Friday, May 19, 2006
Evildoers in my Garden
I have some evildoers in my garden. They might look cute and furry to some, but to me they are the enemy because they are creating havok in my garden.
The squirrels are the least offensive, but they do annoy when they dig up things that I have just planted. They also love to bury seeds in various places, and I have random tree seedlings that need to be pulled up everywhere.
The chipmunks like to create tunnels in my yard and flower beds. They also annoy when they are chirping very loudly outside my window at 6 in the morning when I am trying to sleep in. They used to actually squeeze underneath the siding of my house outside my kitchen. That freaked me out as I imagined them wandering around in my walls. Since I was traumatized by actual racoons living in my walls when I was a child, I found some expanding foam and tried to close up any place they might squeeze in. It has created an unsightly look on the side of the house, that I still can't clean up properly, but at least I am not sharing my home with these noisy creatures.
By far the most evil creature is the rabbit. Yes, they are just animals trying to find something to eat, but must they eat my most favorite plants! I know that they like grass and weeds. We could peacefully co-exist in my yard, if they would stick to that diet. I saw 2 baby rabbits eating the grass in my yard several times, and I let them be, hoping I wouldn't regret it later.
I did regret it. After a week of not being out in my garden because of rain, I checked things out and discovered this (click on it to see larger image):
Some plants were chewed down to the ground, and may not recover. Earlier this week, I actually caught one of the baby rabbits in the act of eating a plant. I was so angry when I saw that, I ran outside screaming and chased it away. The rest of the week was spent looking out my windows spying, and then trying to chase the rabbits away. The problem is that I chase them out of the front yard and they go into the back yard, and then vice versa. I end up literally running in circles to keep them out.
I know chasing is not really going to work, because I cannot run around my house all day and night long. They do most of the damage in the evening. So, I found something called "Liquid Fence". It is truly foul smelling when you apply it (kind of like fish sauce multiplied by 10), but the smell fades in a day. Supposedly the rabbits can still smell it later. It does need to be reapplied, but is supposed to hold up in the rain. We will see. I did my dance with the rabbits again after I had applied it, but so far I haven't caught them in the flowers, just in the grass. As I've said, I'm willing to compromise, and let them eat my grass, if they will leave the good plants alone!
The squirrels are the least offensive, but they do annoy when they dig up things that I have just planted. They also love to bury seeds in various places, and I have random tree seedlings that need to be pulled up everywhere.
The chipmunks like to create tunnels in my yard and flower beds. They also annoy when they are chirping very loudly outside my window at 6 in the morning when I am trying to sleep in. They used to actually squeeze underneath the siding of my house outside my kitchen. That freaked me out as I imagined them wandering around in my walls. Since I was traumatized by actual racoons living in my walls when I was a child, I found some expanding foam and tried to close up any place they might squeeze in. It has created an unsightly look on the side of the house, that I still can't clean up properly, but at least I am not sharing my home with these noisy creatures. 
By far the most evil creature is the rabbit. Yes, they are just animals trying to find something to eat, but must they eat my most favorite plants! I know that they like grass and weeds. We could peacefully co-exist in my yard, if they would stick to that diet. I saw 2 baby rabbits eating the grass in my yard several times, and I let them be, hoping I wouldn't regret it later. I did regret it. After a week of not being out in my garden because of rain, I checked things out and discovered this (click on it to see larger image):
Some plants were chewed down to the ground, and may not recover. Earlier this week, I actually caught one of the baby rabbits in the act of eating a plant. I was so angry when I saw that, I ran outside screaming and chased it away. The rest of the week was spent looking out my windows spying, and then trying to chase the rabbits away. The problem is that I chase them out of the front yard and they go into the back yard, and then vice versa. I end up literally running in circles to keep them out.
I know chasing is not really going to work, because I cannot run around my house all day and night long. They do most of the damage in the evening. So, I found something called "Liquid Fence". It is truly foul smelling when you apply it (kind of like fish sauce multiplied by 10), but the smell fades in a day. Supposedly the rabbits can still smell it later. It does need to be reapplied, but is supposed to hold up in the rain. We will see. I did my dance with the rabbits again after I had applied it, but so far I haven't caught them in the flowers, just in the grass. As I've said, I'm willing to compromise, and let them eat my grass, if they will leave the good plants alone!
// posted by Lisa @ 11:08 AM 
