THE CHILDREN'S HOUR WITH LEATHERFACE - Mrs. Deer

Hi there boys and girls it's your favorite cut up and babysitter, Leatherface! It's a really nice spring day today, not too early for a barbecue and so I got a few packages of ground Ron out of the freezer last night. It's burgers for lunch kids!

But today I'm here to talk about that sweet grazing ungulate, Mrs. Deer, and all her herd mates and the adorable deer children, and all the unbridled havoc they can commit in the garden.



Mrs Deer

Look at that sweet face! Such a face! Guileless, gentle, wholesome and...HEY WAIT A SECOND THAT FACE IS FULL OF MY COLLARDS! PASS THE WINCHESTER, FARM GIRL!

No no no! This is overreacting. You cannot possibly blow away every deer that invades the chard patch. And why would you want to, - except for that distressing habit they have of spreading tics and with them, Lyme Disease. Mrs. Deer is nearly as easy to control as Mrs. Bunny, and with no violence at all required. (Unless you like venison with your collards, of course)

Build a fence! This is always part of the answer, you cannot have a vegetable garden in a rural environment without a fence. And for Mrs. Deer, as with Mrs. Bunny, chicken wire is adequate.
Three feet, however, is not. You want a minimum of eight feet for deer, and it is far, far better to go with 10 feet.

Hey, there is benefit as well. Fencing makes terrific trellis material. Your beans and cukes will be deeply appreciative of the tall trellis.
If the wire is tautly strung and the fence is well maintained, this will keep Mrs. Deer on the outside looking in with no need for electrifying the fence. But fail to build it, and trust me, they will come, dinner napkins in place. In that case, you may have a somewhat less edifying view of Mrs. Deer.

By the way, it seems the people producing predator urine products are not pleased that we never recommend them. Well, if they definitely worked, 100% of the time, we would, but they do not. Even if they were effective, rain washes the scent away and weakens any deterrent value that they may have. Gardeners are at fault, failing to keep the deterrent fresh. And eventually the hungry critters do figure it out. It may smell like T-Rex whiz around the eggplant, but there isn't a Rex in site. And kiss the corn goodbye.



GUILTY AS HELL

That's it for now! As always, thank you for sitting in on The Children's Hour!

FARM GIRL'S CORNER - collard greens

Hi! I'm Farm Girl and I help Uncle Mac in the garden and around the shed and things like that. I'm the first one he calls upon when he feels the need to stake a tomato.  ;0)

FARM GIRL

Today I'm going to tell you about one of the crops that was a huge success in last years garden, "Champion" collards. Champion is a variety of Vates style collard that has a long growing season and great resistance to both bolting and frost. It is prolific and produces some very large leaves that are perfect for stuffing. Of course they are also terrific in more traditional southern dishes as well.

Uncle Mac likes to cook them in a crock pot with corned beef, adding potatoes to the mix to make corned beef and collards. It sounds heretical but since collards and cabbages are both Brassicas a dispute about which to use is much ado over nothing and the flavors blend very well indeed.

Collards are easily started directly in the garden once the danger of frost has passed and the soil has warmed and been prepped with ample amounts of compost. Plant four or five seeds in one spot that you could cover with a silver dollar for each individual plant that you wish to grow. Plant them about 1/4" deep and pat the soil down gently. When the plants germinate thin to one plant in each spot. Allow each individual plant 4 square feet in which to grow. This sounds like a lot of space but Champion produces large plants that will benefit from the extra growing room. Plants will generally max out at about 36" tall and spread out until their leaves interlock.

CHAMPION COLLARD

Care is minimal. Keep the plants weeded and when the weather warms in late spring mulch well with sifted compost. Fertilizer is not required except in the poorest of soils and the plants do not require staking or trellising. Keep them well and consistently watered.

Take the large leaves from the bottom of the plant first and the plants will continue to produce. Here in north Jersey we slow cooked a mess of collards at Thanksgiving, after several moderate frosts with fine results. A hard and protracted freeze in early December finally ended the collard patch, long after every other plant had gone to the Great Compost Heap in the Sky.

Of course, you can get a two to three week jump on the season by starting the plants indoors four weeks before the final frost date and transplanting them to the garden four weeks after germination, which will take perhaps ten days.


MR. GOAT

                                                                       

You will enjoy your collards immensely but you need to fence them in. It isn't that they'll make a break for freedom, it is just that a wide assortment of critters both domestic and wild enjoy them as much as you and your family do. Woodchuck, bunnies, goats, sheep, cattle, deer, the list of collard fanciers goes on and on.

Find a spot for these long term, tasty (and by the way healthful) crops inside the wire and enjoy them from early summer through early winter.  They are widely available but here are three suggestions for potential suppliers: Hometown Seeds, Jung Seeds, and Territorial Seed Co.

Enjoy your collards and thanks for visiting Farm Girl's Corner!