Daily Dose Blogger Bios
Cages Within Cages
Last year at this time, I was relaxing with my husband and dear friends in the quaint coastal hamlet of Los Osos, California. Sigh.
This year, I am doing battle with a marauding rat who is hell bent on eating all of my vegetables before I get to them. Heavy sigh.
This is a difficult battle. I've researched and googled til my fingers fell off, I've polled readers, I've asked nurserymen and vegetable gardeners I know ... and there is no clear, consistent answer. Amanda from Kiss My Aster suggested a buttload of chili powder - well, my rat is obviously a transplant from New Mexico, because he eats his stolen tomatoes spicy. On one of my Google searches, I read many tips about using coffee grounds at the base of the plants to ward critters off, so I dumped the grounds from five morning pots around my 'Juliette' tomato. The next morning I found three half eaten tomatoes placed atop a mound of coffee crumbs. He was mocking me. Another tip I read said human urine would deter most critters, but neither my husband nor my minion would comply with my requests. And I am certainly not going to climb up on my beds, squat, and pee. I will only go so far for home grown organic produce.
Seeing that I was getting obsessed with my 'Gardener vs. Varmint' dilemma, the minion (MZ), came up with a solution that SEEMS to be working (I HATE to jinx myself, but I'm knocking on wood). He created Defender Cages out of small gauge wire mesh and rebar, topped them with draped burlap, and put circles of bricks around the bottom to keep Rat Fink from going under the wire. These surround the wire/rebar tomato cages he made me earlier, to keep the plants from sprawling on the ground and the brittle branches from breaking. The result? I have not had an incursion for a week.
Of course, the beast could easily gnaw through the burlap - rats chew through things like wood and dry wall all the time - but at this point we are hoping to make it enough of a pain so it'll just give up before giving it the old college try.
I have all these nearly-ripe luscious little oval 'Juliette' love apples hanging there, waiting for me to pluck them and eat them before the dastardly rodent gets ahold of them. So even though I am sure the Defender Cages are working, I am not going to tempt fate. The scent of a nearly ripe tomato might drive Rat Fink mad with desire and he may bite through wire or dig a tunnel to get at it, so I am going to harvest them before he has a chance to thwart me once again.
Caprese Salad, here I come!
A coyote left his calling card right outside the patio door to our bedroom. My wonderful husband drank a big beer and watered it well. It worked - there was no return visit.
Lots less trouble than your cages...
I'm wondering if a cat would solve the Rat Fink issue, something the size of an ocelot or small mountain lion. Might keep other "undesireables" out as well. Your cages are a great idea and probably would work to keep birds out, too.
We just get rabbits around, but they so far, have stayed in the front yard. (They cannot get under the fence into the back yard for some reason.) When my dog sees a bunny, she goes nuts. She's only 6, with one rebuilt knee and the other bummed too, yet she has managed to catch several.
Sumcool - okay ... tonight I'm buying Jan his favorite Belgian beer and then I'm going to lock myself in the bathroom so he'll HAVE to go somewhere else! The cages have taken care of the tomatoes (knock on wood), but now the damned rat has eaten two ears of my corn, as well as nibbled on a cucumber. The trials of backyard farming!
Hemadi - Yes! Mz and I were talking about how a cat would solve all my problems, but Jan, Dexter, and Sadie don't want cats. The dogs have an excuse - they're dogs, after all, but the husband should be on my side! I don't see why I can't have a cat to aid me in my farming!
Actually, the night before MZ put up the Defence Cages, I woke up at around 3:00am and went outside to check and see if there was any rat damage. I had my flashlight in hand, and I was shining it here and there when the beam landed on a big, beautiful white cat sitting on top of my fence, surveying the vegetable garden with stern, glowing eyes. She didn't run away, she just sat there, as imperious as could be. Seeing that she had everything under control, I went back to sleep and woke up to a vegetable garden free from rat damage!
I haven't seen her since, but I haven't done any nighttime security sweeps either. Maybe she is my first line of defense, and the cages are the back-up!
Oh my god, what a nightmare!! I complain about the doves that crap all over our porch but at least they aren't eating my poor little basil leaves!
(I posted a new photo for you on the blog--you're right, I had it too damp; my mom told me to knock it off a couple weeks ago and now it's doing ok!)
Kate - I know you feel my pain! I am SO looking forward to cook with the freshest possible food that I grow and pick myself - so being jacked by a rat hurts in the worst way!
It is also disgusting to think that the rat is dancing all over my beds... but I decided to have some pioneer spirit about it. If I were Ma Ingalls, I wouldn't be phased by a little nibble here and there - I have Laura, Mary, and ... the other one to feed!
I'm glad the basil is doing better - you should have a little potted herb garden for your cooking! Rosemary, thyme, maybe a chili pepper plant ... and you're cooking like Suzanne Goin!
Thanks for posting the pictures. Those tomatoes look very secure. Will you just remove the burlap and reach in from the top to pick them?
Check this out, Sandia15 - MZ made these uber-cages so that I can easily take them apart to harvest. They are made in two large panels that curve to sort of 'hug' the tomato plants, and each panel anchored by two lengths of rebar. All I have to do is lift out one end of a panel, and swivel it out like a door, and there is a world of tomatoes ready to harvest! The burlap on top is more for shade than keeping the beast out, but it seems to work as a bit of a deterrence. Knock on wood - I don't want to get too cocky and jinx the whole thing!
I must say, MZ is a genius when it comes to things like this. He has farming in his blood, that boy. Everybody needs a Minion!
You know, Germi, this weekend I was in Western Massachusetts visiting some friends and saw that they had covered their tomatoes with mosquito netting. Not so pretty, but interesting nonetheless.
I don't recommend pet poaching generally, but a little kibble and some fresh water, and that neighbor cat could easily become your part-time cat.
Susa, I'm afraid the rat will get to the cat food before the cat! it's a wily rodent ... but they all are.
Why can't my rat be the cure cartoon kind from "Ratatouille"?
That's so clever.