Like a Wookie shorn of all of his fur, I am horrified that the squirrels have come back! Weeks have gone by and not one squirrel attack. True, I may have been slacking on the the SDS (Squirrel Defense System) and that may be the reason for their return. Before I show you pictures of the changes we have made to the garden, I will first describe SDS.
SDS
When the attacks first began, I heard from multiple sources that one of the best ways is to get rid of squirrels is to use spices. Eric Ronning (still my hero) suggested using a spicy mixture instead of buying squirrel repellent at the store. Christina spread the word to the rest of her family about the squirrel situation and her Aunt Nancy suggested a mixture of water and tabasco sauce (the hotter the better) to put in a spray bottle. Spraying around the plants and should keep the predators away. Dave also offered the same advice.
This was about 80% effective. Now, I hope no squirrels are reading this, but the other 20% of the SDS is a jalepeno pepper (with seeds and ribs) chopped up into the garden. I put the seeds on some of the leaves of the plants the squirrels really liked. Success rate: 95%
I have no excuse for the squirrels attacking the revised garden. I got lazy. But not so lazy that we didn't rearrange the layout of the garden. The zucchini is enormous and taking over so we took out the strawberry plant and put it in a flower pot next to some crazy looking flowers. The green pepper plant is a major disappointment thus far and now has his own flower pot (MAN UP PEPPERS). This made the strawberries extremely vulnerable to attack and I feel terrible to put that little bush through the horror of a squirrel raid.
Squirrel attack!
New home
Enormous zucchini plant
The tomatoes are under some type of biological warfare. Some of the leaves are yellowing, which means it may have a fungus. After some (5 minutes) research, I found that watering from above the plant might be the cause of this. I also probably should have no been such a rebel and planted the tomato plants farther apart because this can also lead to a fugus. Shit is all up on each other. I should be pruning the plant regularly so the nutrients from the soil go to branches that have fruit and not "sucker" branches. I went on a pruning spree the other day, so let's hope everything starts to even out!
Pruning scraps, mistakenly done with scissors
New and improved tomato plants
Es muy tropical!
Lonely green pepper:
After a talk with her, she requested a little something to express words she is unable to express:
Up next: Special report on Swiss septuagenarians.
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