Friday, July 13, 2012

Mouse Bites and the End of the Pumpkins

It's still hot here and it needs to rain. When I went to the garden each evening I noticed tomatoes with bite marks on them.



I've seen field mice at the plots so I think it was them snacking on the tomatoes (YUCK!!).
Needless to say they went into the compost pile. I've had to start picking the tomatoes a little under-ripe so that I'll actually get some for myself.

Other bad news: I had to pull the pumpkin plants. The leaves quickly became yellow and brown and wilted. I wanted to get the diseased plant out of the garden as quickly as possible. I'll have to try pumpkins again next year.

I'm planning to plant more beans in the empty spot as soon as I have a chance.

2 of the sunflowers are forming seeds. The birds ate one of them already, so I wrapped the other one in netting, I hope it keeps the birds away.


I thought I had lost all of the cucumbers to cucumber beetles, but the 2 remaining plants have really perked up and have cucumbers growing on them.


So far I've gotten a bowlful of ground cherries. The plants are smaller than I expected but producing well.


Here are a few more pictures from plot 1 today:








I've made some nice progress with the second plot despite the heat. 3 beds have been created, 1 more needs to be made. I planted corn, beans and cantaloupe in the first bed. The second 2 beds were planted with a cover crop. They will be used to grow fall veggies. The sunflower in bed 3 had self seeded and I didn't have the heart to pull it up. 


4 comments:

  1. very nice garden! Love the melons and squash but too bad about mice and pumpkins :(

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    1. I don't understand why the mice take 1 or 2 bites out of multiple fruits vs just eating one or two whole ones... it's almost like they're doing a taste test! ;) At least I grew a lot this year so there should be enough for all of us. I just hope they stay away from the Brick Krim and Mr. Stripey! I have only one plant each of those.

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