I am smarter than a Chipmunk. I hope.

One week ago, on Wednesday, we put up a fence.  It's the deer guard fence I posted about before, and it's really nice because it's practically invisible from afar.  It also has really small holes to prevent rabbits and chipmunks to squeeze through into the garden.  I thought I had won.  I replanted beans, peas, and more peppers Sunday.  It was so hot!  They were growing so good! 
Monday I went out at lunch.  One Box in the garden was gone.  The beans, the peas, the peppers, the broccoli, all completely destroyed. I walked around the exterior and interior of the fence.  I couldn't find where they burrowed in.  They couldn't have fit through the holes!  Did they fly?   What could have done this?  I cried. Then I decided to fight back. 

A co-worker suggested slugs ate my garden.  They can destroy plants over night, he said.  I googled slugs.  Their biggest predator?  Chickens.  Guess what, I don't have any chickens.  And all the pictures online of slug damage looked nothing like my poor plants munched right to the dirt.  When I came home that night there were two little chippies perched on the garden bed.  I ran toward them, shoe in hand, determined to bash in their nutty brains.  They ran into the woods, out of the garden, through a hole they had chewed in the corner of the fence. I saw they had dug up my freshly planted seeds, they had taken bites out of all of them.  Like Ramona, they decided the first bite was always best and threw the rest away.  I cried some more. 

Today I went to the hardware store.  I don't even try to find anything in our local hardware store.  The men stand around and if a worker can't help you, a patron will.  I asked about Chipmunks and how to get rid of them.  They suggested rat traps, buckets filled with sunflower seeds floating on water, a 22 with a scope, traps to release them somewhere else, and all of these don't appeal to me.  I don't want to see or touch these chipmunks that have run rampant over my entire homestead.  I just want them gone.  Some poor boy took pity on me.  He gave me pellets for killing moles and gophers, you shake them down the hole and they eat them.  It might take days before you notice they're gone he said.  I grabbed that and a package of mice killer that looked like corn.  Tonight I walked around the house, sprinkling pellets in all the holes I could find.  Under the steps, next to the flowers, under the back porch, and finally around the hole in the fence.  I left the mice poison for next week if this doesn't work.  I'm really hoping it does.  It's not just the garden it's affecting, it's the foundation of the house they're burrowing under and my sanity with the constant chirping and stealing of bird food. 

In other news, I've harvested spinach and broccoli, and most beds are growing great.  I'm having much better luck with the lettuce and spinach than last year, and even sunflowers and squashes are growing great.  We just won't be having beans or peppers this year.  BUMMER.

Ribbons and Bells

Last Sunday we put up fence posts and I tied ribbons and scraps of fabric to them.  I also tied two bells to the ribbons and put a hat on the top of the post.  I'm not crazy, but trying to deter deer and critters.  It seems to be working, I've not had any paw prints in my soil since.  YAY!

I planted my beans all in rows, thinking when they came up it would be so nice.  Guess what?  It didn't last long.  Not all of them came up and I filled in on Wednesday so they're going to be all willy nilly yet again.  I think it's okay though.  The Purple beans are still orderly, and ONE soybean is growing.  Everything else is coming along, potatoes are huge, and the zucchini and cucumbers sprouted this week. 

I've found I don't have much luck with transplanting sprouts, all the spouts I started indoors didn't make it.  I planted seeds where once were sprouts in the garden, and they seem to be doing much better.  I purchased my tomato and pepper plants from Weesies.  Let's hope they do as well as last year!  It's been cold and rainy the last three days, but it's supposed to heat up next week.  Should see some growth then! 

Chipmunks are annoying

Our house is rampant with Chipmunks.  Or "micemunks" as Youngest calls them.  The only good thing about chipmunks is they attract owls.  Except ours are failing miserably because I have yet to see an owl.  So, instead, the chipmunks are burrowing under our house, in the garden beds, and eating my seeds.  They also chirp at all hours and it bugs me. 
I was thinking about having our cousin's kid come over with his pellet gun and shoot them.  But Steve says no.  Also, apparently it's really hard to shoot chipmunks.  Because their small and stealthy and super fast. 
In good news:  My garden (what's left of it) is growing.  The lettuce and spinach is sprouting.  The potatoes are massive.  Half the beans are sprouting.  It's the funnest time when we get to watch everything grow.  Also, our new waterfall sprinkler can water the whole garden so I don't have to use those drip hoses. 
I thought there were deer prints around the garden tonight and I was sad.  Then I realized it was just the neighbor's dogs. 
The three day weekend is upon us and the plan is to power wash and stain the deck, swim in the pool, potty train Youngest and go to the beach.  And clean the house and downstairs closet.  And relax? 
Hopefully. 

