Sunday, September 07, 2008

Dirty Tales from the Garden - Critters

My garden is not protected by a fence.

It is in the middle of a yard that is freely shared by a busy family of squirrels, bunnies big and small, a wandering neighborhood cat, the occasional deer, and birds of all shapes and sizes.

Last year I had a real challenge with something eating my peppers and tomatoes before I had a chance to get to them. I would find them laying in the yard with a big bite taken out of them.

I also noticed large swatches of the early leaves of my Black Eyed Susans that would be nibbled to the ground.

But this year I have not had any problems. The Black Eyed Susans were unmolested, the volunteer sunflowers grew big and strong and un-nibbled, and my carrot patch has even escaped the tummies of the hungry bunnies.

Only ONE item has come up missing...
One jalapeƱo pepper.
The first one to ripen - it went missing the day before I was planning to harvest it.
And I did not find it laying in the yard.

My guess is someone went home with a burning mouth and tummyache and spread the word to all the other critters... "hey, that lady's garden is dangerous - you better stay away"

Better than any fence. And much tastier!

1 comment:

Jill said...

he he. i've heard that sprinkling some kind of mix with cayenne pepper on the leaves helps too, seems like you just bypassed the mix! he he!