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| Thought this was safe in the coldframe - maybe the large, succulent lettuce leaves waving ripely from their pot was just too much of a temptation. |
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| Radicchio centers - gone. |
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| If you can bigify this, you will notice the nekkid parsley stems. |
I have noticed that the rodentia population is rampant this spring. I have gotten over the cuteness of chipmunks - all 500 of them - after they chewed down my sunflower starts for the fifth time. I am beyond over the not-so-cuteness of the ratties (see #5). I am now narrowing my sights on the dwindling cuteness of the army of rabbits that skitter across the homestead. Of course, I know that rabbits + lettuce = they win/you lose. That is why I planted my lettuce in a coldframe with 12+ inch sides. They scaled the ramparts! They also found the one little hole I missed that led them into my herb bed. Ergo - scalped parsley.
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| Sunflower seedlings cut off at the seed (bigify if you dare - it's not pretty). However, Morning Gloriesmust not be on the chipmunk diet - they were not touched. |
It's a good thing I am a morning person. I had to squeeze in rabbit-proofing my coldframe and herb bed. Just as I was ready to pat myself on the back for winning another battle, I came across my bee balm. Something has eaten all the buds off the stems. But wait! There's more - some'one' had completely unscrewed the bottom of my hummingbird feeder. What the...?! I am thinking squirrels, as a bear would have ripped the sucker off the holder and smashed it. Uncle already!!
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| For your viewing pleasure - the 6+ lb. piece (all one piece) of matted, felted llama fleece that came off of the mad camel on Monday. |
14 comments:
I completely agree with your outrage. Little so-and-so's. Something ate my strawberries, but was unhurried enough to leave the green tops behind in little piles. For that reason, I don't think it was the dog, and now I guess I'll investin some hoops and nettin...
Is that fleece usable as eventual yarn?
Wait; don't you have a whole PACK of dogs and a whole PRIDE of cats? Why aren't they doing their jobs; earning their keep???
These are the things that make us gardeners go postal! I am sincerely when I say you have my heartfelt sympathies.
Also . . . Kill the Wabbit, Kill the Wabbit!!! And any other *&#$@! little creature who's eating YOUR food!
Well, maybe I'm SINCERE when I say . . .
OMG, I'm laughing thru the tears of rage. Get a 22 if you don't have one, and have some rabbit stew! Rat bastards.... I was laughing at your writing style, by the way, not your loss...
I think these invasions are meant to snap us back into the reality that we are not the only hungry ones on this earth. That being said, I too am getting worn down by the one bite taken out of each ripe strawberry that I waited a year for or the baby groundhogs that figured out they can fit through the garden fence and eat the peas. AND you really know this invasion is a problem when peace loving, no kill Jane didnt feel as bad as normal when my dog ate that poor garden invader. Just sayin...
LindaCO - They left the little green tops? Now that's what I call nerve!
Michelle - Does it count as "help" if Bernie ripped down a chicken wire fence to attack a rat ALREADY in a live trap?
Mama Pea - Postal is a very good description of my mood lately.
Nancy - I have a .22 but I'm afraid I'll pick off a chicken or something benign. Like myself...
Jane - I tell you, it feels like a battle zone out there. It would be one thing if we could reason with the little bastards - "I'll give you x amount of nice tender greens every morning if you leave my garden the heck alone." As far as the 'loss'? Sometimes groundhog lessons are learned the hard way.
Sounds like you need a few terriers to scare them away.
Have you tried fox urine? It's supposed to scare them off, but I don't know how effective it is. We, of course, have plenty of foxes in the area which seems to do the job pretty well!
Oh, Susan, I FEEL your pain!! How, how, how does anyone ever manage to harvest anything from their garden?!? The stinkin' birds even dug up and ate my cantaloupe seeds!
I'm on my THIRD attempt at the word verification nightmare!!
Oh no! Please forgive me, but I had to giggle at the parsley, because my rabbits LOVE parsley. I guess mine aren't too far gone from the wild wabbits.
I'd be boiling mad too. It seems to me that there are more rodents this year than ever before. I'm thinking our Riley needs a hunting partner. I'd let the dogs patrol the garden but they just run through everything and roll around on the peas and lettuce and such.
Why on earth are you LIVE trapping the rats??
My step-mother declared war on her chipmunk population. She sets traps outside for them in her garden beds and then feeds their bodies to her yard-pet foxes.
What I really want to know is what you are going to do with that llama fleece!?
oh no! Sounds like war is on the horizon! We are lucky to not have many squirrels or chipmunks here, mostly insect invaders. I don't know what I'd do when faced with that many chipmunks eating my stuff!!! Well, knowing me I'd camo up and bed down with a .22 in the garden and turn it into some sick and twisted garden war game LOL!
Wow, that's AWFUL!! I would feel so violated! Therapy might be in order, truly. I haven't had critter problems so much as WEATHER. My tomatoes all have flowers, one has a fruit and this morning, yes June 9, I wake up to it SNOWING! ARRRGGHHH!!
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