Cat War!

There is one thing I hate more then anything else…garden related.  Cats!  Strays are horrible and nasty and the worst thing in a garden.  I’m one that believes in being a responsible pet owner.  If you don’t want the pet, be grown up enough to find it a good home.  Don’t just kick it out the door to fend for itself.  And if you do want the pet, be responsible enough to not let your pet cause problems for your neighbors.  Honestly, you’re not doing your pet any favor by letting it roam willy-nilly all over the neighborhood.  Even if it’s a cat.  Especially if it’s a cat!  Do cat owners really think their “wittle bitty kitty” couldn’t ever possibly cause any harm?

1-2-3 Mosquito Punch!

If it’s not one pest, it’s another!  The battle to have a healthy, productive garden is an ongoing thing here.  But the benefits and rewards outweigh all the troubles…usually.  Last week I could barely walk into my garden without being attacked by a cloud of mosquitoes.  Not a fun experience…plus it makes it kind of hard to tend to the garden needs.

Squash Bug War Final Tally

A few skirmishes  are being fought here and there, but for the most part I think the war is over.  It was a hard won victory.  Though “victory” is probably not the best way to describe the outcome. With a heavy heart I must report heavy casualties…on both sides. 

“Come into my Parlor” said the Spider to the Fly

Or in this case…said the Soap to the Squash Beetle.  I’ve been struggling the last few weeks with a squash bug infestation in my garden.  At first I didn’t worry overly much about it.  In the past I’ve had great success with Safe Solutions.  But either these are super bugs with kryptonite armor or the Safe Solutions product has changed.  I’m disheartened to think that I’m not going to be able to rely on this product any more.  But I’m a results kind of person, and if nothing else has changed and it’s not working effectively against squash bugs, then I can’t trust it to work right in other areas.

Ants

“Ants are found on all continents except Antarctica, and only a few large islands such as Greenland, Iceland, parts of Polynesia and the Hawaiian Islands lack native ant species.Ants occupy a wide range of ecological niches, and are able to exploit a wide range of food resources either as direct or indirect herbivores, predators and scavengers. Most species are omnivorous generalists but a few are specialist feeders…More than 12,000 species are currently known (with upper estimates of about 22,000)…” quoted from Wikipedia.

Bees Anyone?

This was a few months ago, but it was scary and amazing and very cool.  CareBear went out to check her butterfly garden visitors and nearly ran into this:

Cat Fight – Checkmate!

We did it! We found a way to keep the neighbor’s strays out of my garden…and no cat lost its life in the process…

Cat Fight – My Point

This is my temporary solution to the neighbor’s stray cat using my garden as it’s liter box.  It’s only temporary…a more permanent solution is in the works.  But this works fairly well…for it’s intended purpose.  I’m finally getting seedlings from the replant I did a couple weeks ago.  I know it puts us further behind…but it’s something.  One big downside with this setup though, is it’s very difficult to plant the next round of seeds.  But it’s a small price to pay to keep the cat out.

Cat Fight!

I am fuming mad right now!  On top of everything else I’m struggling  with right now, I have  been trying to out smart a neighborhood “stray” cat.  Technically he’s not a stray…he belongs to the neighbor behind us.  This cat from day 1 has decided that my garden beds are perfect “dumping grounds” for his crap!!!

Eeeeeeewwwww!

I love my garden and all the joy and bounty that comes from it…and  there are very few things that give me the creeps.  I’m not fond of spiders…okay…” not fond” isn’t exactly the right way to say it.  I pretty much hate them with a passion!  I understand their benefit and those who live in my garden are tolerated and left alone…except for the poisonous ones.  They don’t get much choice since I put my family first.