We've been a little MIA on Harvest Mondays lately, but we had intended to post.... I swear. (And I actually think I'm using the Royal we here.... since I'm the only one in the family to post... ah well.).
Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne and is a wonderful chance to see what home gardeners are growing around the world. Or attempting to grow.
We had a few harvests that did not get photographed or weighed, but we've been munching on garden cucumbers and beans for a bit, and of course, cherry tomatoes. We are still waiting on our Yellow Brandywines to plump up and change color.
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| 2 pounds 3 1/2 oz of tomatoes |
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| Some very ugly corn. |
WARNING ----- GRAPHIC PHOTO BELOW.... STOP READING NOW IF YOU ARE DO NOT CARE TO SEE IT....
We've been having some gardening woes lately. We have been "enjoying" a nocturnal visitor to the garden. He's been snacking on newly planted pea seeds, Fava beans, and corn.
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| Rat chewed corn |
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| Disappearing peas |
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| A hole that used to contain a Fava bean that had just started unfurling |
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| Leftover Fava shoots after the beans were consumed |
Well, what's a city gardener to do? We hustled over to Lowes, bought some rat traps and hustled over to the nursery to purchase some seeds to replant. Grrr.... Just when I thought I had a good timeline for planting.
So the first day I put out a trap next to the planter with the peas, with his second favorite garden food, cherry tomatoes (I've been picking them as they start to change color just the slightest so the rat doesn't eat them). The next morning I ventured out to find the peas eaten and the trap still set with the tomato. Arg.... But laziness prevailed and day 2 was trap with tomato again.... but IN the planter... Morning brought more missing peas and a missing tomato with an unsprung trap. Darn it! Day 3, trip to Lowes for a more sensitive trap... And peanut butter as a lure. Day 4.... new traps that I worried about getting my fingers smashed into were still unsprung and the peanut butter was gone. Old trap, next to our Fava bed, was moved.
Gotcha you big rat! (I'll admit it, it scared the crud out of me when I walked outside and actually saw the darn thing.) I know, I know, I bought a trap, I should be prepared for it to actually work, especially when I was mad when they didn't work. But Ugh, that's harsh. I made the hubby toss this poor smooshed rodent in the trash. Gross.... and now I actually have to dodge some rain to try and replant today.
Happy wet gardening. And sorry for grossing you out.
We have gopher problems lately, it dug a tunnel under the shed and came out to eat my squash, I was scare to use those spring traps so we threw some gopher baits into the tunnel, I'll find out pretty soon if he's still around to eat my butternut squash.
ReplyDeleteMac - I was hesitant to use the traps, but even more worried about the rat baits. We set out the traps after the boys were done playing outside for the day and then I hid them in the morning before they ventured outside. Good luck getting rid of the pesky gopher!
ReplyDeleteOh, no! Sorry to see the damage to your seedlings/seeds. You are one determined gardener!
ReplyDeleteThese pests do a lot of damage which is very discouraging to gardeners like us. I've had to deal with these on a regular basis. You win some, you lose some. Oh well! Life goes on with or without growing veggies...:)