Wednesday, May 4, 2011.....
Last week it happened. I was looking out the window in the back of my living room and having hit the glass I startled Mr. Woodchuck. He, along with Mr. Bunny, scampered out of my garden.
Last year I wrote about my issues with the newest addition to the neighborhood and how Mr. Woodchuck ate so many of my plants before they had a chance to really grow. Later in the season, I wrote about Mr. Bunny and the pack of deer that would come graze on the other veggies in my garden. I quickly sprayed the garden with soap and cayenne pepper, but it was too late and I have to admit I felt defeated and gave up my battle.
This year it is different. I'm a woman on a mission. After seeing that Mr. Woodchuck and Mr. Bunny have joined forces, I immediately went outside and sprinkled cayenne pepper on my spring sprouts of sugar snap peas, lettuce, beets and parsley. They both hate cayenne pepper and frankly I hope I burned their little tongues. I haven't seen them in my garden since, but I did see Mr. Bunny near the garden out of my living room window. I tapped on the window to startle him and nothing. He just stood still, so I did what would only be my next logical move: I had a staring contest with him. Ya know what, I think he snarled at me. In fact, I know he did (well, not at first). However, after the 3rd time of seeing his upper lip area move and seeing a white line, I realized he was showing me his teeth. My husband thinks I'm crazy, but I now firmly believe I have the 'killer' rabbit from the Monty Python movie: Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Over the past 3 years, I've felt a lot of my control has been taken away from me and I told my husband I want to defeat the critters this year from taking my garden. Does this require me to spend money on soap and cayenne pepper? Yes. Does it have me chasing small woodland creatures off my property like a crazy woman? Probably. But I need to do this. I need to take control where I can and I need to defeat my arch nemesis and pals this year. Because of this reason, my husband said he would do anything to help me defeat them.
Bye, bye Mr. Woodchuck. Bye, bye Mr. Bunny. So long pack-o-deer. My all you-can-eat veggie buffet is closed.
14 comments:
ok you totally need to film the efforts...totally see movie written all over this...and best of luck...the deer are mine...
Brian - I believe CaddyShack would come closest to my efforts. Although, this will make you laugh -- this morning when I went out to weed, I could tell it rained because the closer I got to the garden, the more it smelled like dish soap.
Brian - dish soap will take care of the deer - buy cheap dish soap, put it in a miracle grow container, attach to hose & viola! No. More. Deer.
Good luck, I fight an ongoing battle with a lovesick couple of birds who insist on building their nest in the patio awning. I take it down over and over, daily, but they just rebuild it. Once they lay eggs they win the battle as I don't have the heart to knock it down then. Sigh, a new awning fabric will be in my future at this rate...
My sister uses coyote urine. This makes me laugh.
I agree with Brian - you must film your efforts!
I wish you success wholeheartedly. I lost three of my best roses to squirrels last season. :( I realised they were nibbling at the spring leaves too late. so this year, I decided to wait for the spring season to pass before buying roses. I am scared of the fight with the squirrels. there just are too many!
does cayenne pepper work well?
Ah the visions that ran through my head were priceless. Thank you for the much needed chuckle. Oh, and I love Monty Python.
Does the pepper thing work on squirrels? I think my Mom is going to lose her mind if they uproot one more of her plants.
You go, girl! Mine is a raccoon that taunted me from the top of the washing machine. Inside the house! He likes to snack on the cat food we leave there overnight and doesn't give a crap that it's not for him.
Treading Lightly - That is a problem - would spraying the awning with a soap solution in a miracle grow bottle work?
Mandy - I WON'T DO IT. It's been suggested to me, but I know there are coyotes in my local park which is 1.2 miles away from house. According to hubby, coyotes travel about 1.5 miles away from their base (he's a hunter) and knowing my luck, I'd get rid of the bunny and woodchuck, but end up with a coyote family (this isn't too far a stretch since I've had foxes come visit me).
Dree - I told my sister that 2 people wanted me to do this and agreed. I'm not that crazy, but I will post pictures once my garden is full force -- maybe, I'll capture the snarling bunny & woodchuck in pics (if lucky).
Rohini - I have tons of squirrels in my yard and the only issue I've ever really had with them was with a red squirrel. He hated the cayenne pepper -- we also captured him in a have-a-heart trap.
Squirrel - I've used just cayenne pepper for red squirrels and it has worked. I tried looking it up in the book Carrots Love Tomatoes and they didn't address squirrels. However, soap and cayenne will keep away most annoying animals and bugs. Btw, go in the Spanish aisle to buy the large cayenne container - much cheaper than what's in the spice aisle.
So.Cal.Gal - Oh. My. God. I'd FREAK OUT... I can't handle a mouse, never mind a raccoon.
Those bunnies ruin everything, don't they? But they're so darn cute! I didn't know soap and cayenne pepper worked though.
I picture Mr. Bunny and Mr. Woodchuck sort of like the gopher in Caddyshack - doing the happy dance when they are outwitting you. Cue the Kenny Loggins music.
I hope they don't read blogs, either. Because then they will think of a different approach.
Good luck....
Oh, I will be checking in for updates on your battle! Best of luck to you!
Hahaha! Killer Rabbit. I have the most psychotic Killer Rabbit puppet complete with bloody fangs that I bought at a Spamalot play. Perhaps I could send it to you and you could use it as a scarecrow in your garden?
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