Last week I quickly mentioned the unknown demise of the lettuce crop; grasshoppers, slugs???? This is the continuation of the story. I transplanted the next crop of lettuce the following day (we try to
have plants in line for succession planting through the season). 5 years back Mark had gotten us 2 young garden kittens, Spring and Diesel to guard the sweet produce that the rodents always demolished.
We had tried a trap line but couldn't keep up with emptying them or finding them when they were drug off and still had devastated crops. I didn't want cats with birds around but we mitigated that by not letting them out for the day till later in morning and they were worth their keep when finally we got full crops of beets, carrots and melons. Cats also like to be in the garden and "help" when we're working and they also love fresh worked soil to play in. The day after the transplanting, I found freshly turned out lettuce and soil and loudly grumbled to Mark about the sanity of keeping cats while I replanted the lettuce, only lost one plant. Upon marching out of the garden, continuing to gripe to Mark, I spied sweet Spring with a furry object sticking out of her mouth as she crouched on a path. How could I scold her for one deed when she obviously was also doing her job. Upon closer exam (by Mark) the furry object turned out to be a rabbit foot (feet actually) and we believe the original culprit has been excised. So the beasts are at work protecting the crops and the rabbit hole was found.
Enjoy your greens,
Melinda & Mark
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