Re: MILORGANITE

rimat wrote:
> 
> Hi--
> 
> I heard from friends (and recall some discussion on the iris-l) that
> milorganite is a good fertilizer and also repells deer.  A new local
> nursery is carrying it.  when is a good time to use it -- and can anyone
> tell me whether hinder is preferable over ropel.  I just can't let those
> deer destroy the garden as they did last year and the year before and
> the year before and. . . . . . .

Rima, I've been using Milorganite for 2 years now with reasonable
success -- it DOES appear to discourage the rodents as well as our
antlered friends, at least as long as it's still "fresh". I actually got
to enjoy the majority of my tulips last year rather than seeing a lot of
headless flower stalks. Two or 3 times in early spring, I scatter
Milorganite around on top of the soil in the flower beds & on the Blue
Grama/Buffalo Grass "lawn", don't scratch it in & don't water it right
away -- the spring-rain-that-must-be-shoveled takes care of that anyway.
If I'm feeling fancy I use one of those whirleybird thingys but usually
I just broadcast it by hand. It's a balanced fertilizer (5-5-5 as I
recall), not overly strong so it doesn't burn or over-stimulate growth.

Haven't tried it yet but locals here swear by Bobbex, a foliant spray
that has the unexpected benefit of tasting bad the the grazers &
tasters. I plan to use this on my lilacs this year so maybe the deer &
elk won't prune them late in the summer/early fall -- took me years to
figure out that this was the reason the shrubs had so little spring
bloom! (Actually, at my altitude, lilacs don't flower until late June or
early July.)

Marte in the mtns	Zone 4/Sunset 1  Colorado -- it's snowing again here,
too, whoo boy. Last week's 3' melted rapidly, rushing down the mtn to
swell the creek across the road & we had 3 WHOLE DAYS OF GARDENING
WEATHER but here we go again...
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