Friday, June 11, 2010

Take that, you fat bunny!

For years, I've had a war going on with the bunnies of this Earth.

Bunnies - 1000
Lorna - 0

They've eaten my crops, growing fat and sassy, and nothing I tried would keep them from enjoying a delicious salad, mostly from my tiny tender green bean seedlings.
I tried fencing, I tried moth balls.  I was told to have all my male friends and relatives take a wiz around my garden perimeter.  (Uh, we didn't try that one.)  Nothing worked against stealthful bunnies.

And then my hubby found Plantskydd Repellent for Rabbits and Small Critters.  (Yes, that's honestly what it's called -- critters and all.)  According to their web site:
  • Plantskydd Deer Repellent works by emitting an odor that animals associate with predator activity, repelling the animal before it nibbles on plants. The odor is not unpleasant to the applicator.

Of course, this year we had a problem even BEFORE we could get out the Plantskydd -- and that's getting the beans to actually pop out of the earth.  Years ago, we used to buy our beans by the pound (and usually never more than 4 ounces at a time) from a little farm stand along Route 104 in NY.  But then they stopped selling it that way and we had to revert to seed packages.

This year we bought Ferry-Morse, mostly because that's the only thing that's available around here.  The package says GUARANTEED TO GROW.  And to that I say:  HA!  It has taken four packages of the suckers to before we saw much action.  (From the first package we got one bean; from the second we got nine.  Which is why we're onto packages three and four right now.)

Some years we haven't had enough rain--this year, whoa!  Turn off the sprinkler, God!  The package advises you to soak the beans (which we have always done) for quicker germination.  This year, I think between soaking and Noah's Ark type rain, the beans rotted in the ground.

But now the tiny plants have pushed their first leaves up through the soil, struggling for sunlight, warmth -- and a decided LACK OF BUNNIES!
Once they start climbing, we're out of the woods.  (Except for Japanese Beetles.  I have a running battle with them, too.)  Of course, then I'll have to start worrying about my Brussels Sprouts plants and Mr. Groundhog.  But I have a (hopefully) powerful weapon against him, too.  Mr. Havahart Trap.  (Okay, it wasn't entirely successful last year, but this year I will bait the trap and then call on Officer Animal Control.)

Yup, it's all out (non-violent) war against critters who'd invade my garden.

And how does your garden grow?

5 comments:

  1. I hope you can get a "1" against the bunnies and critters.

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  2. We have the same problem since we live in NE PA just below Binghamton. We own a Havahart too and transplanted a colony of red squirrels who loved our attic. I love the bunnies, etc. though so Dave just has to fight the good fight without me. As for the rain - I can watch the grass grow but can't mow without getting stuck!

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  3. Between having to take meds that state: STAY OUT OF THE SUN as well as knees that scREAm when knelt upon, I've given up on gardening. Shucks, that even means flowers (really hard to plant in the ground while standing up ... in the dark!). So, I watch the squirrels dash around our backyard and nest in the trees.

    One thing that DOES grow in my backyard is pachysandra. Supposedly pachysandra is invasive, needs shade, and humus in the soil. H'mm. I've got TONS of the stuff in my backyard -- almost the entire width of my 60' lot, about 3' deep and another 15' of it around my back patio. It stays in its bed, never had to cut/pull it at all. A large chunk of its bed is in the (nearly) full sun and in the 14 years we've lived here, NONE of it has died or gotten brown. I do absolutely NOTHING to it & I doubt if I could kill it if I tried. In the past, if I tried to grow something, it died. Not this stuff. Oh well, at least it's green .......

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  4. *laughs* *non-violent* war. Sounds like my grandparents a few years ago. Their big problem was the deer though eating Grandma's roses and other flowers.

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  5. Lorna I am home now disabled but my last job was at a Home Improvement Store and I picked up tips from retired people in their 60-80's who had come in for plants and supplies. I had one elderly gent who came in EVERY year to clean us out of papermache Owls that he put atop wood posts surrounding his gardens. And I also had a grandmotherly type who had similiar problems until she ordered by mail plastic windsocks that looked like snakes that she had placed in each row a foot to two above the ground she said the sound and sight of them kept the wildlife & birds away but need more for the current year but unfortunately we didn't carry any.
    Think of these solution they would be quite humane to make your garden safe.

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