Well, it finally happened. The bunnies discovered the garden. 🙁
Or at least I think it was bunnies as only a few of the bean plants were munched on. If it was something bigger, like a deer, the whole garden would have been destroyed.
Early July Gardening in Coastal Maine
As soon as I spotted the damage I ran inside and grabbed a bottle of chili powder and ran back out and sprinkled it on everything I thought might be interesting to a small animal.
The beans, squash, cucumbers, cabbage, sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, you name it, they’ve got chili powder on it now.
I wanted to fence the garden in for the summer but my husband didn’t like the idea of fencing material being seen from the road {what a weirdo!} nor did he want to spend the money on it. Maybe this will make the HH re-think the idea of fencing the entire garden. We’ll see.
Munch munch munch. This little guy was lunching on rhubarb leaves. Anyone know what kind of bug it is?
I think today might be a good day to harvest a few heads of cabbage {while they’re still there!}.
Overall though I think the gardens are doing pretty well. It rained last night so everything got a nice drink.
It’s time to harvest the garlic scapes!
And look at the baby cucumber… isn’t he sweet?
This year I planted Tall Telephone shelling peas along the front of the picket fence and so far, the pods are crazy long! I think it will be fun to see how many peas we’ll get and to see if this variety is one we’ll want to dedicate more space to grow next year.
I also harvested our second head of Little Gem Romaine lettuce yesterday.
This morning’s view of the religious family sized garden.
The tomato plants are looking pretty healthy.
And some are already loaded with tomatoes!!!
The blueberries are getting pretty close.
But I think my favorite thing in the garden right now are the Brussels sprouts. There’s just so much hope nestled in those tiny little buds on the stalks that it brings a smile everytime I walk past them.
Gardening, every year is a little bit different. And I’m so glad it is. It makes you want to come back for more year after year.
Here’s to another great day in the garden, even if today’s task is pulling weeds. 🙂
~ Mavis
P.S. Here in Mid-Coast Maine we are looking at sunny skies and perfect growing temps for the next two weeks. What’s the weather like in YOUR neck of the woods? Are you getting enough sunshine?
Nancy says
Just remember that chili powder has salt in it. Ground cayenne pepper works like a charm!
Cindy Miller says
That bug is a Japanese Beetle. The best time of day to collect them in a covered jar is high noon. That’s when they are very active.
Caitlin says
Interesting, I would suggest the opposite. I like to plop/push them into a soapy container of water in the early morning or early evening when they are a bit chilly, so they are not very active and don’t fly away!
Yvonne says
I do the same, and do it either late afternoon on or early am, ( they are sluggish and don’t fly too fast during those times) using water and dish soap in a container or bucket. Brush them by hand into the water, they will die without having to spray. They love certain flowers too (especially roses) and can destroy a lot of leaves in a short amount of time.
Meg C says
I hate Japanese beetles! They destroyed my rose bushes this year. I thought about getting one of those traps but the reviews were mixed; some said they worked & others said they brought more beetles around.
Mavis, when you find one make sure you get rid of it immediately! They will destroy all your hard work!
Nancy says
They completely devoured my basil plants a few yrs ago.
Me says
I echo this! Get rid of them when you see them!! They are devouring our blackberries, apple and peach trees! I hate them! In the early evening or very late afternoon is when I do a sweep of them in a container with soap and water, they seem to be like zombies at that time, any other time of day and they are harder to get because they fly away easier. Truthfully it seems like a losing battle! I seem to collect hundreds of them and I go out the next day and there seem to be hundreds more.
Wendy says
Here is Alabama the high today will be 95, with a real feel temp of 106. The humidity today is 96%. I have already done my morning chores and hope I am inside until much later this evening. If it does not rain today, (we usually have at least a 50% of afternoon showers this time of year) I will have to water the garden this evening. My hubby and teenage son both have COVID so all gardening chores are on me right now. We are getting tomatoes, squash, peppers, cucumbers and blueberries each day. I have already picked 20 quarts of blueberries (over a period of two weeks). I’ll tell you the truth-I’m about tired of looking at blueberries :). But I do love all the things I can make with them and like having them in the freezer to use through the winter. Our black-eyed pea shells are turning purple so they will need harvesting probably at the beginning of next week. Praying COVID does not hit me otherwise I’m not sure how they will get harvested.
Angie says
In Georgia our weather is hot and humid. 90’s during the day with a heat index in the triple digits and nearly 100% humidity.
I was late in playing my garden this year so right now I am getting squash, cucumbers, zucchini, peppers and some cherry tomatoes. My green beans are flowering and climbing and all the field peas are coming along nicely. I am hoping that showers received are light and gentle and the big downpours we have had lately
Have been hard on The garden. Also hoping that we will be harvesting into September so that I can put away lots of veggies to eat through the winter.
Gardening is my favorite thing even if it means sweat and bug bites sometimes.
Diane says
One of my dogs got injured, so I’m on care-giving duties. At best, I might get a little watering accomplished.
Since it’s been a stressful 24 hours, I’m hoping the whole household can dial it back some today and find some calmness.
