Thursday, May 15, 2008

Guess What's in the Garden?

We water our vegetable garden everyday. So far, we have enjoyed some strawberries and broccoli. We have tons of tomatoes, but nothing ripe yet. We hadn't had to deal with any serious critters. We found a few caterpillar-type bugs eating our broccoli leaves and strawberries.

My children had collected these destructive creatures and put them in open containers that were about 20 feet away from the plants. When I'd find an offending leaf-eating bug, I'd squish it immediately to ensure that it wouldn't return. I instructed my son to "get rid" of them when he found some, too.

He and I were out in the garden together one day, when he found one. Before I had an opportunity to stop him, he tossed the caterpillar unto the adjoining grass!! I explained that this just gives it a chance to return to eat more of our vegetables. We haven't had much of a problem since then.

But I walked out today to water and this is what I found!




Yep! That's what's left of a large broccoli plant sitting in a gopher hole. The gopher probably couldn't eat anymore because it had developed such a huge gas problem that it either exploded or got stuck in its tunnel.

This is what it looked like when I pulled it out.



Here is another one that we had harvested already. When I touched the plant it fell off it's roots. That means that the gopher was eating the stems from on top of the ground!


Why can't these pesky rodents eat the dreaded celery? So far, they're untouched. Once the word gets out that there's free food, I'm sure my entire garden will be wiped out in one night. The tomato plants are furthest from the entry access, so I hope that some of them ripen before they're gone.