Almost there!

I've got two more projects to accomplish; planting the red potatoes, and lying down the straw in the walkways.  Today I finished planting seeds, and set trellises for the cucumbers and morning glories.  I also sprayed weed killer in the walkways so the weeds won't grow through the straw. 
My peas are sprouting, along with the spinach and lettuce.  The butternut squash I transplanted isn't looking too good, but I hope with the warmer weather this week it will pop back up. 
OH! My new hoses came today!  They're little 15 footers and they're really cute.  So, all the irrigation is ready to go!  I can't wait until everything starts sprouting.  I really love the spring and summer most of all. 

Mother's Day

Everything in the garden is prepped and ready to go.  I've got the broccoli plants transplanted and my one Butternut Squash plant who sprouted transplanted.  The girls helped me make nice straight rows of the yukon gold potatoes, and there are even some sprouting in last year's bed!  The lettuce and spinach have yet to sprout, and the peas are growing nicely.
Thursday I ordered some irrigation supplies from Amazon, and I hope they get here before the heat next week.  The plan for Mother's day is to finish planting the seeds, especially beans and peppers, and relax a little bit.  This year I am making demands on Mother's Day.  I am the best mother in this house, therefore I should be able to get what I want on my special day.  I know I won't be receiving presents, but the only gift I want is spending time with my family and being able to do what I want.  Which includes going to lunch and running errands with my Mother-in-Law.  I guess she's important too.  I can't believe it's been four years since my Father-in-law died, I know we will all be thinking of him tomorrow too. 

2012 Season

May is here already, and I am ready for a new gardening season!!  We enjoyed produce through the winter and the squash was delicious on Thanksgiving.  I'm again doubling my garden, adding one 4x4 box and one 3x9 box.  Maybe I'm not doubling it, I'm not good at the maths.  I haven't charted exactly where everything will go, but tonight we filled the new boxes and planted the broccoli sprouts from Weesies.  The pea trellis is up and peas are planted, a couple are sprouting.  Oldest's garden is filled with celery, her choice, and she informed me she was saving her watermelon seeds to plant there too.
Inside, I have seeds sprouting in eggshells.  I saved shells all winter, and they make convenient little pots.  So far I have a butternut squash striving and some butterfly bushes I'm planning on putting in our "Fairy garden."  I'm hoping for some peppers popping up, I'll keep hoping as they haven't yet. 
New this year are 3 blueberry bushes.  I can't remember the varieties.  One is early blooming, one is mid blooming and one is late blooming.  Hopefully we'll have berries because with the crazy spring weather the news is saying all produce will be cut way back this year. 

I still need to figure out how I'm going to irrigate all the beds.  I got a new waterfall sprinkler, it should be pretty useful.  Next week I hope to add the potatoes (a whole box of them!) and get the straw for the mulch walkways.  That will look sooooo nice. 

Garden Favorites

As our season is almost over, I have been thinking about next year (yes, already!) My favorites this year were the potatoes, sunflowers, and nasturtiums. It's funny, I put a large plot of the nasturtiums in, and they got no use. I didn't like the flavor of the leaves, and I didn't use any of the flowers, but they sure brought a smile to my face when I saw them. The flowers are still blooming and the leaves are still green. I even tried pawning them off to people, but apparently no one likes the flavor of the leaves. It's okay, they are keeping my butternut squash company (still only one,) and they bring an alive look to my mostly dying garden plots.
Our sunflower is wilting, but the head is still big and the seeds are very defined. I have a feeling the birds will get most of them, but I can hope they'll save me some.
The potatoes are in a bin in the garage, and I'm saving them for special occasions because they're so delicious. Next year more potatoes are in order, along with some different varieties. The 4x4 box will be full of them!
Today I removed the last of the bean plants, and tilled the tomatoes into the dirt. The cucumber plants are turning very brown, but there's cucs growing and we're still eating them! We were playing with our new camera last week and got the cutest video of our 2 year old explaining the garden. She can't pronounce the hard "c" sound, so she's holding a "twotumber" and says frogs grow in the garden. It's pretty adorable. I'll try to upload it when I figure out how.