I worked hard this week to get everything in the ground, and now no rain for 10 days , temps near 90, me away most of the time, depending on hubby and sons to water, and they don’t know exactly what or where....
This year I have a deer fence as yet unbreached.
Waiting for the little censored cutworms to get to work, hoping the collars and diatomaceous earth stop them. Next comes squash borer, I had good luck in the past with Tetsukobuto, got that and Tromboncino from Pinetree, customers swear by both.
Then the birds after the berries, oh Coopers hawks, come back to me, the only good year was when you nested in the pine trees.
The cats go out at night and kill mice and voles, but the chipmunks go out during the day and eat tomatoes. Although they are scarce this year, knock on wood.
There was a groundhog burrow inside my garden fence.
You know when I pick peaches? Before they ripen, when the squirrels are after them. Then it’s monitoring them for fruit flies.
Why do vegetarians think their diet is nice to animals? You have to fight off all manner of critters to get a meal, let alone actually feed people.
Heartwood!
Cutworms...parasitic nematodes?
Ground hog!
https://www.foodrepublic.com/recipes/braised-groundhog-recipe/
Dollar store...Get bags of fleer bubble gum to feed to the chipmunks and squirrels....Gum goes in, but does not come out. (And you will not Kill your coopers hawk with poisoned chipmunks!)
(Not sure how this will work if you have nearby woods...I am in a suburb with a limited number of trees.)
See:
They sell something like this for about $1 at the dollar store around the 4th of July. Get some red and silver ones, leave them in the concrete base, or pull them out and put them in poles around your berries and see if they scare the birds while they flutter in the breeze.
The explanation given is that the shimmering is like fire and the birds avoid it. I have had good luck with them so far.!) Worth a try!
good luck
Hahahahaha! YES! This is real life gardening to feed yourself kind of stuff.