Thursday, March 24, 2011

Woodchucks


Happy spring to all! (My daughter in MA was startled yesterday to hear I had been shoveling snow.) I was happy this morning after I went out first thing to peer into the wall-of-waters at my babies. The tomatoes are fine! Even the ones covered with snow inside an open WOW seemed to be basically happy.

Meanwhile, the pac choi has germinated with wild abundance. I don't seem to be able to practice moderation in scattering seeds. I expect there to be a continuing supply of 3-packs of pac choi on the right side of my steps until they are too big to transplant. Having given away 27 celery seedlings from indoors, I still have an uncountable number of celery seedlings. They grow very slowly, so I will continue to put out 3-packs of them for a long time on the left side. Notice they are in alphabetical order: celery on the left, pac choi on the right. You are welcome to both, but might like to know what you are raising!

Meanwhile, not ALL is well in the garden. I had a wonderful day Sunday socially and physically, but I didn't go out to the garden until dinner time to make preparations for the precipitation predicted the next day. Oh, my! My collards were nipped to the stem. I should be enjoying collards this week! WHAHH!!!

The kale was also gone except for the stems, but I have great lettuce inside, so that's only slightly sad. The lettuce, which had miraculously survived all winter under floating cover, was gone, but that had been an unexpected treat anyway.

Most surprising, "someone" had chewed away at the Chinese cabbage in my cold frame, the first time that has ever happened. I closed the frame, of course, which is fine in this weather. There is probably enough there for us, but what should have been our major annual donation to Toni's Kitchen was eaten by a non-human on Sunday. (Do I hear you calling me a "speciest?" I plead guilty.)

I saw a woodchuck crossing my back yard last week. When I mentioned this to a neighbor, he said he had seen it too.
"Very thin."
I nodded.
"Very hungry," he added

Fred, bless him, spent lots of time on Monday on google, and located Harbor Freight Time at 441 Market Street in Saddlebrook. He went there Tuesday and bought a solar-powered generator for a electric fence with a back-up rechargeable battery. If we can get this to work, it will last! Better yet, it has a three-year returnable guarantee.

Not all is solved. HFT does not sell the needed wire for the fence itself or the holders of the wire. With lots of searching our house and our memories, we found these left over from the time we had the other electric fence over ten years ago. When he read the directions in detail, Fred found that some 12-guage wire is also needed for connections. If you see this around a local hardware store, let us know. Meanwhile, we will continue to search for that, and Fred's electrical skills may enable us to keep out woodchucks from our inner garden. That would allow us to raise collards, broccoli and lettuce there. Here's hoping!

Meanwhile, I also unearthed our woodchuck cage and put it out, but without bait (everything having been eaten) or a convenient location, I'm not too optimistic about that.

Here's still hoping. Happy shoveling! (I did more this morning.)

Pat

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