I direct sow a lot of seeds in my garden, especially lettuce. I don't have a picture of it but I had excellent germination of the three seeds (marigold, basil and lettuce) I sowed in this container but ever since they sprouted, the squirrel basically been camped out in there. I am pretty sure it has eaten every single marigold and basil seedling, only leaving a little of the lettuce. Aren't marigolds supposed to stink? Hence why you plant them with tomatoes so they'll keep the pests away? Or did I dream that? It's not just that the seedlings were young succulent microgreen squirrel goodness either. I started other marigolds indoors and transplanted them into my vegetable garden after they were several inches tall and the squirrels ate all of them except one plant which is now blooming, thankfully. Flash of genius! Genetically engineered squirrels that love bindweed!
It's unfortunate but I think I'm going to need to clean the weeds out, replant the seeds and cover it with some ugly screen until the plants are big enough to be a little more unappealing to squirrels. I tell ya, these are the types of things that make round-up and BB guns appealing. I'm just sayin.
I'm growing with the SeedGROW project. Thanks to Reenes Garden for the seeds.
What a shame about the washtub garden. There's a pest for every occassion, and squirrels are the worst. I agree the screen might do the job. If not, the BB gun will!
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Bummer about the squirrels. Mine mostly leave things alone; I have more trouble with raccoons, groundhogs, and the occasional deer or rabbits. Still love the washtub idea, though. I have my lettuce in containers, but up off the ground. Squirrels don't care about it, rabbits can't reach. I'm surprised the deer haven't found it, though; RIGHT at chin height for them!
ReplyDeleteI have an aggressive squirrel problem in my Brooklyn balcony garden. This year I decided to love with a bit of ugly for a while and covered all the containers with plastic "wildlife netting" while my seedlings were young. It made a huge difference & now I have lots of plants instead of the few that used to survive repeated redigs. They were also undeterred by marigolds.
ReplyDeleteHi Gina,
ReplyDeleteMaybe beautiful/ugly wire mesh teepees on bamboo? They make some prettier colored mesh-chicken wire these days...uuggh, what we gardeners go through!
So glad to see you posting! I always check, cause you're the blogger who got me started!
Come for a visit when you have time,
glimpsesofglory-karen.blogspot.com
I'm sorry the squirrels are causing so much problems.... we have a cat and a lot of neighborhood keep cats to them in check. We used to have all our strawberries stolen, but our neighbor got a cat that now hangs out in our front garden where we have the strawberries. The little bandits still get away with some, but the rate has declined to 10% of what it was before. The mocking birds were pecking at the berries too, but the cats have helped tremendously.
ReplyDeleteI was despondent yesterday when my sunflower seedlings were nothing short of molested by something -- rabbits? Sqirrels?. I am so bummed because I love growing things from seeds, but goodness it can be frustrating. Keep writing Gina. Always love your posts
ReplyDeleteI'm horribly late for commenting on July's SeedGROW posts, but since tomorrow is the 2nd, I'd figured it would be a good reminder that Augusts posts are coming up. Can't wait for the latest installment of your SeedGROW saga.
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