Things are actually growing in my ersatz garden by the side of the house–a bunch of pots, one raised bed contraption a little more than four feet off the ground, a potting shelf/table and two barely-tamed hoses. Ve gots flowers (I seem to be in a pink/purple phase right now), at least two types of peppers (none hot)–could be more but we’ll get to that later, cantaloupe, strawberries, loganberries (the label said a cross between raspberries and blackberries-all thornless), basil, a couple of attempts at Gerbera Daisies, several types of tomatoes and off to the back of the house by the basement walkout a variegated willow. Fairly normal assortment, right?
Well, there are issues with just about everything but the basil.
First of all, the poor things have been sucking up water faster than I can get it out there–mostly in the mornings as the pros always advise. Sluuurp! Gone! The heat has been killing things as anyone who has opened their door to go out can surely testify. The tomatoes grew up, up and away all right but every time there was a weather disturbance with wind, they went down like oaks in distress. AND…Somebody was eating whatever turned ripe. Not me. My guess is that the family of wood chucks (Did you know that they’re called “Whistle pigs” in some places?)–three of them–have decided that my place is the best salad bar they’ve been to in quite some time. I think that the flowers are the appetizers and the veggies are the main course. I spot them once in a while running for their hideout under the porch. I also spot the damage to the tomatoes and all, but I wonder how they can climb up there to be munching away without anyone ever seeing them. Maybe they stand on each other’s shoulders? Picture that, if you will. They eat strawberries too but those are closer to the ground..
Besides the predations by woodchucks, the tomatoes are suffering from success. They have gotten full enough to look like an Amazonian sample garden but every time there has been any wind–or any visits by jungle animal wannabes–all of that greenery and the plastic supposed-to-be supports go down into a real tangle–tomatoes and all, ripe or not. I don’t know who is trying to eat who but so far I have only picked two actual tomatoes to eat myself.
And somebody, probably somebody named “Chuck”, has been climbing up on the potting table and munching on the Gerbera Daisies, just eating off the petals, leaving the centers and most of the leaves. Several of them have struggled back after being lunch but I don’t know how many times they can hold out. The ‘chucks are apparently all-American types, not Italian, because they are not consuming the basil.
We’ll see how the willow–it’s bushy rather than tree-like, which I moved to the back yard, survives now that it’s away from the dinner table so-to-speak. Hope it does not become either dessert or “weepers”.
