And now it's Me vs. the Squirrels

Sucked it up and planted my stupid garden today. Two weeks ago (ie: the last time it was sunny) I dug a rectangle out of the overgrown lawn in what I have determined is the sunniest part of the yard. Today I dug out a bigger rectangle, then I scavenged some of those ugly scalloped edger bricks from random parts of the yard and blocked it off. This was so it would look less like a random hole in the lawn. It helped, a little. 

Then I dumped two bags of potting soil on top of the existing dirt and mixed it all up with a rake. If that was pointless and/or stupid, don't tell me, I felt like I was Priming My Soil. 

THEN I walked around my front and backyards looking for some kind of trellis for my pole beans. The chunk of dug out yard happens to be right up against the house, so I just needed something to prop against the wall. And the outside of the house, much like the inside of the house, is full of Random Items Left By The Previous Owners. Like an entire shed full of garden tools. Anyway, there are a ton of overgrown never-pruned vines all over this yard and I picked the ugliest one and stole its trellis. I propped that sucker against the house and planted my pole beans beneath it. 

At that point I had to make a decision: plant ALL the tomato plants or just the ones that DIDN'T appear to have a leaf-eating disease. What happened? They've all been sitting on the deck for a week and I've watered them and placed them in the sun, but three out of the five look like I should just toss them in the yard waste bin. I decided to only plant the good ones (which happen to be the cherry tomato plants.) (Which happen to be the only ones that ever turn out for me anyway.) 

I also planted zucchini and cucumbers. If I had one of my previous gardens I would also have lettuce and snap peas and various vegetables that would die before anything really grew: squashes, melons, peppers, eggplant, that one time I tried to grow a pumpkin and it never turned orange. (The kids were super impressed with that one, let me tell you.) 

Anyway, I'll tiptoe out there tomorrow morning and see if anything's left. I regularly see cats and raccoons visit my backyard and I'm pretty sure the fir tree houses an entire colony of squirrels. I'm just going to call this a practice year. I'm going to be living here for years and years. I will have plenty of other summers to attempt the Best Garden Ever. 

In the meantime I have some sort of itchy nasty rash all over my forearm and, I swear, about three dozen miniscule slivers in my right ring fingertip. Something went awry with my gardening gloves, but still - what is in the dirt that makes my arm so itchy? And just THAT arm? And how in the WORLD did I get so many slivers in my finger? I thought at first it was just dirty and I needed to scrub a little harder, but then I looked closer and NO, those are ITTY BITTY SLIVERS OWWWWIEEEE. 

I suppose I should be doing one of my various stationery-related tasks for my sister's wedding (in less than a month) (HOLY CATS) OR I should be figuring out my Blathering plane tickets (HAVE YOU?) OR I should be folding laundry OR doing something quasi-productive but no, I see that there are new episodes of Drop Dead Diva on Netflix. 

Just wanted to update you on the Garden Decision. I know you were anxious. ALSO: here's an update on yesterday's "do I wake a sleeping baby?" post. EJ woke up, entirely her own, at exactly 10pm. Perhaps she read the blog? She sucked down a bottle, played while I window shopped on the internet, and easily went back to bed at 11pm. And then woke up at 4:30am. I am never going to sleep all night again, am I. 

Comments

[HereWeGoAJen]

We have rabbits in my yard and I have yet to see one go after my garden. Why is that, now that I think about it? But perhaps your garden will not interest the squirrels.

[Steph]

I think coconut oil will help the rash/slivers. Crazy hippie of me, I know, but it always helps me! :)

[Jesabes]

Could the rash be from the vine you stole the trellis from? And the splinters maybe from the trellis? Hope you're feeling better!

[AmyRyb]

I got the suggestion to plant marigolds around my garden to ward off rabbits. Not sure if it would help your situation, but so far mine appears to be intact. My tiny little garden was carved out of a useless part of a flower bed adjacent to my patio. I did it there instead of the way back because it was easier to water and keep an eye on. There's not much there--tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini (from seed!), and one pepper plant, one strawberry plant, and one pumpkin plant. Not a lot of space, so we'll see how this goes.

[Colleen]

We have deer that insist on eating everything I plant. Even the things marked deer resistant. They treat my hanging baskets like an all you can eat buffet. My husband's garden last year was destroyed by deer and rabbits. This year he relocated it and put a small fence around it. We were actually able to enjoy some vegetables the other night. Good luck with the squirrels.

[Jenna]

I've heard if you put a bunch of human or dog hair on the dirt in your garden it keeps the bunnies away since the scent of humans/dogs makes them nervous. I don't know if it really works or not, but I guess its something to do with all the hair that's probably otherwise uselessly lying around on the hairbrushes anyway...

[Logo Design Uk]

I admire what you have done here. I love the part where you say you are doing this to give back but I would assume by all the comments that is working for you as well.

[Design Custom Logo]

I just came across your site and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I'll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon.