@#%@%$% Gopher!

Gopher.

An entire marigold pulled under! I am going to have to try and spare the money to put barriers around the bed under ground to protect the cucumber that's planted there as well. I didn't notice right away in the first picture because of glare and getting other pictures quickly. Wasn't until I was watering that I turned around and stood there in shock after a moment. See the small pile of dirt in front of the border? Another pile off to the left... I'm not holding out much for the other two even if I did run the hose into that hole to flood as much as I could. When I was a kid we would run the hose for a good half hour. I'm not paying for the water but am not going to waste it on a gopher hole.

I didn't take a picture of the fence bed because nothing is happening there right now. Watered thoroughly at least and there's nothing I can do for the next while to protect those last two marigolds.

In order to put an under ground fence in there I would need ideally dig a trench all around but since I know it's moved off to the left maybe can get away with just a short piece and going half way around from that direction. Oh and it needs to be a foot deep. First.. I don't have a trenching shovel which is narrow and mostly flat. The mostly flat part is crucial so you only dig the width you need, they're expensive and even if I could return it I don't know if I want to do that. Looking at the prices I realized that what I actually need is called a 'drain spade' because it's straight, where as the trench shovel has an angle to it (They're about $40 at HD I found out).

This is annoying and aggravating at the least. I can only hope that the north bed and the fence bed will be left alone. The north bed is likely off limits due to distance (not necessarily a deterrent for gophers) and soil quality. Given the little bastards persistence, if they pull anything else in the other beds under it may turn into full on war.

If this were my own yard I would have taken precautions in the beginning to lay down hardware cloth all around. Didn't have a gopher last year so didn't think anything of it until it happened this year.

 So the next time someone says 'plant marigolds it keeps pests away' I'll ask what pests? Gophers love marigolds apparently as well as peas.

Still whining about putting mulch on the north bed though.  Oh about that, I saw the beginning of a garden video where the woman said she doesn't use mulch on her beds...she uses compost. Um.... guess what? Anything you put on the surface to cover the soil and hold in  moisture is by definition, mulch. She just doesn't use bark or straw or anything else. The compost is a smart idea because you can just turn it into the soil when you finish for the season. Obviously that's where you actually have to stop planting in the winter because of snow or extreme cold and prep the garden for the following year. 

In  my garden when everything finishes up I hope to still be here. We've cleared the first hurdle for this month but still have issues with getting rent on time in the future. I still want a true raised bed garden and better soil.