Another one bites the dust. Grrrr

 The weather is warm and hardly a breeze. Fires in various places around the county one was near Julian so when the wind shifted there was a light scent of wood smoke. Did I mention it was exceedingly warm?

And to my frustration and dashing my hopes..another marigold is gone. Only thing I think I can do is put more garlic cloves in the ground again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This does not bode well for the sunflowers or cucumbers coming up there. If my plants are to survive I need to do something fast.

The hole on the left is one that I did probing the soil, trowel went in easy of course. So it's been what, three days since the last one? If that's how long it takes for them to eat an entire marigold then the clock is ticking on blocking that tunnel.

Sunflowers are coming up first it seems, judging from the locations. They aren't called sunflowers because they're late bloomers for sure!

As I was throwing water around and hitting the log pile, a drum like sound came from the logs which meant that the bark was loose. Looked at the logs, looked at the peppers..... and began to pull bark off.

Bark mulch for free! Because it's liquidamber bark it doesn't break into small pieces easily and I wasn't going to stand there in the heat and chop it up with the shovel. Did what I could and pulled as much off as I could get. Made sure that the pieces were curved down so they didn't catch water and made more air gaps. Watered the bed well first of course.

Not full coverage but it's better than nothing. The wood had termite tunnels under the bark, a few earwigs of course, no termites on the actual bark I used or exposed. Will do more tomorrow on the other beds once seeds start sprouting. Really should have asked the tree trimmers for some of the chips they had in the truck.

But on that note, it's not a good idea. Raw wood mulch actually draws nitrogen from the soil as it breaks down (not that  I have a lack of nitrogen) but it's generally a bad idea especially if you use it as an amendment. Totally missed an opportunity there darn it. Could have had them back up the truck and shovel some right over the wall into the corner. Dangit!

On to gopher deterrant. Can't plant onions or garlic plants, too late in the season but chopped garlic around the bed mixed into the ground about six inches should do it. There's a product on the market that mixes castor oil and blood meal, works like a charm but you cannot absolutely not use it in a vegetable garden.The plants will pick up the castor oil and make the fruit toxic. As for ornamentals, throw that stuff around!

There's a plant called 'Gopher Purge' it's a Euphorbia/spurge plant but it's also invasive and tall. It can take over a garden if you're not careful. So other than traps and smoke bombs, only thing I can do is use garlic and onion in the ground. Aside from digging the trench for a physical barrier I mentioned last time. 

Have to run some errands today, bank and then a quick grocery stop... might see what WMart has in the garden department or just get some cheap garlic at the store.

Gophers. Now I know why my dad had a .22 rifle handy and shot them when they came up in the dichondra lawn.