have to go to work to get some rest!!
It’s supposed to rain off and on today but hubby finished up mowing the yard this morning and I’ve cleaned out the red raspberries so those are the two major things we wanted to accomplish before it got really wet again.
Folks, we have a problem!! One big "wascally wabbit"!!! He has eaten every one of our cauliflower plants and most of our broccoli and is one very, very sneaky rabbit. He also needs to be very, very careful. My hubby doesn’t like to plant his veggie plants more than once!!!
I’ve got to get out today and buy some more bars of Irish Spring. This soap has saved our garden time and time again from the deer. I always set up metal stakes around the garden and cut each bar in half and sort of screw the bar on
the metal stake. Then I put softener sheets here, there and yonder. I’ve been doing this for about 4 or 5 years and when the deer come up to the garden there’s so much conflicting soap scent they won’t come in. It’s the cheapest way
I’ve found to handle them. It doesn’t work for raccoons though. They are, at this particular time, our biggest menace. Living out here in the country you have to find ways to fight the critters!! A couple years ago we went away for the week-end. The garden was looking fine and we knew it would be okay for one evening. When we came home the next day there was corn all over the place, strewn up and down the hillside behind our garden and just everywhere. The
corn wasn’t ready to be picked yet and half of it wasn’t even eaten. It honestly looked like they had played with the corn and were thumbing their noses at us. That was "the year without corn"!!! Not something we’re likely to forget. What a
mess!!
We also sprayed our grapes yesterday as well. I don’t like to use chemicals but I just can’t seem to get any grapes unless I spray them. I’m sure we don’t spray ours as much as the larger growers do so that soothes my guilt a little, but if I don’t spray them I don’t get grapes. It’s very wet here and all those nasty spores are in the soil. We pick up and rake under our grapes but we still get that awful blight. Last year we got the most grapes we have ever gotten and that’s after two years of spraying. I hate it but I don’t know what else to do!! Any input from anybody?
Check my Picture Page today. Scroll down until you reach where I took the picture of the Empress Tree in the Spring and look at it now. I'm telling you, it looks even better than the pic. I'm in love with Empress Trees and they grow so fast. This particular tree is making a really big comeback in some of the third-world countries because it grows so fast, can be cut down for firewood, and grows back quickly. Personally, I just think it's beautiful.