For Andy, when we were foolish enough to have an outside garden up on the land, it was gophers and ground squirrels. We were happy to share, but they wanted everything. One cheeky ground squirrel would chatter at us if we spent too long in his garden. Eventually he would rush in and start eating in a part of the garden away from us. Then there was the day that we were looking at the garden from outside of it and we saw a plant get sucked into the ground before our very eyes. Andy grabbed a stake and rushed into kill that blasted critter doing it.
He didn’t. It was hopeless, and we had to give up the idea of an outside garden. That’s why we have our greenhouse.
April 16, 2025
Over here it is also pigeons and birds … and cats leaving presents everywhere.
God bless.
🙂
The perils of growing a garden. Several years ago I planted tomato and pepper plants. The next day I went out to find all the plants chewed down to nothing. I planted more only to have it happen again. That’s when I gave up.
Yes, that’s the way it works some times. 🙂
I remember that plant disappearing! Boy was it green up there back then… We are having a fight with a bird right now (a wren?) who wants to build a nest in our screened in porch. We keep trying to explain this isn’t a good idea with Zoe…
🙂
…I’m not a fan of rabbits
We don’t have many up there now. We had gazillions after the 2011 fire, but then the coyotes came back.
There’s always some critters who are looking for food–rabbits, gophers, voles, ground squirrels, deer, mice, a wide assortment of insects. A greenhouse is an excellent idea. 🙂
Yes, it was the right solution.
My childhood home had a sour cherry tree, which my mom appreciated for making pies. She was furious when the ** birds took a bite out of each cherry, leaving her none.
Nina
Yes! That’s the way birds do it. 🙁
When I had a large garden we fenced it to keep the hungry beasts out. We don’t have gophers, so that wasn’t a problem. I found chard was a particular favorite for some snacking!
What kind of fence did you have? Our chicken wire wasn’t enough to do it.
I knew there was a good reason not to garden!
Yes! 🙂
When I was five years old, we moved into house with huge garden. All we ever successfully harvested were black raspberries and cherries. We ate the raspberries in a bowl of milk. Mom and Grandma made jelly from the cherries if we picked them fast enough before the birds ate them. Good stuff! The only thing I have successfully gown was cherry tomatoes in pots on our deck. I ate so many I got sick. I still have to ration myself when it comes to tomatoes.
I love cherry tomatoes and years ago we grew them in pots.
OH, those squirrels and rabbits prevent me from having a nice veggie garden too. I have resorted to one potted tomato plant on the deck. Our ring camera caught a naughty raccoon on the deck one night eating ALL the tomatoes. That really upset me.
I know what you mean!
I’m glad he didn’t kill it. I can only imagine the cute critter invaders there.
I’m he didn’t too. The greenhouse was the right way to go.
HA! The critters often win.
Yes. 🙂
Oh… This so reminded me of the year I worked so hard planting tulips. The rabbits ate every single one of them and I never saw a bloom. lol…made me laugh
We grow daffodils because the critters don’t like them. It’s a good compromise.
Gardens are HARD – the greenhouse sounds wonderful!
Yes, ours was a lot of work.
LOL! Hey, critters have to eat too, y’know.
Yes, and we decided we weren’t going to work that hard to feed them. 🙂
We ended up having something in the yard last year that ate our watermelons and pumpkins.
It can be frustrating.