Saturday, June 16, 2012

Garden Eviction

I hoped we could just share the garden.
Groundhog and gardener.  
I tried... to get along-
I really did. 

When the green beans started disappearing- ...
I grimaced.
The peas were trampled... pulled right off the fence.
-- "They were almost gone anyways"... I said.
But then the zucchini plants ... were almost completely destroyed.
Happy Jack, ... the garden gnome-
was knocked down time and time again.
The morning glories would get sheared off and then just 
when they started to grow again, it would start all over...
 sheared to the stem, leaf after sweet leaf.
... next the petunias... disappeared little by little.
-Along with the purple coneflowers.
Poof.
Gone in the night.
Here and there, cucumbers were tasted.
Not eaten completely... just nibbled enough
to ruin them.
 Then the  candylopes started gettting eaten..
I started to panic then.
Part of me really liked the idea of having a ground hog live under the shed.
But never did I have any idea what they're capable of. 

I didn't plant alot of candylopes.... 
but they're  the giant gurney hybrids and I love them!
So seeing this nearly brought tears to my eyes when ground hog
started eating them on the vine. 
A friend heard that putting pantyhose on melons can help,
-so I tried it.  
It was hard to put them on!
But I had to laugh at all the bellybuttons.
It worked for about a day and a half.
Then, ground hog would pluck them off the vine and carry them
right to where she would crawl under the shed.  She learned to pull
half the hose off and nibbled until the melon got small enough to fit under the shed.  
I'd find the pantyhose in a heap by the entrance.

The last straw however was a half eaten tomato.  
That's where I had to draw  the line.  

When we started setting the live trap;  groundhog would trip it
somehow and then shove it all over the place trying to get the fruit out.
So we drove to Atwoods and bought a much larger trap.  
We set it right in front of the potting shed.
Myguy drove two stakes in the ground on
both sides of the trap and wired the trap to the stakes.
That way;  groundhog couldn't shove it all over the place like it had before.


The  next morning, I could hardly believe my eyes.

 I seriously did a happydance.
A dance with giddy laughter.
Sheer joy.

Don't worry; noooo we did NOT  shoot her.  
But she was given her walking papers.  
She went to live in her new land.
Anyways, we're still neighbors --so to speak.
But she's not welcome to live in our garden anymore.

We set the trap again last night.  
So far; ... no  more.
The funny thing is the first night we set the larger trap;  ... I dreamt that
I went out to the garden and saw 40 of em.
40 groundhogs!
Thank goodness it was just all a bad dream.  
At least ...
let's hope it was.
  


8 comments:

Tammy@Simple Southern Happiness said...

I would have been like Elmer Fudd with shotgun in hand.... Pesky GH...

There are just times you cant have them around especially when you are growing prize winning candylopes. Good thing its gone but would keep a trap just to be certain. They are smart and have GPS tracking... YEP!

LOVE your new blog look!

GOOD to be back bloggin', missed your post.

sweetvintageofmine said...

Oh my heart goes out to you and Ms. GroundHog...it looked so pitiful in that cage. But a Girl has to do what she has to do. Yeah, too bad you two couldn't live together...The DREAM...I had to LOL! You'll probably have more...you have a GOOD HEART! You've taken enough...GREAT POSTING! LOVED IT! From one sweetie to another....Roxie

Cora from Hidden Riches said...

I'm just laughing up a storm here, Lea!!!! This is just too funny. It reminds me of my Dad sitting out in his yard with a poker waiting for the mole to come. But I have to agree with where you drew the line --- I would have done it earlier myself. What a HUGE gal she is, though. And kinda pretty at that. Hope she didn't have babies under there. . . . Ya know...just saying!!!????

Fran. said...

Oh Lea I love this funny story!!! He's lucky it was you and you do care!! LOL Most would have put it out of their misery!! LOL What a beutiful sunflower!! and the bottle tree rocks!!! I think of you everyday Lea!! I've been busy lately!! LOL I blogged about it! Lot's of garden thyme!! We ate our first radish yesterday!! LOL Thanks for sharing this fun you had!! Could you imagine the seeing all this done!!! Take care and keep on keepin on!!! XOXO Love, Fran.

Sherry said...

She must've eaten a whole lot 'cause she is HUGE! As I read about your groundhog, I was reminded of little "pet sins" that so many of us like to hang on to... Thinking that it won't hurt to have just a few old habits lingering. Unfortunately, we know all too well that it eventually gets out of control and that sin will steal our joy and more. Hope she's happy where she's at - glad you gave her the boot! ;)

Anonymous said...

Awwww Lea, she is such a sweetie, but I agree, you cannot put all that work into growing things just to have them wiped out. I had hoped too that you could live alongside each other but it wasn't to be, what a pity! You tried.

Jeanie
x

Dee said...

It was kind of you to let her go...she did look healthy LOL

Vickie said...

Oh so glad you caught that destructive critter! We've got gophers but no ground hogs. Thank goodness! Sorry about your poor cantaloupes!