Peter Rabbit To My Farmer McGregor
Oh, the cute little cottontail has found my garden.
*&#%$
@#$#%. $^*#@.
Was out showing a family friend the neatly mulched and weeded beds (and the ones that are a mess of violets and overcrowding) when I noticed that the beet bed was raided. Three quarters of the two-inch tall beets (just growing their second set of leaves) were gone. Just moments before, as we walked up from my in-laws house, I saw a big (read: stuffed on tender, young beets), brown bunny bounding away from the far end, into the so-called field behind the yard—a mess of overgrowth from bulldozing two years ago, and stalled construction.
Beets. GONE.
It’s such a challenge to not get discouraged in the garden. I threw some fencing over the bed to protect the few remaining sprouts, and will try to get out there to re-seed tonight.
Making a survey of the other beds in the drizzle, I see that almost all of the bean plants have a beetle problem, that still only 2 summer squash have germinated and one of them is turning yellow. Three of the six Raspberry canes appear to be dead as a doornail. But the peas are flowering.
I guess I need to ask my in-laws if they mind us putting up a fence around the garden. That will at least eliminate the battle with the four-footed creatures who have realized that the neighborhood buffet serves more than simple white lawn clover.
Technorati Tags: garden, pests, organic gardening
"Autumn is the eternal corrective. It is ripeness and color and a time of maturity; but it is also breadth, and depth, and distance. What man can stand with autumn on a hilltop and fail to see the span of his world and the meaning of the rolling hills that reach to the far horizon?"
~Hal Borland
June 4th, 2007 at 5:37 am
ohhh my!!! Did you find his blue jacket at least???
June 4th, 2007 at 8:00 am
I feel your pain. I was walking around my garden last night after the rains came through and was H.O.R.R.I.F.I.E.D. to see a fresh pile of deer ‘raisin’ at the garden’s edge….
June 4th, 2007 at 8:46 am
I think turnabout is fair play here, Mr. Rabbit needs to end up simmering in wine.
June 4th, 2007 at 8:55 am
I had the same problem. The heirloom tomotoes I had so carefully started inside, moved to the garden, then EATEN by the cottontails!
June 4th, 2007 at 11:21 am
Must be the year for wildlife. Not only did something eat the seedlings I had on the porch waiting to be taken out to the fenced garden, but the neighborhood foxes have had chicken dinner. Again. I had 19 hens a week ago. Now there are 9. Staying in the coop until we figure out what to do.
I keep thinking that I can’t get made at a critter for being a critter, but…….
June 4th, 2007 at 11:33 am
coming in a few days late but still want to comment…..I am so glad you went to the dr and had the nasty tests and THRILLED your results were negative. Now on to take care of your digestion….any relief yet? Have you been taking the probiotics?
June 4th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
I was wondering what you were doing about critters.
I’m think Steven has the right idea. Row covers and, tonight, Rabbit with Rosemary and White Wine, Marcella Hazan’s recipe.
June 5th, 2007 at 1:20 am
It’s all fun and games until someone gets a rabbit in the garden.
Looking forward to the recap of your potential Glen Close impersonation.
June 5th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Crap. Double Crap. That is so dispiriting!! I’ve been lucky so far this year, but that reminds me of the time Max (when he was 18 months old) pulled out every carrot seedling I had planted when I wasn’t looking. I almost cried. I couldn’t cook him up with white wine and rosemary because I’m a vegetarian, but I had to try not to be angry with him. He was just a baby. But those carrots…
I hope you can rig something up to protect them from the hopping critter.
What can one do to deal with bean beetles besides pesticides?
June 5th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Heh, Lila pulled out all of my eggplants two years ago. Forty plants! Five varieties! Little weasel.
Not sure I have the stuff for doing the rabbit for dinner…
Rotenone Pyrethrins is an “organic” spray. It’s still a pesticide, but safe to eat the food after a day or 2. Short term problem solving though, the key is to achieve soil balance, which will take a few more years, I’m sure.
July 9th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
[…] Remember that rabbit problem? I haven’t seen any around lately, and the chard hasn’t been touched by anyone […]