Critter Clearing

With all the rainy weekends keeping Mom and Dad from getting out to garden the perennial gardens are becoming critter vacation spots. I have taken on the job of evicting out unwanted guests.

Wordless Wednesday: Sheltie Detective

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Wordless Wednesday: Rascally Rabbits

Tales from the Veggie World

Welcome back to our garden update. You may notice that this week I'm staying further back from that plant Mom calls zucchini. She says plants don't eat meat, but let me tell you stuff goes into that garden that never sees the light until that plant dies. I'm taking no chances. Where the bright yellow flowers first appeared, we are now starting to see greenish round creatures. Mom calls them veggies, but I'm telling you these could be some kind of monster creatures growing out there.

Notice the difference here. This zucchini is grown in captivity. It knows it is caged and will not escape. The plant is smaller and not looking like its ready to attack. It too is producing those odd green things, but I know I can still take it out if I have too. Well actually, we aren't admitting to it, but there was some zucchini tipping that happened last week and Dog Dad wasn't too happy about it. We tried to convince him that the zucchini had just grown so top heavy it tipped over. Since nothing broke off and it resumed its monster expected growth, he seems to have let it go. However, the zucchini are under warning. If threatened we will strike. Like the monster zucchinis, these smaller cousins are producing green round things Dog Dad are convinced are edible veggies.

The tomatoes are behaving in their cages. We’ve had no threats from them. They are already have green tomatoes from the yellow buds Mom saw last week. The parents are looking forward to fresh tomatoes from the vine. The asparagus is starting to wind down, but Mom thinks there may be another meal left in the plants. They had fresh asparagus, spinach, and lettuce despite the bad weather over the holiday. Dog Dad picked it before the rains hit. We had a rabbit visit over the weekend, but we made quick work of chasing it out of the yard.

Tales from the Veggie World

Mom is constantly harping about how much damage we can do if we aren't careful in the garden. Have you seen how big these zucchini plants are Mom? If we stop posting send someone in to check out the zucchini. It might have taken us all. Can you see how it is kind of reaching out towards me?

This is why we normally don't watch the Sci Fi channel with Mom and we stick to watching sports with Dad. Now it has led Bailey to an irrational fear of veggies. I like the shade this one is providing. If it gets a bit bigger, I can sit underneath the whole thing and get a nice break from the heat of the sun.

With blooms appearing on the zucchini plants, Mom is hopeful that she will have some fresh zucchini soon. She and Dog Dad use zucchini in quite a few different recipes. From the look of the plants, they should have a decent crop.

Mom and Dad were very excited to have fresh lettuce and spinach for their salads this weekend. Both are doing quite well this season. Katy did you see the zucchini creeping into the picture, making its presence known? I'm telling you the stuff is taking over. You’ve got to stop turning your back on it. Don’t you remember the The Celery Stalks at Midnight? Veggies can go bad and not in a smelly way either.

What has been most surprising this season is that we still have asparagus in July!!! This has always been a short spring crop. The parents aren't complaining, but they are shocked that they still are getting quite a healthy crop.

As for the rest of the garden, the tomatoes are starting to expand fully into their crates cages and flowers are just starting to appear. Katy has been walking the line on the peppers, much to Dog Dad's dismay. She thinks it keeps critters away. Dog Dad is convinced she's going to step on a plant and kill it. So far, she's done amazingly well at walking the rows.

Mom found out about an edible perennial presentation being offered at the local library this month and she and Dog Dad signed up. They love the asparagus and the chives and would love to learn what else would keep coming back every year without having to be replanted.

Veggie Update: The Fence

We reported last week that do to our vigilance there were lettuce casualties. We thought the worst was over, but we came this weekend to discover Dog Dad had forgiven, but not forgotten. He has created barriers to prevent us from entering the back gardens.

Look at that fence. That may look like a small fence, but that Dog Dad is smart. While I might squeeze through this hole without any blockage, jumping over it requires me to jump blindly into the bush. Not something I'm crazy about doing. They are clearly not designed for rabbit or squirrel prevention. Nowhere do you see anti-rabbit fencing, only Sheltie prevention. It is an outrage. Sure, we've killed more plants than all the critters together to date. You know they will do more damage in the end.

