Charlyn’s Web

Gardening is a particular challenge in our part of the world. The combination of a western semi-arid climate, relatively high pH soils, and aggressive wildlife spell disaster for most crops.

Our typical last frost date here is May 10 – 14, when sensitive plants can be finally planted outdoors. Our first killing frost of the autumn usually comes around September 20 – 25. This leaves us a scant 4 months with which to grow most tender vegetation. Unfortunately this “growing season” is fraught with other difficulties, not the least of which is daily temperature extremes. It is fairly usual to have differences in temperature of 50° to 55° F (28° – 31° C) between the daytime high and the nighttime low. Thus, on a day reaching 100° F (38° C), an overnight low of 45° F (7° C) is not uncommon. For the last few years — including this one — we’ve had near-freezing temperatures occurring even in early August. Most plants will not thrive under such conditions, and blooms on plants such as tomatoes and peppers will not set fruit except for on those occasional nights with much warmer temperatures.

JustMe’s help in preparing, planting, weeding and watering the garden this year has been instrumental in making it look the best it ever has. As we receive almost no rain all summer long, just keeping things irrigated can be a big job on our acreage. The potatoes and onions were looking fantastic, leaf lettuce was growing nice and lush, zucchini doing great, and some other vegetables struggling along, but mostly surviving.

Now we expect deer to be destructive, so I put a motion-sensor “scarecrow” impact sprinkler in one corner of the garden to keep the deer moving along. Unfortunately, the scarecrow isn’t supposed to be out when it will freeze, so our early season crops were picked over until mid-May when the deterrent could be permanently placed. Since that time it has proven to be an expensive device that seems like a good idea, even if the current implementation has definite room for refinement and enhancement. In the end, I think our strategically placed dog (tied up in the vicinity of the garden) has proven to be more effective than the scarecrow.

We have gophers, too. They have destroyed some of our young trees in the past, so their presence was anticipated. I placed another modern technological marvel in the soil of the garden, a battery-operated “sonic” probe that is supposed to dissuade ground-dwelling rodents from burrowing in its proximity. Within a week after the gopher chaser went in the ground, we had new mounds appearing in the garden. …sigh…

But, to be honest, the deer and gopher problem has paled in comparison to a much greater menace. This menace has decimated all of our leaf lettuce, damaged radishes, zucchini, onions, and tomatoes (some of the few fruits that had actually appeared). It has stripped ears of corn, damaged a few canteloupe fruits that were barely growing, and — get this — dug up and destroyed many potatoes! What on earth could cause all of this devastation, and prevent us from enjoying the fruits of our labors?

Pheasants.

Yes, pheasants! Amazingly they sneak in, peck most anything they can, and they are *very* destructive. In all fairness, we think they are more after the moisture in the fruits and vegetables, particularly the potatoes, but the end result is the same.

We’ve tried being nice. We even spent some more money putting in a bird bath in another part of the yard where they could enjoy some water. Bird baths are not cheap, you know. Do they use it? No. Apparently the garden is much more attractive.

Of course you realize, this means war!