I might want to be careful how I title this particular blog; you will see soon enough what I am talking about though. I have grown to love the gardens here and find myself fooling around with them over the course of the season. I have extended them to the hilt, or so I tell myself each year, but with each year, the gardens seem to expand. I just have to have that new perennial, or the plants have spread so much that they are busting out. Whatever it is, I have made the back yard into an area to relax, unwind and enjoy. However, it is not always like that
It all started last fall; I planted these wonderful tulips that were going to be the envy of the neighborhood. I was gloating just a little bit. I put them in the ground and let th
em go. As with all bulbs, they do not give you instant gratification. You wait throughout the winter and then as the first signs of spring come along, you wait for the first leaves to poke on out, as with every plant that you put into the garden, from flours, to herbs and so on.So as that first leaf started to poke its self through the cold winter soil, I knew that my wait would soon be over, it was beginning to happen. The dark days of winter were behind us and new life was just getting ready to burst. Soon after I saw quite a few of the bulbs I planted poking out and all was on track.
Then one morning, as I was performing my routine of walking around and checking out the progress, I noticed that the tulips leaves were gone! I could not find some of them. Some were still there, but in one section, they were gone. I could not believe it, what was soon to be the envy of the neighborhood, was gone???
Well, it was not all that bad, there were still more just getting ready to poke on through and they would soon be all that I wanted. The next morning I awoke to a fresh chill in the air and I thought that maybe the frost did something to the plants. I went outside to look and noticed that the daffodils were all still ok. I looked for the new growth that was left from the tulips and could not find it. Could this be... more is now gone. I looked around it the garden and found a hole as if dug from something... RATS! Well, not really, but for sure rodents. Just
about then out of the debris left from last season shot out a rabbit. It had dirt on it's paws and a green mustache around his face. That little devil. He was the one eating my tulips and a number of other things in the garden.So now I am constanly reminded of Elmur Fudd and his never ending pursuit of making the rabbit, "kick the bucket". I have tried so much over the past few months. The tulips finally did pop out of the ground, but boy did they look spindly and all chewn up at first. At one point I did get this spray that seemed to work a bit... putriefied egg is what it is and boy oh boy was it nasty. Seemed to work for a while, but as soon as it rained, I had problems again. Now it seems that they have calmed down a bit, although I see them everywhere.
I will be careful this fall when planning the gardens for next year, not so many tulips. When you creat the opportunity for a motley crew of bulb yielding bunnies vollieing for prize tulips, the frustrations seem to mount. I will try to remember! ( Do not creat opportunity for bunnies... Do not creat opportunity for bunnies...)
