Chunk Wars Rage On

Its all out war in the backyard garden. Never have I experienced such ground hog (chunks I like to call them) aggression. Everyday a new attack, a tunnel re-dug, a vegetable devoured. Its not as though these creatures don't have enough of their own foliage to eat in their natural environment... they still persist in crossing a well defined line and invoke my human territorial instincts.  This is mine- not yours! I have disposed of three young ones in the last week... yet there are more, more, more. They are attacking from all sides... how can I hold them off? How many more can there be in my backyard? I am having nightmares of ground chunks devouring all my precious vegetables. 

Ground chunk... you have made me your enemy and I will not stop until I get you all or make my garden impervious to your attacks! 

Spinach Harvest

The spinach has been done for a little while. This year has been the best spinach year ever for me. We had so much spinach we couldn't eat it fast enough. My boyfriend harvested the last grand finale of spinach weeks ago, washed and froze it in large bags. Above is what the rows looked like in the aftermath.

And after. Spinach is such a early vegetable to grow out in the garden that its done and over with in time to replant the very same garden beds with new vegetables. In my case, I replanted one bed with string beans and the other with kale and bok choy.

Oh yea.

This was the spinach a month or so ago. It did so well! So what did I do with all of this spinach?

We ate lots of fresh spinach salads, spinach lasagna... and I even tried Italian Wedding soup. Which I never heard of until my boyfriend mentioned it might be a good 'using up spinach' recipe.

4 cups of chopped packed spinach (mind you I double all recipes for leftovers' sake so half this recipe if you like)

Make meatballs using:

2lbs ground beef

4 eggs beaten

1/2 cup bread crumbs (seasoned is better)

4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

2 teaspoons basil

1/2 cup of minced onion

Form small meatballs into about 3/4" diameter.

Boil 5 cups of chicken broth and add the spinach, 1 1/2 cups of chopped carrots and the meatballs (some versions add pasta, but I didn't have any at the time). The soup is done when the meatballs are.

Chunk Wars

So after returning from four days of vacation I return to horrible devastation. Here is how I found my entire row of matured lettuce!

And my beautiful red cabbage. (sobbing)

And the kale... but worst of all mmy... my ... my CARROTS!! While only being gone for a few days a gardeners nightmare occurred. Last year I didn't get any carrots and this year my carrots were doing so so well, I was so proud of them and in one swift stroke it was all undone.

As I am in the garden everyday, my extended absence emboldened an animal... a burrower, to tunnel under my garden fortifications. This is the first time I have ever had an animal do this. I discovered at least three holes, and other half finished ones, under my fencing where an animal had been climbing in and out dinning on my garden vegetables the entire time I was away on vacation. The vegetables that I have been working so hard to nurture into adulthood... to protect them from the onslaugths of slugs and cutworms. And now this!

Who was it? At first I suspected my enemy the rabbit. The main things eaten were things that I felt a rabbit might eat... cabbage family plants, lettuce... um carrots? But after thinking about it... I realized it must be my arch enemy- the groundchunk! These nasty nasty critters. Frequently while I am working in the garden in the afternoon, I will hear a rustle in the brush... upon looking at the source its usually proves to be a groundchunk scurrying about along its way along the fence of the garden. As long as they are on the outside and not in. However there have already been two unfriendly encounters with them IN the garden this year who supposedly entered via a back gate which I have since closed off. Both I allowed to escape, but perhaps my mercy was a mistake... their knowledge was my gardens undoing.

Now I begin my revenge.

Garden Monsters in the Night

Warning: this post may be too scary for some. Today I have spine tingling tales of garden monsters and real potential dangers.

The slug wars continue. Today there was an afternoon rain shower and this made a demon hunt necessary... especially after my boyfriend (while collecting lettuce for dinner) informed me that something has been chewing on the lettuce. Ugh! I half suspected slugs as the culprit.

And so this evening I decided to go out AFTER dark as opposed to sunset to hunt me some demon slugs with my jar of warm salt water. Slugs were, as expected, of course crawling all over the usual veggie victims.

But... then... I saw it!

I knew what it was almost right away. I was grabbing up slugs like always and right beside one of the slugs I found on the ground... I saw a caterpillar I was not familiar with... it was not something I've seen during the day at least!

Lately there has been something wrecking havoc on my kale seedlings. When I found a few seedlings laying on the ground like fallen trees- something was up. I recalled reading something about a garden pest that caused damage like this before. This monster is a voracious eater that can cause extensive damage to plants and can even cut the entire plant down. When I described what I had found to a garden friend they confirmed my beliefs in what it was. She said that, "You never see them." Then I ran over to the kale.

And there it was... on the kale- cutting away!

CUTWORM!

My instinct was to squish them all... but then I remembered the garden blog and decided to take some pictures first... so I ran from the garden to the house to grab my camera. Then I ran all the way back to the garden- headlight strapped to my head... and saw glowing eyes in the grass as I approached the garden. At first I thought it was Angie cat, as she was just with me moments ago and was probably wondering why I was running around like I was (as though these slugs and worms are going anywhere fast).

