Every pestilence for miles around has claimed this land as theirs.
This is MINE - I have a deed to prove it. Nothing will be shared with a bunch of thieving freeloaders.
Rabbits, armadillos, and groundhogs have arrived en mass. Rabbits nibble seedlings, greens, and carrots. They aren't aggressive but multiply rapidly. Groundhogs are voracious eaters and can strip a garden in a few hours. While they graze, they raise their heads to watch the house for any movement in the windows. Armadillos dig holes looking for bugs, slugs, and worms. They don't eat the plants but uproot them. An opossum samples the compost pile on occasion but since it behaves and stays out of the garden, it is allowed to frolic ad nauseam.
We are fighting back. Every gate has been boarded over or slammed shut. The welcome mat has been rolled up. This is war.
The plants don't cooperate either. A spaghetti squash has become wedged in between the fence links. I bent the wires apart so the small squash could have space to grow.
This picture was taken only two days later after a drenching rain. It had grown so much that I had to stretch the wires apart even further.
The fence has only been partially successful. Real success would require an eight-foot tall fence (to stop jumping deer) topped with razor wire (to obstruct climbing raccoons) covered with a net (to keep out crows) buried two feet deep (to block digging moles) and must be charged with a thousand volts of electricity because, well, why not. I'm dreaming. What we have works well until they find a small opening or dig underneath.
A solar-powered motion detector alarm strapped to a lawn chair sounds a warning in the house when something approaches. It makes Scooter bark so that makes it a double alarm. Then a 100 LED wide angle super bright motion detector shines a spotlight when something has breached the fence (We bought it to go in the parking area of the driveway for evening visitors. They complained of suddenly being blinded). Groundhogs feast in the afternoons, rabbits at sundown and on into the night, and armadillos prefer midnight to 3:00 am. Getting a good night's sleep has not been possible.
As for what is still in the garden, my Orange Icicle Tomatoes have once again surprised me. They had a sudden burst of growth and put forth a bounty of ripe tomatoes as their leaves shriveled up.
Then as if on cue, altogether they all died. Last year the same thing happened but I thought it was because of the twelve inches of rain that fell in one day. Not so. After working hard all summer doing over twice the work of any other tomato, they collapsed from exhaustion. I can relate.
Next year I will not plant sweet potatoes under them but instead, put something that finishes early. Then everything can be ripped up and a winter garden started.
As of today, the leaves are gone. The sweet potato vines below along with the Lima bean vines on the side arch are taking over the empty space.
After a slow start, the okra plants are finally producing abundantly. The beans below have almost finished. Growing them together worked well except when picking beans. The leaves smacked my face and itched. Nothing major, just being picky. Next year I might try something different. Melons might work since they are harvested early. Or perhaps a fast green bean that finishes before the plants are tall or maybe a late shelly bean that will not be harvested until fall.
This month planting the winter garden seeds began. This crop of white plastic spoons are sprouting all over the garden.
Additional fencing has been thrown up temporarily to block every entrance.
It has made walking, weeding, mowing, and weed-eating difficult.
The winter squash beside the yard has overtopped the fence. Good luck finding anything wedged in there.
A single armadillo can dig twenty to thirty holes a night in my garden.
Twelve-inch landscaping stakes previously used on the winter hoop houses are now used to secure the bottom of the fence.
The wax melon has finally awakened and started growing. It is trying to climb up the Jag Kale plant and is spreading out in all directions. I guess that is normal?
This morning it had the very first bloom.
On to the back corral fence. Only one squash vine borer was caught in any of the traps this year. They came from a different company and I won't purchase from them anymore. The vines are Zucchino Rampicante, (vining zucchini) which is a moschata variety. They are just now maturing since they were planted so late. The yellow squash and zucchini have failed...again.
Bill is winning this battle against the invaders. He gets up all hours of the night to shine a light off the back deck or to walk out to the garden. It isn't easy but is necessary if we want to have food. Gardening is tough.
