Little Tomato Thief

 

"Do you need me to build a fence around your raised bed garden ? " Rob asked.  "No" I said . "The only thing interested in my garden last year was the flea beetles and that won't keep them out.  Nothing else seems to have the slightest interest in my little garden".

And somewhere in the woods, all the little chipmunks cheered.  But I didn't hear them.

When the three lined potato beetles arrived and began eating my tomatillo plants I looked it up online, and then began diligently removing the larvae that were decimating the leaves. I scraped them off (did you know they cover themselves in their own excrement to deter predators? Well it deterred me too at first).  I dumped them and any adult beetle I could find into a container of hot soapy water.  I then sprayed my plants with a bit of soapy water just to make sure.

It took a couple of weeks, but eventually I seemed to be making headway. I was pretty pleased with my efforts.

Then one morning this week I was on my way out for a nice relaxing walk and stopped for a quick check on my garden. I was more than dismayed to see part of a big lovely green tomato lying in the garden bed, with half of it chewed away.  I assumed it might be deer, so thought I might have to put up a trail cam later in the day to make sure, and maybe a solar power motion detector light to deter them.  I tossed the tomato out and went for my walk.

On my return I decided to check around the garden to see if there were any deer tracks. There were no tracks at all.  There was however, the remains of another chewed tomato lying in state.   Not to mention a cute little chipmunk playing hide and seek in amongst the tomato plants.  I clapped my hands and made hissing noises but it just hid behind the tomato plant leaves, now lying all broken in a heap.

So I looked up "do chipmunks eat tomatoes? "  Well yes they do.  Not the whole tomato of course, just parts of it before moving on to removing and chewing on the next one.

"They are just thirsty" said one person in an online gardening forum.  So I kindly filled a ceramic dish with water for it, and placed it nearby.

Hmmm... but now there were three more tomatoes lying in state.

"Place ground up cayenne pepper around the plants"  was the next suggestion.  I used Jalapeño powder instead as I had lots of that available. I sprinkled it on the soil, and for good measure, all around the perimeter of the garden.

A short while later there were two more half eaten tomatoes now lying in plain view.

"Sprinkle used coffee grounds around your plants " was the next suggestion.  So I scraped out the grounds from the morning coffee filter, and spread them all around the tomato stems.  As the sun hit the soil, I could smell the grounds. "Yay" I thought.

A quick check an hour later and there were more chewed up tomatoes, and now some of the cherry tomatoes were added to the pile.

"Spray a mix of garlic and cayenne chiles that have been steeped in water" was the next suggestion.  So I boiled up some Ghost peppers, (I'm not messing around any more !) and some garlic in two cups of water. I strained it, let it cool, poured it into a spray bottle, donned safety glasses and gloves and sprayed the tomatoes, leaves, soil and for good measure the wooden planter sides too.  I washed my hands well afterwards just in case!  (20 years in the chile business taught me that !)

I was beginning to wonder why it was that all these people even thought that chipmunks actually have a sense of smell ?  And why would they think that chipmunks specifically don't like the smell of garlic, or chile peppers ? There were no large tomatoes down the next morning, but the cherry tomatoes were definitely now next on the chipmunk hit list. 

"Cat hair on the soil works every time" was the next suggestion. I brushed our sweet old cat and prepared to scatter cat hair all around the base. By now the garden needed water, so I watered the garden and reapplied coffee grounds and sprayed more chile pepper/garlic infused water on everything, and then carefully placed cat hair all around.

For a couple of hours there is no activity, but of course just when I think I have been successful, more chewed up tomatoes appear. 

"Electric fence" is Rob's suggestion.  After I calm down, I learn that he doesn't mean to electrocute them, but that we can devise one as a deterrent.  I am not convinced that we can accurately figure out what sort of electric current would scare them without harming them so I go off to the store and buy Irish Spring soap instead. It was the latest suggestion in that gardening forum. For some reason I feel a need to tell the cashier it's not for me.  "It's for the chipmunks" I think of saying, but somehow that doesn't sound right so I keep quiet.  

I carve the soap up into small pieces, scatter some around the plants, rub it into the wooden planter sides, and place more pieces of it around the perimeter, and wait.  

Twenty four hours later, the garden appears to be untouched.  All I can smell in the area now is Irish Spring Soap though.

I keep garden notes each year to remind myself of successes and failures.  I'm hopeful this last attempt is a success but I don't have high hopes. Regardless though I am already designing next year's garden to include a fence. Not an electric one, just a fence. Hardware cloth has been the most frequent suggestion.

I check back on the gardening forum.  There is one more suggestion.  "Take $50 and go buy tomatoes from a local farmer's market for the rest of the summer.  And enjoy your cute little chipmunk".

They are awfully cute, aren't they ? 

