i needed a catchy title...

it makes a lot of difference when the live trap is
actually working correctly. and having the bait that
the critters can't resist.

the past few days we've relocated three groundhogs
and two raccoons. it's been raining this morning so
we've not reset the trap from the earlier transport
run.

the live trap was previously not working because the
spring that pushes the door closed had slipped downwards
and i'd not noticed it. once i snugged it back up where
it was supposed to be the door started properly latching
again.

we've found out that both raccoons and groundhogs are
perfectly happy eating sunflower seeds. the raccoons
will shred any bit of plastic left in the cage when they
are captured while the groundhogs are very polite about
it and will just flip them around. on a hot day i was
surprised that the groundhog would lick the peanut butter
off of celery but would not eat the celery itself (does
that say anything important about celery? i like
celery myself so it's funny to me that it would not at
least chew on the celery for a bit of moisture). since
then we've switched to all sunflower seeds and the trap
has been being sprung once or twice a day. all cases
it has now been catching something, before they could
push the door back up and get out.

the other critters we've been trapping has greatly
slowed down this week (no chipmunks or mice for the
past few days). our tally on those has been over 32
chipmunks and more than 18 mice. the bucket method
has been much more effective and selective than
compared to the rat traps i was using before. with the
rat traps there was always chances of getting a snake,
bird, toad, frog, etc. this time we've only gotten
one bird and one toad by accident (the toad could swim
and so was released back into the garden). and one
groundhog (which was a lucky catch, but the live trap
has been much faster and less trouble in that we can
release them instead of me having to bury the poor
guys.

i'm hoping we're down to just a few remaining
groundhogs to trap as i think we have either one or
two left. so far none have done much chewing on
the gardens (being content to get the sunflower seeds
instead i suppose). it has also helped that i make
regular rounds at the times when they are usually
active so i've been able to chase them away from the
gardens. i almost busted a gut laughing one time
when the groundhog was trying to squeeze through the
fence after i'd found it inside. luckily it had not
yet figured out that there were tender bean sprouts
just a few feet away. this is much different than
last year where by this time most of the beans had
been trimmed back once or more times.

in other garden news the back green manure patch is
ready to be cut back again (regular rains have been
nice) which will really perk up the worms again. all
the rest of the gardens have been weeded fairly often
enough that there are only a few trouble spots left
to get after. this week will likely be a perfect time
to do that.

a few strawberries still to be found, but not enough
to collect and make shortcakes. a nice snack for when
i'm out and around. the far back strawberry patch will
need to be redone this year as it has been overgrown by
aggressive grass and plenty of other weeds too. all of
that will make good organic material for the same area
once i get a good root barrier in place to keep the grass
and horsetail from migrating into the area. another
aggressive weed we've been taking out as we've redone
other gardens and it's been taking over that back
strawberry patch too. the bees do love it and i hate to
get rid of all of it, but there's plenty else here for
the bees.

oh, speaking of bees, the field next to us now has six
beehives. with all the birdsfoot trefoil, poppies,
lavender and other flowers blooming there are tons of
honey bees all over the place.

pretty much everything else is doing ok, the garlic is
getting closer to being ready to harvest. the onions i put
in from seed look pretty good. the larger onion sets i
planted are already starting to bulb out (last year they
didn't start doing that until much later). the red peppers
are going great. the green peppers planted right next to
them are not doing as well, but they are still green and
growing so i've not given up on them. the tomatoes are
starting to bloom (the cherry tomatoes already have small
fruits). all the beans are up and growing. only a few
spots to replant when i get back outside tomorrow to take
stock.

so as they say, can't complain about this year so far, it's
coming along pretty well...


songbird