In the early spring, we had quite a time with some regular visitor to our garden. Every night, the rabbits came out and helped themselves to anything they wanted. The nerve of those wascally wabbits!
I never did get any early beans to grow. Most of them sprouted, but by the time they put out their second set of leaves, "something" (probably the rabbits) ate them down to just a stem.
But eventually, the rabbits stopped coming into the garden, and we got a few things to grow. Even when the weather turned hot and dry, I was able to keep a few things watered, including the okra, lima beans and sweet potatoes. The Cherokee Purple tomatoes were still trying to make, and the purple hull peas put on a second crop even without much water. We managed to beat the raccoons to the corn this year too.
Then the fall visitors came.
I had noticed that something was eating down the big patch of Morning Glory vines that were growing out by the brush pile. I figured it was deer but thought it was odd that I never saw any deer poo anywhere.
It turned out to be a groundhog (Marmota monax)! The little guy (or gal) had moved in under the brush pile and apparently came out when no one was around and helped himself to as many of the tender green leaves as he wanted!
I didn't mind him eating the Morning Glory leaves. They had entirely taken over that area, and were choking out the Spider Flowers (Cleomes spp.). But then he ate most of my Lizard's Tail (Saururus cernuus) and Ditch Stonecrop (Penthorum sedoides). That wasn't very nice of him. And when he had nibbled those plants down to the stems, he went looking for more and found something wonderful...our garden!
He's not one bit shy anymore. He has started coming out in the middle of the day and helping himself, starting first with the overripe tomatoes, then stealing all of the green tomatoes, now pulling down the still green lima beans. I've never had any dealings with a groundhog before, but I'm quite certain from watching him out the window that they can be quite destructive to a garden. If he doesn't move on by next spring, he will be something we have to figure out how to deal with. Mo would really, really, really like to help us out with that problem!
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| Our little groundhog friend, eating the green lima bean pods like no one is anywhere around. |
As the heat and drought of summer really took hold, the deer came. And who could blame them? When all the plants around you are dry and crunchy, I guess it would be quite the treat to find some leaves that are still a little bit green!
Last year was the first year we ever had a problem with deer in our garden. We learned from experience last year that they can decimate the garden in one night, browsing their way through row after row, leaving nothing but stems. To try to save some of the garden, I bought one set of Wireless Deer Fence posts (one set contains three posts). I can personally testify that the posts can give quite a zap, since I have accidentally touched the electrodes two different times!
I set up the game camera hoping to get some video of the posts in action. Unfortunately, so far it looks like the deer have ignored the posts. Maybe I need to replace the attractant again? Anyway, they have now eaten almost all the leaves off the three "good" crops left at the west end of the garden, and so far, they haven't shown any interest in the deer posts (you can see one of them about two feet to the left of the deer eating my sweet potatoes).
I guess the okra will be done now that the deer have eaten what few big leaves were still on the plants. The plants look kind of pitiful...just bit stems standing in a row with a few yellow blooms here and there. The deer have not yet eaten all of the sweet potato leaves, and I hope that even if they do the plants are far enough along that we'll get a few potatoes from them. I think they've started nibbling on the late green beans though, so we may not get any green beans.
It's past time to set out the broccoli and brussels sprouts, but something ate them almost down to the stems already, so I'm not sure it's even worth the trouble. But I guess I'll give them a try anyway. I'll put them somewhere closer to the house, and use cages around them so maybe the groundhog and the deer won't get them. Same with the late green peas...I hope that some wire will protect them from my visitors.
I'm sure our visitors all enjoy the garden as much as we do, but at this point, I'm going to have to say they've worn out their welcome.