J in OH-IO says
Diane,
Hope your dog heals quickly and there is calmness in your home today!
sandyf says
Ahhh-poor pup! Hugs to the furry baby. My corgi started yelping once in awhile after a walk a day ago and of course our vet was on vacation-waited a day until she returned and today he is as good as new, the silly pup. I had visions of x rays and MRI’s but fingers crossed that he just pulled something. Hope the pup is on the mend soon….
Meg C says
For some reason my green beans have really been struggling to get started in my garden. I finally have a few plants coming up and I covered them with some leftover tulle I had lying around. The tulle is light enough that the plans aren’t harmed but the bunnies can’t easily get to them. I’m planting more beans tonight so fingers crossed that they take better this time around.
laura says
mid to high 90’s here in southern california. last week was much more to my liking, mid 80’s!! it seems the older i get the less heat i can take!! my new garden is taking teeny tiny steps forward but things are happening and i am hopeful the fall garden will be amazing!
Nancy says
It is excessive heat warning today here. Temps in 100 degree. Sorry about the japanese beetles but can use soap and water to kill or neem oil. They will be around til August. Make sure you do preventive treatment for the grubs.Still harvesting beans, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, and blackberries.
Andrea says
Check out the deer fencing on this YouTuber’s garden – Unemployed Redneck Hillbilly Creations.
Lisa in Denver says
OMGosh that is a Japanese Beetle and they are wicked!!! They lay eggs you cannot see in the soil and then next year the grubs eat everything! The grubs destroyed all of the pole beans I planted! I dug through the raised beds and killed as many as I could find and planted again. UGH!! I spread Milky Spore in all of my beds and my yard and I use the traps. Still get em UGH!!!! I feel like I am in a war with the bugs this year. Grasshoppers devastated my potato leaves, but fingers cross I still have some that are flowering. My sugar snaps are doing well, beets and rutabegas are well. Ants ate my strawberries. Oh well!!! Your garden looks fantastic 🙂
Pam F. says
I also grew the tall telephone peas (Champion of England) and despite below freezing temps, hot temps (97 degrees) and what seemed like monsoonal rains I still got quite a few pickings. They do get tall. My problem now is with a fox. He’s gotten into the raspberries and knocked down a few canes. Now he’s trying to get to the fruit in our trees. May just have to trap and relocate him. As bad as he is he’s not as bad as the bear we had last year!
Susan H. says
I am so discouraged today…groundhogs got into my beans just as they are starting to climb. I have put so many barriers around them we would have a hard time to get to them LOL I saw on MIGardener to hand pick japanese beetles and drop them in a container with cooking oil. The oil kills them quickly. I had tried salt water and they just did the backstroke…
Lana says
Our battle is squirrels. They have eaten every plum and tomato and many of our peppers. We are Upping our game. This is war!
Lynn Y says
Your gardens look gorgeous, Mavis! I think rabbits view young green bean plants like candy.
Tina says
Japanese beetle!!! Hurry! They will decimate an entire garden in an evening. Pull any you can see and plop them into soapy water. You can also sprinkle diotomaceous earth around which will kill them. Hurry!
Diane says
I’ve heard stringing fishing line works well to keep deer out of the garden because they feel it but don’t see it and that startles them so they take off. I wonder if you strung some down low if it would work the same for the bunnies.
Hanna says
Your gardens are beautiful, the result of lots of work. I put quite a few little windmills in my garden to discourage the rabbits and squirrels. The Shiny ones work best. The light shines off them so even if there is no breeze it still works. Also, I put hem where the critter would have to pass by them. They did help. Good luck Mavis. I absolutely love your emails.
tc says
Only thing that helped us was 8ft deer fencing, the deer eat everything otherwise and boy can they jump. If it is rabbits, you could line the inside of your picket fence and gate with mesh but you would have to peg it down to stop them pushing under.
tc says
Only thing that helped us was 8ft deer fencing, the deer eat everything otherwise and boy can they jump. If it is rabbits, you could line the inside of your picket fence and gate with mesh but you would have to peg it down to stop them pushing under.
sue says
Everything looks so wonderful and green.
I’m so not with it this year, first the rain, rain in central Alabama.
Now the heat is awful, things are not producing like we want to see. You have the touch when it come to having the best garden.
Enjoy your bounty, that’s got to be worlds best soil for growing veggies and you don’t even add fertilizer.
Deborah says
Our high today was 104-degrees here in East Texas. Ouch. We’re having trouble with horn worms on the tomatoes. We’ve had them twice so far. They’ve eaten almost all of both tomato plants and we’ve gotten no ripe tomatoes.
Anita F says
Those are Japanese Beetles and they’re a pest for sure. Early AM is good time to knock them into a bucket of soapy water. They’ve destroyed my rhubarb and raspberry plants for the past few years!
Diane says
It is miserably hot and humid here in middle Tennessee – highs in the mid-90s with heat index up to 105. Plus, we need rain! I don’t know anyone’s garden that is doing well right now. Yours looks fantastic! I had hoped to start a small garden this year and did plant several herbs, but a dog with back issues and I with a broken rib nipped the garden plans. My herbs are hanging in there!