Gardening in the woods

As we walk the new road every day we can see that the woods will slowly come back to the edges where we pushed it back. Already we are happy to see that there are ferns and some other plants pushing their way back up through the soil.  I’ve been doing some reading on native wildflower species and have ordered some seeds that we can plant this fall. Hopefully next year then, we will see some colour from such plants as sweet cicely, meadowsweet, cinquefoil, wild bergamot, and my favourite black-eyed susans – just to name a few! I have also read that it's fine to go gather up some seeds from native plants growing wild in the area, as long as you only take a few to allow the plants to keep spreading their own seed. So I am driving around with an eye on the roadsides. I need to learn a lot more about identifying plants though.

 

These I know! Milkweed and asters. I will gather some of the aster seeds and scatter them for sure as I love them. The milkweed seems to spread well enough on it's own. I always had milkweed in my garden at home, as a benefit for the monarch butterflies, and someone would always tell me I had weeds in my garden. Well no more I guess, the milkweed plants are everywhere here, and now I can enjoy them just as much as the monarchs do. I have a whole new woodland garden now!

I couldn’t resist planting a few non-native daffodil bulbs as well at the entrance to our road.  Being the national Welsh flower, we absolutely have to have some here of course. Reading the instructions to plant at least 6 inches deep, soon had me muttering that CLEARLY these were not native to this area.  We are on a limestone base here, and my trowel would barely go an inch into the soil before striking roots and rock. All the while I was also trying to avoid the poison ivy that thrives here. We shall see if anything comes up in the spring.

 

These look like small rocks but they aren't. The ones at the back were about the limit of what I could carry. I put them there so that Rob won't get the idea to drive his tractor in here and smooth things out!  The daffodils will come up around the rocks and should look pretty.  The package says that the deer won't eat them, but I'm not convinced. If they do, they do, I'll just have to learn what works and what doesn't.

Walking along the edge of the road this week too, it is pretty clear that fall is really here.  We like to walk deep into the woods in the fall, as the poison ivy isn't quite as likely to get you then. I'm happy to say it is now turning red, and easy to spot. 

I like the idea of "gardening" here. It means doing very little, with little maintenance.  Just walk along and enjoy the natural beauty of the woods and what it provides.  We will however try to get a veggie garden going next year, and that one will require a bit more work!

My camera is still not back from repair. Which is too bad, as Rob and I were standing at the river’s edge this weekend, and Rob looked up and quietly said “look, an eagle”.  It is only the second time we have ever seen one in Ontario! The next day, I stood at the edge, thinking I wouldn’t be likely to see one again, when an osprey flew by. Rob has seen osprey here before, but I hadn’t so that was a treat. Still no photo though. I can’t wait to get my camera back.

I have noticed that the numbers of birds are dwindling, as they slowly leave the area to head south. I haven't seen any hummingbirds at the feeder the last few days. No sign of the phoebe, or robins. The blue jays and woodpeckers are busy though. Walking along the road the air was suddenly full of woodchips, and I spotted a small woodpecker working pretty hard at the hole in the tree. Not a great shot, but you can kind of see the chips are flying!

 

I get comments on this blog that we are really busy. I suppose we are but I think it’s all relative. Working 24/7 at our business was busy. Here, we try to take time every day to give Jet a good play time, and we walk a lot. I go out with my old camera at least once a day for a good long walk, and spend time every day down by the river. I love to inch my way out on the rocks at the side of the river and look downstream. The mergansers hang out here a lot, and while I was standing here, the osprey flew overhead again.  There are two kingfishers that swoop up and down along here.  I watch the turkey vultures, the crows, and the ravens.  There are a least 4 herons that fish here too.

 

 

And every night we try to just sit and relax and listen to music. Last night it dipped below zero so we curled up on the couch and had the woodstove going, and I have it on now too. It’s not all hard work !!

Next week is the Madawaska studio tour so we are going to visit Tim Storey’s studio. We have a teapot from him that was Rob’s birthday gift from me 2 years ago, so we are really looking forward to meeting Tim. There is also a place that specializes in off-the-grid and solar options that are having an open house so we shall go there as well, as it is on the way.

Isn't this a great teapot?

Well, I had a totally different post in mind, all about our plans, and how the building aspect was going, but this went in a different direction. I think it was prompted by one of our flags that hangs in the trees at the side of the road.

It's little blurry - the flags are almost always moving. But it says, Life is not a race but a journey to be savored each step of the way. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift.

It was supposed to rain today, but the sun shone brilliantly. We popped out for what may be the last trip to the french fry van this season. Had a nice walk in the crisp air. Enjoyed a sweet apple from a local apple farm.  Now I am snug in front of the wood stove, and Rob is up working on the shed putting in a door.  Time to plan some dinner, maybe go a walk.  A great gift of a day.