three days for all the snapping turtles dropping by to lay their eggs and they all gathered around picking different spots in the garden.

So below is one of the pictures of the snapping turtle laying her eggs.

Here is one picture of a different turtle looking at my brother wondering what my brother is up to as he gets closer to her with the camera. This snapping turtle was in a different part of the garden during the same time the previous turtle was laying her own eggs.

Well, I will keep my eyes open with the hope of catching these turtles hatching from their eggs and heading back to the pond. If I do catch them then I will plan on posting them to this blog.

Turtle eggs gives a new definition to growing a vegetable garden.

This is just one reason to make a point of putting a fence around your vegetable garden.

This article on Snapping Turtles is brought to you by www.backyard-gardening.com

“Keeping Soil Happy”

Soil is a composition of weather-beaten rock, minerals,
decayed plant materials and other organic ingredients.
All this takes a long time to develop, but can be
damaged by our action or neglect in a single season.

Plants can obtain nutrients from the soil using their
roots and change them to usable materials to grow new
roots, leaves and flowers.

All gardeners are to be custodians of the soil, taking
the time to replace food and other elements as they are
used. Since our soil is so important we need to treat
it like we want to be treated, not like dirt.

For soil to be healthy it should contain a balanced mix
of air, water, nutrients and organic matter. There are
a couple things we can do to protect this mixture.

Adding organic matter on a regular basis is probably
one of the most important things we can do. Adding
compost, cover crops and animal manure can do many
things:
+increases the soil’s capability to hold nutrients.
+makes food available to plants over a longer period of
time.
+lessen the amount of nutrients lost by erosion or
leaching.
+provides micro-nutrients that are needed by plants in
small amounts.
+release nutrients already in the soil by increasing
the action of beneficial microorganisms.
+increases the water-holding capacity for sandy soils.
+increase the drainage of clay soils.
+saves money.

Do not apply fertilizer to lawns until we get a good
soaking rain, and for best, safest, long-lasting
results use organic fertilizers. The wet soil puts the
nutrients into a solution and helps distribute the
nutrients to the plant roots to be absorbed.

The ability of soil to drain water is important. But
when you read phrases like “plant in a well-drained
soil” or “does not like wet feet”, they are talking
about the plant’s need for air. The roots of plants
require oxygen and any soil that is waterlogged will be
lacking oxygen.

Many plants will put up with high moisture-conditions
during the growing season, but when the plants are
dormant the same conditions may kill them. By improving
the drainage the plant will have a better growing
environment.

Another problem is soil becoming compacted by tractors
and other equipment or just by tilling it year after
year. You will find soil compaction in most soils, from
gardens to farm fields.

Tilling the soil when it is too wet will clump and ruin
the composition of the soil. This condition takes a
long period of time to bring it back to health. To tell
if the soil is too wet take a handful and squeeze it,
if it crumbles in your hand then it is ready to till
but if it clumps then it is too wet. Some people now
believe that tilling at all is not good for the
structure of the soil. It exposes the helpful
microorganisms to the environment and they are
destroyed.

However, gardeners may wonder if it is best to till the
garden in the fall or spring. Tilling the soil in the
fall has advantages over springtime. When spring
arrives it allows for earlier planting since the basic
soil preparation is done. Tilling in the fall allows a
large amount of organic matter to be turned into the
soil and start decomposing because the microbes are
active currently.

An excellent source of organic matter is the fall
leaves. Try tilling a thick layer of leaves into the
soil this fall and by spring it will have decomposed.

Sowing a cover crop, like winter rye, is very
beneficial by adding valuable nutrients and organic
matter when tilled into the soil the following spring.
Fall tilling will disrupt the bad insects, diseases and
weeds, reducing their population.

Fall is a good time to test your soil and should be
done every couple of years. In conclusion, doing all
the previous steps should be done the organic gardening
way. It’s back to basic.

This article on keeping your Soil happy is brought to you by www.backyard-gardening.com