At a recent garden fair in Scotts Valley, I was shopping at the Native Revival nursery stall, and I couldn't resist buying some packets of "The Genuine Root Guard/Gopher Basket."
It's a product from a small company, it seems, like one of my favorite gardener's accoutrements: The Gardener's Hollow Leg. Don't you just love it when someone actually follows through on their "get rich quick" idea and actually make and sells the product? -- Even if it doesn't actually make them rich ;-) .
The Genuine Root Guard/Gopher Basket web site and product name do not indicate a thriving marketing department, but that's fine with me.
Anyway, these gopher baskets, or socks rather (or - insert your protection analogy here), are made from a fine stainless steel mesh.
You roll one onto a plant like a sock before popping it in the ground (having first loosened up the root ball and any encircling roots).
Other premade gopher baskets are made of galvanized steel, and they are hard to shape, for a small person like me anyway. And I hate cutting and scrunching home made baskets out of that rip-you-up hardware "cloth." (Cloth - ha! Now there's a misnomer!)
Full price for The Genuine Root Guard/Gopher Basket is two bucks for a gallon-pot-sized basket. Anything the price of a good cup of coffee tends to loosen the purse strings, and besides, they were on special at the fair - it was just too tempting!
Stainless steel corrodes less quickly than galvanized steel in the ground - but the "The Genuine Root Guard/Gopher Basket" is made of a fine mesh - so, does that make a difference to their longevity? Does anybody know?
Well, if not, I'll let you know in 10 or 15 years, when this row of deer grass plants (Muhlenbergia rigens), which I put there to look pretty and also to shade the lower area of the greenhouse, will be ready for replacement....
BTW I'm glad to say that so far these babies are abhorred by deer and rabbits alike! So maybe they didn't need gopher baskets either. There is a larger specimen to the right that Town Mouse gave me, and which is growing just fine without one.
Well, you just never know and it's better to be safe than sorry. Ya, being sorry is no fun at all, and all gardeners know what that feels like!
It's a product from a small company, it seems, like one of my favorite gardener's accoutrements: The Gardener's Hollow Leg. Don't you just love it when someone actually follows through on their "get rich quick" idea and actually make and sells the product? -- Even if it doesn't actually make them rich ;-) .The Genuine Root Guard/Gopher Basket web site and product name do not indicate a thriving marketing department, but that's fine with me.
Anyway, these gopher baskets, or socks rather (or - insert your protection analogy here), are made from a fine stainless steel mesh.
You roll one onto a plant like a sock before popping it in the ground (having first loosened up the root ball and any encircling roots).
Other premade gopher baskets are made of galvanized steel, and they are hard to shape, for a small person like me anyway. And I hate cutting and scrunching home made baskets out of that rip-you-up hardware "cloth." (Cloth - ha! Now there's a misnomer!)Full price for The Genuine Root Guard/Gopher Basket is two bucks for a gallon-pot-sized basket. Anything the price of a good cup of coffee tends to loosen the purse strings, and besides, they were on special at the fair - it was just too tempting!
Stainless steel corrodes less quickly than galvanized steel in the ground - but the "The Genuine Root Guard/Gopher Basket" is made of a fine mesh - so, does that make a difference to their longevity? Does anybody know?
Well, if not, I'll let you know in 10 or 15 years, when this row of deer grass plants (Muhlenbergia rigens), which I put there to look pretty and also to shade the lower area of the greenhouse, will be ready for replacement....
BTW I'm glad to say that so far these babies are abhorred by deer and rabbits alike! So maybe they didn't need gopher baskets either. There is a larger specimen to the right that Town Mouse gave me, and which is growing just fine without one.Well, you just never know and it's better to be safe than sorry. Ya, being sorry is no fun at all, and all gardeners know what that feels like!
Comments
I planted some deergrass five years ago and watched while it languished for four of them, but finally this year they've taken off, now a good 3 feet by 3 feet.
Was thrilled to find an offshoot baby grass, which stupidly I transplanted to an area without water where it promptly died. Should have waited 'til fall. I notice a few others fortunately.
Sunset's blog had a blurb comparing the different tastes of wine drinkers and of deer! Did anyone read that? haha
I am testing the mesh baskets too, and the digger's, but out here the gophers jump the top of the basket and go for the plant. And some of us have to put slippery walls on our fenced gardens so the raccoons won't climb the fence!!
Overall - I can't say I have any cause for concern and I continue to buy and use this type of gopher protection for anything special I plant.