Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Garden Pests

Things are looking good--particularly the weeds:-) Seriously, though, our garden is shaping up. If only we can keep the pests at bay.

I am tempted to build a very posh house inside the garden fence for our cats. Only so that they can cull the moles that seem to be in constant motion. Apparently moles eat mainly worms, so other than restricting water and soil to our plants, they are not doing a ton of damage by eating the roots (as I had suspected). Our garden is full of worms, so I don't see the moles moving on anytime soon.... And anyway, the cats would poop everywhere.

I am also tempted to build a very posh dog house inside the garden fence for our adorable pups. Only so that they can keep the deer from deciding that they should jump over said fence and eat the leaves off of our strawberry plants and ALL of the leaves off of Erica's plum tree (well, actually they left a few measly leaves). They did a lot of damage in one night. Creeps. Cute creeps, but creeps just the same.

I am very sorely tempted to use a spray on a very ugly (in my humble opinion) insect. The rose chafer http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/M1198.html has been a nuisance to our poor raspberry canes among many other things. I would love to let my clever little chickens into the garden to make quick work of these little buggers, but alas, rose chafers are highly toxic to chicks. HE and I have been picking them off, but some days that seems very futile. Fortunately the adults (who eat plant leaves) are only around for a few weeks this time of the summer. 

So if you stop by on any given day, I will probably (among other things) be stomping mole hills, picking rose chafers or shooting deer. Okay, just kidding on that last one. But my friend, Krista did say "Well, if you end up without any veggies, you can sell venison at the Farmers Market". Good point.
These "sticks" used to have beautiful leaves on them...
Erica's poor tree, looking more like it did when I first planted it.
With a little luck and some not-too-hot weather, we will have a good pea harvest...

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