I lost an entire bed of lettuce and green beans to what I thought was a nocturnally marauding rabbit. I re-planted some green beans, and they came up nicely
Little bean in the shadow of the big bean.
There seemed little point in planting more, however, if they're just going to get eaten by a rabbit, too.
A. had an idea that it might not be a rabbit, though. He set a rat trap in that bed, and sure enough . . .
Filthy thing.
No more than it deserved. And I hope this is the last rodent incursion for the summer. I have a hard enough time getting my plants to harvest without that.
Do your dogs help keep small vermin away? I know you are not fond of cats, but a barn cat or two might discourage further incursions.
ReplyDeleteMy indoor cat is the son of 2 barn cats - he"s twenty pounds of muscle and latent killer instincts. If I ever let him outside, there would be not bird or rodent left for blocks. Even my last cat, at 15+ yrs old and arthritic, would bring home voles from the empty yard across the street as she had cleared our yard already.
I have been sprinkling chopped garlic scapes and cayenne pepper around with some good effects. If there is one rat, there are more. I think the victim is female. If you could snake proof the chickens, the snakes might help with the rodents
ReplyDeleteWe've found our colony of barn cats well worth it. We were absolutely overrun with them before that.
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