GrannyB says
Japanese beetle and I use a 2 gallon pump sprayer. Fill with water then squeeze in 1/2 to 3/4 cup of blue dawn. Gently mix and then spray the plants and leaves (top and bottom). Repeat about every 10 days. Kills them and keeps any others flying in off of the plants. Dawn doesn’t hurt the vegetation. We have a war going on in my garden, but so far I’m winning. Out of town for a few days. Let’s hope everything is ok when I get back.
Silkifae says
Japanese beetles every year have eaten both the leaves & flowers of green bean plants, blueberries, dwarf apple tree, rose of Sharon, hollyhocks, snap peas, on & on. At the end of last season I purchased Beetle Gone powder that is mixed with water & sprayed on. It is supposed to be safe to spray even on day of harvest & is recommended for organics. I sprayed my blueberries & my 9 rose of Sharons about 10 days ago & I am happy to report, I have rarely seen a beetle since. There is also a product called Grub Gone, but I cannot attest to how it works.
While fishing line works for deer, I have not had luck with it deterring groundhogs, bunnies or raccoons which will decimate rows of corn & green bean bushes. I recommend a fencing product called Critter Fence. I am not affiliated with it in any way. I purchased the black fence 4 years ago & installed it with T-posts & zip ties. It still looks & performs like new. The black is so inconspicuous that I worried about birds or deer not seeing it & getting tangled up, but that has not happened. It has worked so well – I would purchase it again in a heartbeat. When installing, I did let about 6″ fold over & lie flat on the ground & the only thing I have seen inside is the occasional chipmunk.
Cathy says
The bug is a Japanese Beetle. I would like to know if you remove the “suckers” from your tomato plants or just let them grow?
Mavis Butterfield says
No, I don’t remove them. 🙂
Tracy says
Just promise me you will call your garden “The Religious Family Garden” from now on. Forever. It makes me laugh out loud every single time I read it.
I second what everyone else has said about Japanese Beetles. Kill them daily or they will turn entire gardens into shredded lace. And whatever you do, don’t use any Japanese Beetle traps which use pheromones to attract them. There is a ton of research that concludes that these traps work so well you will attract many, many more of them to your garden where they’ll do even more damage on their way to the trap. These beetles also lay their eggs in soil, usually under grass, where the awful white wormy larvae eat the roots of your grass lawn, killing huge swaths. As I mentioned, kill them daily! I hate them so much I don’t even bother tapping them into soapy water— Now I just crush them, one after the other, between my fingers until their hard shell pops, like I do Lily Beetles! . :::::evil laugh:::
Dianna says
My first round of green beans got nipped like that but it wasn’t bunnies here — it was birds!
Myra says
I spread used coffee grounds around my peas that the bunnies’ were eating and it seemed to work. I now use the coffee grounds all over my garden.
Vicki in Birmingham says
Getting enough sun? Yeah, I think we are. There is a continuing heat wave here in the South. Pretty much somewhat akin to varying slices of hell. Tomorrow is expected to have a heat index of 108 degrees. The World Games start here tomorrow too…oh my…those poor athletes.
My garden has suffered because of it. Maybe I should get some shade cloth, just watering every day hasn’t help everything. The zucchini and squash are gone, other things are stunted. I am going to replant some things in the hopes that they will have time to grow.
You weather sounds delightful and your garden rather gardens are absolutely gorgeous!
A Loveless says
I only have some planters with a few vegetables and last night went to bed with a beautiful parsley plant and this morning woke up to stems! None of my other plants were touched! I’m not sure if it was an ambitious rabbit, a deer, or a ground hog. I’m not sure how best to protect the rest of the plants!
Cindy says
Your garden looks amazing! So many delicious veggies.
Tammy says
Here in the upstate area of SC it has been very hot and muggy. I think it has sped things up in the garden but also halted more from growing, if that makes sense. Anyhow, I’ve gotten one batch of canned tomatoes, and another of salsa so far, and the cucumbers are almost done. I think I can do a batch or two more of pickles before we pull them out.
Stacey says
I have so many battles with different critters along with very little sunlight in my little patch of yard but I nearly gave up this year. I did harvest a small batch of baby lettuce which was delicious, and my green beans have buds. We’ll see if I get to eat any of them. My big Discovery this year was microgreens. I have a little plant light cramped to my kitchen counter, and now I can grow food!
Pat in WV says
If we didn’t have an electric fence the deer, rabbits, groundhogs, squirrels and raccoons would make having a garden useless. Right now I am having a problem with crows pecking my tomatoes. I am thinking about a motion activated sprinkler. Does anyone know if this will work? Spread milky spore on your property to kill the Japanese beetle grubs. It won’t harm anything else, it spreads and will keep on working for years.
Marie says
We tried one as well as our neighbors on either side of us. Once tripped, the deer thought we had set up a multi house car wash just for them. They returned every night…..
In fact, these deer are so tame they were last seen ordering keys for our front doors at the driveup key cutting kiosk in town just to make a “grand entrance” to their all-you-can-eat buffet out back.
Donna says
Hang some Irish spring near beans. Helps to deter the critters
Wendy says
UGH! I hate the japanese beetles. They destroyed my pole beans and they love my strawberry leaves too.