May 25, 2019 Sweet potato vines and basil cannot take even 40 degree weather

Well, after 5 days of rather cold, spring is back. It's cool, 60 today. I just planted two more perennials, a curry plant and another salva in the big garden and then a couple annuals over in the corner.

I've been distressed about the holes, the squirrels who are territorial are still digging holes. So exasperating.

I am wondering if the basil and sweet potato vines will make it. I brought in the basil but not the vines since they were planted under the tree.

I fertilized the tomatoes and peppers as well as all the annuals.

Now I will leave for two weeks.

Hopefully Tom will check on things this next week while he is here and then maybe Debbie....I've not been really careful about all that.  I can always text Debbie.

May 22 Snow on May 20-21

I have had the tomatoes and peppers in the garage for two days.  The plants under the trees did fine.

I am afraid that Paula may still be feeding the squirrels.

I bought some butternut squash seeds at Sprouts and put in 5 or 6 seeds because I think the seeds I put in were no good. I had taken them from the squash from last year.

May 17, 2019 Pretty much finished

The good news is that we've not had squirrels in the yard. Is it because they are not getting fed or is it the mothballs?
Tom worked so hard putting in the new sprinkler system yesterday.

He put in socker hose that we had gotten from the Sanders.  

Today I finally planted all the petunias that I bought on April 26 and Joan "plant sat" them for 2 weeks.  I also planted some perennials and I did another pot. I put an accent in the pot that hopefully will yield a dahlia

I put petunias in the NE garden, even some in the land near Scott and Denyse's fence. The rest in pots and the front of the flower garden.  

I went to King Soopers and got 5 more perennials.  I don't even know the names but with the new water system, maybe they will make it.  One is a lily, I think.  They were not expensive.  I think $7 each and they were pretty big

Wabbit War #3 now in 2019

Well, I was on the phone in the afternoon and I saw one in the backyard. In fact, I gasped and Merri Lee wondered what was going on. Tom had left the gate open so I chased it out.  I thought, well, good maybe there was just one rabbit tormenting us.

I will share with you Kristina Wagner's rendition of what happened last night:

I just had dinner with Tom and Lisa at their lovely home in Denver and I just had to pass on my experience! It was a dinner and a show! Buckle up...the novel is worth it. ;) 

To preface, Tom and Lisa have a lovely garden that they are very protective of and we spent a lot of time before dinner talking about how the squirrels and rabbits are quite a problem.  They have all kinds of chicken wire and fencing around their backyard to keep the rabbits out and mothballs in their garden to keep the squirrels away.

Time passes and we are enjoying a yummy dinner as Lisa blurts out "how did he get in here?"  She was referring to the bunny in the backyard.  Lisa then proceeds to leave the table and chase this bunny all across her backyard.  She is running back and forth!! Tom soon joins with a broom to try to scare the bunny out.  We end up chasing it into a corner and it disappears.  We think that it somehow found a hole and escaped.  We go back inside to finish our meal.

Later, Lisa and I try to find this hole, but instead find the rabbit still in the yard hiding in a cinder block and it is shaking with fear.  We try to get it to come out and go out the gate, but no such luck.  Soooo Lisa gets Tom who comes out with a chef knife!  Innocent me thinks that he got a smaller tool to try to get the bunny out, but no!! He stabs the bunny as Lisa and I turn in horror and start laughing and squealing at the whole thing.  Tom says that the bunny was pretty injured but escaped the yard.

Lisa proceeds to soak the knife in a tub full of bleach but says she is just probably going to throw the knife out anyways.  Oh and they have a rabbit themed bathroom that they now say they are going to redecorate. We end the night with Limoncello and tea trying to forget the trauma that we both experienced. Haha

Typing it all out does not do this story justice, but I just had to share it with you all because I thought you'd get a kick out of it. Haha

When we went out as Kristina was leaving, we were gingerly stepping around the car and saw a rabbit in the Rowe's grass. It was not the stabbed one but was not afraid of us. So exasperating.

As Linda Coulson said to me, "I told my husband to shoot rabbits but not when I am home. But the other night, there was one eating the grass and I said to him,'Shall I get your pellet gun?'"  They are such a menace

May 14, 2019: sprouts, flowers, sprinklers, squirrels, rabbits

Well, it's been an eventful few days since we returned from Europe.
It rained a lot while we were gone, even snowed but that was good for the garden.

The fence that Tom put up probably would not keep out a rabbit determined to get in but I sure appreciated his effort.  I put in butternut squash seeds behind that stone (just did it on May 12) but the seeds did not look too good. 
So on May 12, I planted the cucumbers, summer squash and zucchini.

All the petunias that I "scalped" survived at Joan's. They did not grow much but they look healthy. 

I went a tad crazy at Walmart on May 13. Great flowers and excellent prices.  I even bought a hanging basket.  But spent about $120. 

The big discouragement was on Monday morning.  There were squirrels all over the flower garden, digging madly.  One, in particular, was in one of the barrels and digging a huge hole.  I was so upset. I could tell Tom was upset too. He had worked so hard on that sprinkler system and the squirrels destroyed it.  Then Linda told me that it is illegal to feed squirrels.  She told me maybe I should call the county. I mean, I wanted to but I did not want to hurt Paula or get her in trouble.  I prayed and clearly sensed I needed to ask Paula to not feed the squirrels. gulp.  I told Joan and Linda, kind of to be accountable. 

Paula was working in the yard and I went over. I had some chocolate from Austria for her as she watered the garden although she said it rained so much, she really did not do anything. I told her I was discouraged. She came over and saw the chewed pipes and the holes.  Then I just said it, nicely, "I know you love the wildlife but would you consider not feeding the squirrels?"  She immediately said she would stop. 

Then we got talking about mothballs and using them as a deterrent. I went to the Dollar store and got some. I put them out Monday and there were no squirrels in the garden. In fact, they seemed to be avoiding the garden AND they don't have any peanuts. 

There were holes in this garden too. I planted some impatiens. I can't plant where the porcelain lady is because of the tree roots.  I also planted a lupine.

I planted that Columbine and a fuschia, both perennials.  Note the poppy, not looking healthy but still alive.  I noticed some poppies in other yards on my walk today.

Every since Scott got that fence, I've never had good "money plants" like Paula's  but a few will blossom next week.

planted a perennial.  It is so tough to make this garden pretty.  Even the perennials die.
It's the pine tree. 

These petunias were not looking good so I planted them behind the grill. We'll see what happens.

2 peppers, 2 tomato and 3 herb