It's WAR, I tell you! Between the slugs and chipmunks, I will be lucky if I get one goshdarn strawberry. I opened the front curtains this morning and, lo and behold, there sat a fat-assed chipmunk chewing away on a strawberry. Right in front of the window. And he/she was staring at me in a very cheeky manner.
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The Victims. If you bigify, you will see where their nasty
little rodent teeth chewed little bits off my strawberries. |
I immediately went into the laundry/gardening/tool/storage/everything else room and got my bag of organic blood meal. Looks like I will have to sprinkle the perimeter of the strawberry bed every other day. They already got every. single. one. of my red currants. Apparently, they either don't care for the black currants or haven't fastened their beady little eyes on them yet. I have put up bird netting and now liberally sprinkle blood meal around them. Next up is the barbed wire and vicious dogs.
The chicken wire fencing did keep the rabbits out of my cold frame and herb bed and all the raised beds (except the garlic, which they apparently don't care for), and I almost had myself convinced (deluded is more like it) that it was safe to let the chickens out for a free range in front. Good thing I read Carolyn Renee's
post first. It might have tipped me over the edge.
Enough of the ugliness of gardening! Let's move on to something more heartening - like flowering things! It always seems to happen the same way: everything just pokes along and you fret over it, then one morning you come out and everything is in bloom. Here's some of what's blooming on the Little Lucky Farm:
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| Cucumbers are flowering. |
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| Taters are flowering. |
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| Love my geraniums! |
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| Martha Washington Geranium. |
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| Curly parsley and nasturtiums. |
I take the geraniums inside every winter and then plant them in a big pot outside my front door. There's nothing like something pretty at the door to perk you up! The Martha Washington geranium is new to me this year. Seems like they are the "hot" item locally. Of course, having almost zero willpower in nurseries (or anywhere else), I bought one - they are pricey, as are all 'hot' things. I am pretty disappointed. It will be my first and last. A friend has a scented geranium that I love - it's Citronella. I may pester her for a cutting or two. I am trying edible window boxes this year - I have to check the drainage, however, as the foliage is looking a bit peaky. I will do a more 'comprehensive' garden post later this week. That is, if I don't wake up some morning and find everything's been eaten to the ground.
13 comments:
Last year, I got 75 quarts of strawberries--this year, it looks like none. They were early, and when we got home from vacation, the few that are left are half eaten. I see Mrs. Robin hanging out in the garden planning her assault on the blueberries next.
I think a person needs to live in a bubble to get anything out of a garden anymore..........
Chipmunks got most of mine too. The few I got I only got because the snake had moved into the patch for a few days. I just picked around him, and all was well. I think you need to get a garden snake in the patch. Takes care of those chipmunks ASAP.
Ummm, if I recall correctly, wasn't it just a few short months ago that you were saying something like you enjoyed having the chipmunks around? Or is that just another one of MY delusions?
I just LOVE squash and cucumber flowers, so very pretty!
Those blankety-blank chipmunks didn't even wait for your strawberries to ripen! I know what would be happening to each and every chipmunk here is that happened!
Your blossoming taters are way ahead of mine. ('Course, everything in everybody's garden is way ahead of mine this year.)
It takes a strong woman to garden these days! And I don't mean just physically.
I'm pretty sure that chipmunks were helping themselves to my strawberry plants too - in pots on my doorstep! nothing else would explain how the berries were so neatly and totally nipped off the stems.
Joke is on them - I'm taking my pots to my new house today!
Sue - They have the annoying knack of knowing exactly when something is at its peak of ripeness. And they're fast and sneaky!
Jane - I saw a snake on my deck a week or so ago (still trying to figure out how he got up there) and I was trying to talk him into moving into the strawberry patch. Apparently, it's not upscale (heehee) enough for him.
CR - You ARE delusional! The 'glow' wore off my chipmunk love a long time ago. They are now just striped rodents.
Mama Pea - As soon as I'm finished with the rats (or, as soon as the rats are finished), chipmunks are in my sights. If I can live that long. And I do know what you mean by strength. I seem to be going through my summer stash of wine a lot faster this year...
Jenyfer - Don't think that they won't follow your pots! Or send mental messages to their fellow chipmunks who reside in your new garden. They are evil!
We have big, evil, strawberry-stealing squirrels who like to eat the forbidden fruit in the tree looking into our dining room window. The brazen hussies have been multiplying like crazy too~there are a lot more squirrels here than there used to be. Must be all that good nutrition they're getting from our garden!
Love the geraniums! I think you've inspired me to visit the nursery today...:)
Have you tired bird netting over them, staked down? I don't know if that would be heavy enough?
It must be epidemic this year, because the BIRDS got my strawberries. I bought some netting but can't find a way to keep it from springing back into a tight little wad, as I have nothing to hook it on over my tall raised planters. The good news is, MEATIE chickens don't seem to damage my plants at all...well, they did injure a day lily, but I am sure it was accidental as they piled their sorry little dinosaur butts on top of it. 4 more weeks and they won't bother it again. The egg layers on the other hand are evicted from the yard for EVER! This morning, Mr Cletapotamus dug in my CORN AND GREENBEANS. Yes, it is a challenging year for gardeners!
I think I'm lucky now to only be complaining about the disease and heat in the garden, I don't know where I'd begin if faced with larger threats like varmint LOL!!!
OH sorry to hear about the strawberries, that has got to be maddening. I don't have any tips to keep them away. I know that slugs don't like crushed egg shells.
But on a brighter note your flowers look lovely!
This is the only argument that might convince me to get a dog!! LOL
Regarding your Martha Washington geranium - is it not doing well? Is that why you're not "impressed"? The key may be sun . . . or, more to the point, too much of it. I bought one of the pricey little devils several years ago and discovered that they do NOT like sun like regular geraniums! Put it in shade to part-shade, and it will be MUCH happier!! xox
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