Just a note to our friends out in Blogville, our Google Dashboard reader has gone bonkers. From what we've read this is a fairly common bug that has yet to be addressed in Blogger. As of Monday, we could still click on our individual list of Blogs to get to your Blogs to read your articles, but we only get the person who updated lasted posted to our Dashboard. We are doing our best to keep up to date on what is happening in Blogville. Mom may have to look into another reader if this becomes a problem.

The Rabbits are Back

We warned the Mama. Stop sighing over those fuzzy bunnies. They are varmints. Remember these are RABBITS, not the cute and charming Easter Bunny. They destroy your gardens. However, she spots them and does she scare them off? Oh, no she has to take pictures. Now they think they are movie stars. Instead, they should be on most wanted posters. These little critters will kill off Mom's lettuce crop before she can blink an eye. However, all she can do is say, "But they are so cuuuttteee." How could they possibly be evil?

Well we have no trouble taking on the problem. Shortly after the Mama caught these shots, we started barking. At first, we were ignored. However when we got to the windows we made it very clear what we would do when we got outside. The bunny decided to leave and its hypnosis over the Mama was broken. If it were a snake, we'd have no problems convincing Mama it had to go. However, show the Mama a rabbit and she gets all mushy.

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Garden Update

We can't believe it is June already. The weather has been good to the tomatoes and they are adjusting to their cages. We helped Mom with the weeding over the weekend. Mom was surprised that even with all the tropical weather, the weeds were minimal this first week.

Dog Dad only used to use newspaper wraps for the tomatoes. However, with the funky weather and the extra critter and bug attacks last year, he decided to experiment and use them on some of the other plants to give them a starting chance. He is pleased by the process and has seen stronger than he had last year.

Dog Dad added spinach and more lettuce to the back gardens this week. Mom remarked that the spinach looks remarkably like the weed grass we generally remove from the garden. We've never tried growing spinach before so it is a whole new area we are exploring this year.

They've been cooking and using spinach more in salads these days, so it seemed like a logical choice to add to the gardens. Along with squirrels, we noticed more chipmunk activity in the backyard since the gardens have been planted. We scared one into jumping into a tree. We are inspiring new heights in squirrel and chipmunk gymnastics.

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Getting the Veggie Gardens Planted

It was a strange weather weekend. Short bursts of clear weather followed by almost tropical rains. However, Mom and Dad worked hard to get the annual Veggie Gardens dug up, cleared of weeds, and planted for a new season. First up is the tomato garden. We think its kind of odd that the tomatoes have cages. However, they do seem to get a bit wild as the season progresses so perhaps that is why Dad keeps them caged all season.

Mom calls this Veggie Garden 2. Here they planted zuchinni and peppers. The chives are a perennial and grow back every year.

Guarded by Hostas, this is what Mom calls the back Veggie Gardens. This year Mom and Dad decided to plant more of some stuff and get other stuff from the local growers. Back here she hopes to grow more rows of lettuce, spinach, and more zucchini.

Now that the plants are in, we have a great deal more work to do to keep the pests out of Mom and Dad's food. We think we are just putting out a welcome sign inviting more pests, but Mom and Dad are quite excited about their fresh veggies.

There Really is a Creature in the Garden Stamping on the Veggies

We are demanding Mom get a CSI team out here to take samples so the next time she blames us we can be eliminated as suspects. She found a cat in the veggie garden and it left after we barked at it.

Now the last time Dad found Katy in the garden there was not one plant touched. Katy's princess paws negotiated the rows and not one veggie was harmed. We are demanding Dad reopen the onion assault case that he has blamed on us. We think there is reasonable doubt that others are to blame. If nothing else, we want paw prints and DNA to exclude us from any further crime scene activities. This garden is a hot bed of critter crime. We are tired of being blamed for it when there are clearly other suspects with motives to pin the veggie assaults on us.