View from the deck on a glorious morning in early June.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Varmints

I could cry. Really. There seems to be no end to it. I must have lost 20% of potential snow pea harvest already, and every day brings more bitten-off plants. The stinky spray stopped working. Some plants were bitten through higher up the stem.

 I do believe we have figured out what caused it, and it is bad news. Gophers are even worse than voles. (We still have those too).

Yesterday I was turning on the tap that sits right in front of the old house, and this big fat radiantly healthy-looking rodent got startled from underneath the old house and ran past me. It looked like a gopher.

This afternoon I was planting more onions around everything, supposedly obnoxious to varmints, when I noticed a swaying movement out of the corner of my eye. I was just in time to see a big rodent halfway up a Bok Choy plant that had gone to seed, at the edge of the pea bed. That explains the higher-up bites. Down below it stinks but higher up the stems are sweet and juicy. They are starting on another patch of peas as well.

It is almost funny but I am not amused. This is a lot of work. I love it, but one does want to see results! My mental health is quite invested in the ability to grow at least some food.

 Perhaps one needs animal helpers to garden after all. I am beginning to understand the importance of irritating little dogs that dig things up.

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