I am overdue for a progress report.
I’ll give you a quick read today because you have things to do, like pulling weeds.
I know I do.
I am surprised I have these tomatoes. When I have a lot of…
this going on. The deer are biting off the tomato tops.
I can’t even show you what they did to the cucumber plants. Hurts to much.
Does anyone else feel a bit disturbed that it looks like little yellow fingers are reaching out of the eggplant flower? They even have fingernails.
My summer squash is wearing his hat today. What? You can’t see it? Let me help.
There he is.
No…I did not pay him to say that. Ok, yes I did.
I am just realizing I did not put pants on him. Well if Donald Duck can get away with it, why not a squash.
I found this kind of odd. The ants are swarming the squash flowers. Only the squash flowers.
Anyone know why this is? I assume they are harmless and they are just after something sweet.
Talk to you again soon,
Time to reblog my deer repellent recipes!!
I have tried human hair and dry pig blood with poor results.
The answer is garlic, onions, hot sauce (lots!!) and dish detergent. Some sour milk and rotten eggs also enhance my witch’s brew. I take care of my whole neighborhood, and we have hosta, daylillies, and coneflowers. Check out my blog for recipes, romancingthebee.com.
But I need my hot sauce for my quesadilla.
I think I can keep my neighbor away with that brew. Bonus!
Your whole yard will smell like Buffalo Chicken Wings. But it’s worth it!!
I think I’ve done enough weeding for one day. No idea about the ants but animals of all kinds can do an amazing amount of damage!
A cat decided to walk along one of the fences this evening, attracted by the birds in the trees next to the fence. Fortunately, the birds flew away and the cat decided to go elsewhere rather than jump down into the garden. They do have a habit of trampling all over the seed beds, though.
All that nice loose soil for the cat to “do it’s business”.
Definitely not what any gardener needs!
Yep. Ants are actually pollenators (SP?). They are pollenating your squash. We always see ants as problems, but they are actually quite efficient at pollenating.
When I grow squash they are all over the blossoms. I looked it up online once thinking I needed to do something about it and found they are actually helping.
Oh! Thanks for the info as I have ants all over my eggplant.
Ants and okra are the same way. The ants don’t go near anything else in my garden, but they’re all over the okra plants. Not the okra pods, just the stems and blossoms.
Thanks I had this same issue and question and didn’t think about asking. Not to self: ask questions. Thanks!
Ummm that’s note to self:
That’s what we are here for.
Jealous of the early tomatoes. The ants may be after aphids- squash and zucchini can be aphid bombs. Otherwise it usually something with natural sugar.
We fight the deer with fence, net and cage- they would eat everything we have…
Oh, I am sorry about the deer. My in-laws who have the same problem spray a smelly substance which if I recall correctly has bear pheromones in it. Now, if I am wrong, my comment is good for laughs.
I noticed the tips of my tomato plants were eaten too. Must be deer. Ugh. I have some kind of smelly organic spray. I’ve been using it for the past couple years. Guess I will get it out again. I’m building a fence this year too. Hope it helps.
Totally get why Deer SUCK! We put up deer fencing 2 years ago-the best thing I ever did for the garden. Love your Squash man, no pants and all!
ARGH! Those cloven hooved locusts… Are you fenced? We put up a fence here with lovely cedar posts 8feet high. Two days later a deer was in the garden. Now our ‘pretty’ cedar posts have scrap lumber up to 13 feet with galvanized wire strung between…but at least we haven’t had deer damage in years.
Check the squash plants a little closer, the ants may be harvesting the honeydew of the aphids, an odd but symbiotic relationship.
*anna
I can’t have a yard fence where I live. Last year I had a fence around the garden only and it just became such a hassle getting myself in there to harvest. Guess I must rethink the fence.
umm, yeah! Why on earth can you not have a fence?
*anna
Our house backs to common ground and the neighborhood association does not allow fences on lots that back to the common ground to keep the common ground more open looking.
ahhh drat and double drat, since it’s the common ground that is likely the haven of said deer. You can give a try to the hair thing. I recall an old wives tale about Irish Spring soap, I know I’d keep my distance from such a scent
Keep us posted as to how you work it out…
I just had an idea that may be useful for your deer problem without fencing. Deer are very cautious about where they step/walk. Perhaps take a bit of chicken wire or deer netting and instead of erecting a ‘fence’ create a barrier around the garden of netting/wire so they are loathe to walk there. Maybe that will help.
*anna
I see that was not as clear as I thought of it…I mean to say, lay the netting or wire on the ground.
*anna
Yellow squash guy is great. Can he be a re-occurring character?
I’m jealous that you can grow squash. I have just given up. Borers are too prolific in my area. The pictures are beautiful.
Nothing prettier than a squash blossom. If I was an ant I would swarm it too!
Apparently Alpaca manure repels deer and other animals. While we cannot smell it, but they hate the smell. I have some in my garden this year, and it does not burn the plants and can be put on without composting.
Is that something you can buy at a store?
That I am not sure of (where to buy it commercially), but we get it off an Alpaca farmer. They are happy to give it away if you can find someone who owns it.
That was quite amusing. Thank you.
Now how come my squash don’t give my blog a shout out? haha! Excellent post and progress!
Everything looks so healthy, even the guy in the vest! So sorry the deer ate your garden!!! My grandmother used to hang some stupid chimes from the dollar stores to scare off the deer.
We don’t have deer here, but I’ve always heard urine is the way to go. *shrug*
As for the ants… I commented above.
Deer have been munching away here as well. Their beautiful to look at, but I wish they’d leave the gardens alone.
I nominated you for the sunshine award. Please see your blog listing at http://suburbancreampuff.wordpress.com/2012/06/20/a-bit-behind-but-worth-it/
Reblogged this on Brenda Davidson Pages.