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.
