Deer are eating our tomatoes!

Gardening is still very new to me. I do not have a “green” thumb and started learning late in my life. Just started to garden in Nevada a few years before we decided to jump into our new off grid life.

Now, here we are in Idaho. Not only do we need to amend our soil, it’s learning how things grow here and the shorter growing season.

My husband started amending our garden area last fall by seeding hairy vetch, clover, and oil seed radish. He seeded some other cover crop but, you get the idea. He loves to make dirt.

• Hairy vetch = nitrogen fixer, helps prevent soil erosion, weed prevention and attracts bees.
• Dutch white clover = nitrogen fixer, retains moisture, weed prevention and attracts bees.
• Oilseed radish = nutrient miner (brings nutrients to the top) and helps break up compacted soil.

I started my seeds on time. Problem though, not enough sun light in our scary cabin and no green house yet. YET! I stress that word because it has become a priority for next year. Their growth was stunted. We got the plants outside and crossed our fingers. It was too cold at night still and my little plants struggled. I’ll tell you though, I think it made for stronger plants. We’ll also be coming up with a plan to cover the plants next year. I guess you could say this year was pretty much an experiment on our new homestead. Learning what you can get away with or not get away with.

We didn’t lose any plants to the night chills. We have lost some tomato plants to deer though. Our plan for the wildlife is to create a food plot for them away from the garden. If done correctly, we’re hoping we don’t have to fence off the garden. Here’s a video tour of our garden.

We want to do a Back to Eden, permaculture and food forest combination. There are so many possibilities up here and I’m learning that you want to work with nature not against it. That includes “weeds”. Nature doesn’t like bare ground and will try cover it with weeds. Weeds have their own job and usually will tell you that you’re soil is not right or maybe you need more wood chips.

As far as the deer, we did put up a temporary fence in hopes of saving the rest of the plants. That will have to wait until the next blog and video update though. So please stayed tuned. 😉