While Angie cat is a great climber, whatever I saw was very quick about going up into a tree... which is right by our compost pile mind you. "Angie is that you?", I nervously asked the night as I directed the headlamp up towards one of the tree branches. Oh no it was not Angie. It was a RACCOON. *shivers*

Raccoons! Cutworms! I ran into the garden where Angie cat was waiting for me (surely still confused about my behavior), but now I was filled with a little fear. The raccoon was very close to the garden and I didn't want it to ... come inside. All around us were sounds of the night. I was becoming hyper aware and getting jumpy.

The headlamp was beginning to dim.

Back to the cutworms for a moment here:

I have very little experience with them... though technically I have likely experienced their damage to plants in the past and just never knew what to blame. When my garden friend said that you 'never see them', it made me wonder... why? Why don't you see them? And now I realize, maybe you never see them, because they are... nocturnal? I have never seen them during the day, but on the night I decide to go out after dark... there they are. Maybe you never see them because most people aren't crazy gardeners like me- prowling around at night in the backyard with a headlamp strapped to my forehead. And where do they come from? In the photo above the cutworm appears to be partially emerged in the soil... do they climb right out from the ground beneath their favorite meals?

I collected some specimens in a old peanut butter jar. In the past I have kept insects in a bug jar to study... if I've never seen it before it helps you make a positive identification of what your finding in the garden, to become familiar with what it is and learn what it does. Know thy enemy! So far I can tell you that these cutworms are about 2 + inches long. It was easier to see them on the plants than it was on the ground where they blend in with near perfect camouflage. When disturbed they curl up into a circle (it was easy to knock them off the plants). They really like kale.

There was a sound suddenly by one end of the garden. Angie? It was near the garden gate. I heard a growling sound. Not Angie, she was behind me in the garden. I saw the glowing eyes and as I approached them... I saw it was the raccoon again. Just thinking back gives me the shivers. I grabbed a garden rake and called to the cat. The glowing eyes retreated into the brush line and watched us as Angie and I slinked out of the garden. I don't know how she deals with these backyard neighbors. I don't know how I'm going to deal with my garden monsters. I do know... I'm getting out of here... *runs back to the house*

Slug Wars

Warning: blog post content may not be appropriate for all audiences such as those with a weak stomach or are some kind of slug rights activist.

Its been raining and that means all the hungry slug demons are out and about after my vegetables. Last year proved to me how devastating slugs can be... devouring rows of germinating seedlings before they even had a chance. And this year- they are at it again.

This is where I start. After the sun has set. A nice jar of ... not honey... but warm SALT water. My spearing tool.

The spearing tool by the way is just my fancy made up name for a small rib bone I found in the garden (must have come from the compost I collected from the public works place), but it just happens to be a whole lot better than a stick for stabbing slugs... which is what I do when I don't want to get my fingers slimy.

The hunting begins around plants prone to slug attacks... which to identify just a few... they happen to really like lettuce, carrots, any of the cabbage family. Above is a group of demons caught in the horrifying act of eating a cabbage leaf! *shivers* When I saw this I ran to get my camera just so everyone can see and believe how awful awful awful and destructive these creatures can be to garden plants.

The slugs promptly went for a nice warm salt water swim- in slug hell! Now look closely at the leaf above. You can still see the fresh chew marks up and down the edge of the leaf. Its not hard to see how they can destroy a row of seedlings freshly breaking ground and barely anything to look at. Chew chew chew -and the whole plant is dead. By the way... when I originally took these pictures I didn't notice the small slug that was on the tip of the leaf. Three slugs on one poor cabbage leaf! The little one can be seen barely behind the leaf on the right slowly running away. I'll get him next time.

I had to see it to believe it. Slugs will munch on onion. Onion family members usually do not have many pests, but even demon slugs will go for them.

Slugs love lettuce, so if you are growing lettuce pay particular attention to protecting them. This lettuce fortunately is large enough to not really experience much of a set back in growth. Small defenseless seedlings are the ones you want to spend most of your energy patrolling for and protecting from evil slugs. This guy went for a swim non the less.

A demon emerging from hell to wreck havoc on the garden. During the day the slugs seek shelter just about anywhere to protect themselves from drying out in the sun. Unfortunately they find nice hiding places in the soil of the garden bed (usually right next to the plants they plan to eat... like a bed and breakfast- jerks!). I think these guys can burrow a bit so it may have made this cave for itself, or it could be a hole left by a weed that was evicted from the garden.

When it comes to battling slugs I am willing to try many ideas. One I read about was spreading wood ashes around the plants and as the slug tries to crawl across it will cut itself on the rough ashes and dehydrate to death by the time it gets to the plant. I spread ashes all over the beds I though needed it most. In spite of my efforts some of the slugs still proceeded as usual... which makes me wonder ... either I'm not doing the ashes thing right... or they don't work. Or maybe my particular demon slugs are used to all the ashes from hell and don't mind mine much.

Regardless, a nice jar full of warm salt water always works. If you have the patience, you can dispatch 100% of all the demons you find.