Posted on 06/01/2025 5:48:14 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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Hello!
The garden is going great except for one jalapeño that I planted got chewed down to a stub by what must have been a mouse. I saw a mouse tunnel right next to it.
I know there are mice in the garden, i’ve seen them. But I put out some bait blocks and we have owls and foxes around, so that’ll help.
Maybe some mouse traps would be good as well.
Plans for this FIRST day of JUNE:
* Out early to get some flowers planted in the garden
*A deep watering for everything in the garden - heat wave starts
* Monday 88 degrees, Tuesday 80 degrees, 80% rain
*Two Graduation Parties to attend...where do all these kids keep coming from? LOL!
*Still smokey/hazy from the Canadian wildfires. :(
Planted too soon in my zeal: 50 or so Toms largely decimated tomato plants that went in 3 weeks previously, due to 4'' of rain in two days (5-23,24) and with strong winds, and cool temps, and into soil that already had lots of rain (more wet days this month than dry, and rainfall amounts are more than 4″ above average, with more today). After today the forecast looks like the rainy season may be over, thank God. I trimmed off many bad leaves and will see if any can recover.
I did put just a little fertilizer in a mixture of dirt in each hole before I planted seedlings, but I find it hard to believe that would be the reason for this:
(1st pic is from before) 
But these flowers survived well, thank God in all things.
I love columbine!
Aaaahhhh..... yellow columbine.
We have the purple species brought from Colorado decades ago. Locally Columbine is found wild and is red. We have not been successful growing the red species.
Beau has been dealing with a Big Fat Mama Rat in our barn. He got the best of her, yesterday and thinks her offspring have taken the bait as well.
I told him a number of weeks ago, ‘That is NOT just a mouse in the barn!’ That thing was HUGE, and I only caught glimpses of her! Yikes.
The ‘Repels All’ spray is good - smelly when you put it on, but then the critters can smell it and we can’t. You can also make your own spray:
Stay out of my garden!
by Carol Martino
Ingredients:
1 whole Spanish onion
1 jalapeno pepper
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
Directions:
Chop up the onion and the pepper.
Mix and boil in 2 quarts of water for about 20 min.
Let cool, and strain the water through a cheesecloth.
Using a garden sprayer, spray any area outside where wild animals or even neighborhood pets are nuisances. This probably will not work for birds (birds do not have a sense of smell.) This process may have to be carried out for two weeks to ensure success. This mixture is non-toxic, and it will not harm any animal but will succeed in keeping them away.
Link for the spray recipe. More ideas there, as well:
https://centrewildlifecare.org/wildlife-repellent-recipe
In Tijuana, geraniums can become woody and five feet tall.
Poinsettia, too!
When I was on Kauai, HI I couldn’t believe the Amaryllis growing like ditch weeds all over the place.
So interesting to see a plant in it’s native setting when it’s just an annual or a forced bulb where you normally live.
We use something called Top Gun which is not much a poison but has something in it that makes them stop feeding. It works best on mice and won’t on larger critters and is supposed to not be toxic to animals that feed on mice.
Thanks.
Sorry to hear about the jalapeno. Hopefully it’ll re-grow, or maybe you can plant some from seed to replace it. Wish we had owls around here, but I have to rely on the neighborhood cats to keep the mouse population down. Leaving a small bowl of dry food out on the deck for an hour or two in the mornings keeps them coming around.
Now if only they’d find someplace else to use as a litter box . . . Heh. :-)
I bought two on a lark and wondered why since we don’t use them much.
Divine providence, I guess.
June Is Bustin' Out All Over" from RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN'S CAROUSEL (Official Lyric Video)
Of course, I’m thinking flowers, gardens, etc. “bustin’ out all over” ….. I looked up the written lyrics and was surprised: some of the lyrics are surprisingly “frisky”! :-)
By “. . . keeps them coming around”, I of course mean the neighborhood cats, not the mice. (Just had to make sure that point was clear. I’m so anal-retentive) LOL
This afternoon I will spending a lot of time picking up tree debris on our property. We had a terrible storm come through Friday around 6 pm ... tornado warned. My phone went off & I alerted mom to get ready to head for the basement. There WAS a tornado touchdown not that far from us, an EF-0, but it still caused some damage ... destroyed a shed & either damaged or destroyed a barn, plus snapping branches/trees. It wasn’t on the ground long, thank goodness.
My brother, 4 hours away, called shortly after the ‘super cell’ blew through to see if we were ok - he said the hook echo on radar went right across us & he was worried. When the weather service posted the path yesterday, I got on the map to see how close we were .... a couple of miles, but close enough.
After that storm, we had more rain about 2 hours later & then a high wind warning (gusts to 60 mph) until 2:00 am. When the wind is blowing that hard, I don’t sleep so I was awake at 2:30 and the wind was still howling. Yesterday was such a windy day, I couldn’t work outside. Today should be calmer & a nice afternoon.
So I’ll get the ‘ol Gorilla cart, my loppers, & start making the rounds ... no chainsaw needed, but some branches will require loppers to cut them down to size.
The garden did ok in the storm. The dahlias are a little greener since I put on some “Expert Gardener’ Miracle-Gro knockoff fertilizer. Exact same ingredients as MG, but half the price.
Walmart did still have some Calibrachoa on sale for $2 ... bought 2. No blooms, so I don’t know what color they will be, but the foliage looks healthy. My twin washtub stand needs painting & then I can plant them in the tubs - should look great & three things I love (besides the pretty flowers): no deadheading, bloom all summer, deer resistant.
Happy June 1 everybody!
I figured that. 😊
I started my tomatoes from seed in March, as usual. @May 15 they go in the ground when night time temps don’t go too low. I need mulch to keep the weeds down and didn’t want to buy several bales of $11/bale straw. So I used last falls leaves I had composting.I don’t know if that’s a good thing or bad. I used semi=wet leaves for mulch and then topped it off with one bale spread out over the lot of them. If I’ve used leaves in the past for mulch, I don’t remember it because my memory ain’t all that.
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