RUG HOOKING BLOG

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I'm a mother of four grandmother of seven and great grandmother of three. I live with my husband in the house that we built with the help of my brothers and will have been married for 57 years this February.

Tuesday, July 13, 2021

I MAY HAVE TO REVERT TO PLASTIC FLOWERS

 This gardening year has been particularly annoying with the herd of deers in our neighborhood. They've been raiding everyone's gardens. If they continue, I'll have to either buy plastic flowers or get a big dog. lol... As if this wasn't annoying enough, the gophers have joined in the garden raids too.  I know deers don't like daylilies and that's a good thing as they have started blooming now. I have plenty of those.

My son Vaughan, installed an electric fence for the veggie garden and it keeps the deers away but the gophers seem to have figured a way to get in and have been decimating my beans. For a while, they had stopped entering the veggie garden but lately,  they've brought in their family and friends.

Sorry, Blogger uploaded my pictures backward, so bear with me. 


By the back deck, I used to mow a steep slope but I can no longer mow it so I decided to turn it into another garden. Do I need another garden. NO... but I no longer need to mow that steep area. I think my lawnmower is heavier or I'm getting weaker, or maybe both. I planted 8  Oriental Lilies that were on special.

The deers have clipped the tops of a few already.


Surprisingly, they have left my YAYA Carrots alone in the raised bed. They are big enough to eat and so tasty.



The deers have eaten the first whole row of pickling onions. Only a few survived that feast.



My son installed an electric fence with 4 wires and the bottom one is quite low.  This is a later crop of beans that have just sprouted. On the right bottom of the picture, two dill plants have been eaten and have survived, and are starting to form seeds heads.

The onions and corn have not been touched so far. The birds will probably wait until the corn is ready to pick before attacking them.


 The peas have not been touched but some of my beets have had some damage.

This is what's left of my two rows of beans that were starting budding to form beans. They've eaten my pepper leaves but did not touch the peppers itself. I did not take a picture of it. 


Yesterday I spied several ripe large bluberries and I was busy taking pictures for the blog so this morning when I went to give them the taste test, they were nowhere to be seen, lol. 



This is only a small sample of my sweet potatoes having been munched on. They were doing so well. 

My hydrangeas have been attacked also. 

My phlox had their tips clipped also. I wish the deers would clip my hedges instead of my flowers.

The deers also clipped many of my Asiatic lilies in every one of my beds. Even my giant Asiatic lilies.



This hosta was beginning to bloom and they couldn't resist.


Here is the other hosta that got the covid clip.



I caught a gopher eating the blossoms of this potted petunia, and I chased him away and had to put a barrier.


And he had eaten some blossoms of these petunias as well so the fencing went up here as well. Gardening can be challenging but also haying. Yesterday, one of our farmworkers ran into several gopher holes in a field and broke the PTO on the farm machinery. Now that's serious business.

Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope that you have better luck at gardening than I have so far this year. I appreciate your kind comments.




17 comments:

  1. I do hope that blogger will allow me to comment this time.
    My heart goes out to you. We have no deer in the cities, nor gophers. It is cockatoos which destroy my garden - and they don't even eat it.
    I hope that some at least of your hard work is realised.

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  2. Sheesh! Those are some ravenous deer! I did not plant tomatoes this year because of the squirrels. This year is just a small patch of flowers.... which will get deer attention by fall.... so I'm enjoying them now while I can. Hugs!

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  3. This seems to be a hard year for gardening. I have had deer in the past but not like this year. No gophers yet but they need to go! And our weather is not very helpful at all not much sun this July.
    good luck Julia
    Cathy

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  4. Oh my but that looks like a lot of work. Do you eat all those veggies yourself?

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    1. I give away some but I usually freeze a lot of my veggies, bottle some and store the rest that will keep in the cold room. This is only part of my vegetable garden. I have potatoes at the farm and cucumbers to make pickles for sale as revenue for the church. Last year, my market table sold over $500. worth of pickles from our gardens.

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    2. What a kind and generous soul you are!!!

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  5. Oh no, Julia! Those pesky deer! They are hungry this year, I guess! My beets are tiny. I hope I get at least one beet. I'm glad you aren't mowing that steep spot anymore.

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  6. So sorry that the wildlife have become such a nuisance to not only your flowers, but those vegetables! Something did a disappearing act with the lone potted petunia we had here. Sending hugs!

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  7. Oh yes, this garden year has been one for the books. We have many problems going on here too.
    1. Drought.. no rain. We do our best watering, but nothing is like mother nature.
    2. Rabbits.. ate my gladiolus,blazing star and much more.
    3. White Cabbage Butterfly in all 5 of our green cabbage.
    So I hear you.. what a garden year!

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  8. Did someone put up a sign on your property? "Deer Buffet, All You Can Eat -- FREE!" Boy, they really are eating up your garden. I can't believe they even ate the lilies!

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  9. We had a deer eating our apple tree and then she came back with her twin fawns and was munching apples with them! Jack is always on the lookout for rabbits and has sent a few to rabbit heaven. Your gardens are amazing and so much work! We have some raised beds and I'm looking forward to tomatoes in the near future. We've had a lot of rain this year which does help me not to water as much! Don't work too hard now! Of I loved near you I'd buy your pickles.. I'm sure they're amazing!

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  10. Damn deer!!! They are nothing but giant rats.
    Fingers crossed...they have left my plants alone this year...so far, but remember, I live in the city but do have woods nearby.

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  11. Oye....that is a LOT of garden!!! I miss the fresh veggies but not the work of weeding, picking, canning, etc. Deer or no, I think things are looking really good. Perhaps all the "trimming" and "pruning" has some benefits?? (Very innovative defense mechanisms by the way...) But you are very lucky I don't live remotely deer or you would have no peas either. I.LOVE.PEAS!!!!! I think I could live on them. I need to see if they still have the weekly farmer's market in town... Good luck with all of "that"...you are much more productive than I could ever dream of being. ~Robin~

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  12. well rats Julia, Blogger lost my comment.
    Everything looks wonderful.

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    1. Hahaha, Kim,I had to laugh at your comment. What came to mind was, of no, I have enough of deers, groundhogs, squirrels and raccoons.I don't need rats, lol.

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  13. WOW your critters are big eaters. The deer have eaten my mom flowers too this year, but she does enjoy watching the twin fawns in her yard. Hopefully you will e able to have some veggies when its time for reaping. Janice

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  14. Hi Julia - what a shame, those deer have caused so much damage. I hope the electric fence sorts things - drastic measures were clearly needed. We have little roe deer in the wood behind us here but they rarely stray and only to scamper across the lawn, I didnt think they would have so much interest in so many things! I hope your plants recover.

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