I have three raised beds for my vegetable garden. All three beds have chicken wire on the bottom to keep out the gophers.
I had a beautiful tomato plant with large, green tomatoes getting ready to ripen. Also in the box was a squash, some sad cantaloupe and my volunteer pumpkins from last year's Halloween decorations. The tomato plant was the star of the show, a real beauty and all was going well, or so I thought.
Than I noticed the pile of dirt next to the box. A gopher was trying to storm the defenses. I laughed, challenging him to break through and seize my tender vegetables.And then the little rat b#$%^*d did it. He got in my raised bed.
I looked over my deck one night to see a good chunk of my tomato plant disappearing down a gopher hole. I'm also pretty sure he gave me the gopher finger.When I went down to see what I could salvage, the planter bed had so many holes, it looked like Swiss cheese. My big, lush tomato plant had been bitten off at the stalk, never to rise again. Since then, all but the pumpkins and the cilantro have disappeared. I expect the pumpkins to follow soon. I'm surprised the cilantro is still there and he hasn't pulled it down his hole to make salsa.The other two garden boxes are holding, for the moment. As soon as the pumpkins die, or get devoured, and the heat passes, this box is getting moved and I'm going to build a small patio in its place. However, before I head to Home Depot, there is just one thing I want to know.
Who sold that little rodent the blow torch?
If you suffer from gophers, then take a break with one of my books because there are no gophers in my stories. www.Georgie-Lee.com
9 comments:
That's terrible!! Our problem here is the squirrels, they eat and steal anything. They also like to ride our float in the pool, trample about on the tin porch roof and frankly, they hump like rabbits....it's ridiculous.
Aw, I'm sorry to hear about the gophers. We have a lot of gophers around here where I live too. But it usually doesn't concern me since my dog chases anything that moves and also due to the fact that we don't grow anything in the backyard. Hope everything works out for you.
I hate to laugh, we have a chipmunk/large beetle issue over here, but those pictures are HILARIOUS! My sister is a big fan of chili powder to keep the critters away. It didn't work w/the beetles in our herb garden though :(
I like the chili powder suggestions. I might have to try it.
will try your chili powder suggestions. Stopping by from THE Collective Social Blog Hop to say hi. Thank you for linking up. Have a fabulous day!
xo,
Janise
http://MamaInHeels.com
Visiting from the Hump Day Blog Hop! Wishing you a gopher free garden! Hope you will visit my blog and share something your thankful for!
Linda Davidson
http://www.sharingthanks.blogspot.com
I wonder what they'd do if you planted something spicy...like habeneros? :) I planted a garden this spring; between the birds, the bunnies, and the ants, only 1 sad little cucumber tried to sprout. Then the extreme heat killed it. My first attempt at gardening in Arizona aka the face of the sun.
Thank you for linking up with the Humor Me! Blog Hop!!!
hahahah - that happened to me too this year, only I didn't put in the chicken wire.
Durn critter snipped my Early Girl tomato right off at the stem.
Popped by from ISBMTF hop.
thriftshopcommando.blogspot.com
We live in the country, and if it weren't for our 14 cats, we would have serious trouble with gophers. They keep the population down. I am following you from the blog hop.
http://mydevotionalthoughts.net
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