Usually by this time of the summer we are grazing through the vegetable garden. I expected to have lots of vegetables ready for the dinner table when we returned from Canada, but that was not the case. I picked a few green beans three days ago, and when we needed an onion yesterday, I pulled one out.
Before we left, we had drought and while we were gone, there was excessive rain which may have harmed the blossoms, but I also wonder about the shortage of honeybees. I haven't seen many this summer. If our honeybees are disappearing, as they are in many places, we may not have as many vegetables in the future.
The zucchini that was just beginning to form seems to have been eaten, but there are more blossoms so perhaps by the end of the summer I'll have enough to make some breads and cakes to freeze.
Today I went to the farmers market and bought tomatoes and okra.
We do have some rabbits that might have been munching my squash but there may be another culprit. Just before we left for Canada, I glanced over to Elaine's house at dusk and saw a woodchuck, or groundhog. It quickly slipped under her deck. She was in Connecticut visiting family but I sent her an e-mail telling her about her new pet and suggested she call the city.
When we got back Elaine had a police department trap next to her deck with watermelon in it. Gary said it was the wrong kind of melon. When he lived in Dixon, Illinois, he had lots of critters in and out of his house. There were pet owls, skunks, and more. Gary thought the best thing to put in the trap would be muskmelon. We bought some and he cut up one of the pieces which is now in the trap.
Now it is just a matter of waiting. As I told Elaine, if we don't catch the ground hog, at least we'll have our own spring weather forecast.
While he was at it, Gary checked out her deck and found wasp nests. He waited until dark. Just now he came back from releasing a wasp bomb. I hope the ground hog doesn't get sick from it.
Before we left, we had drought and while we were gone, there was excessive rain which may have harmed the blossoms, but I also wonder about the shortage of honeybees. I haven't seen many this summer. If our honeybees are disappearing, as they are in many places, we may not have as many vegetables in the future.
The zucchini that was just beginning to form seems to have been eaten, but there are more blossoms so perhaps by the end of the summer I'll have enough to make some breads and cakes to freeze.
Today I went to the farmers market and bought tomatoes and okra.
We do have some rabbits that might have been munching my squash but there may be another culprit. Just before we left for Canada, I glanced over to Elaine's house at dusk and saw a woodchuck, or groundhog. It quickly slipped under her deck. She was in Connecticut visiting family but I sent her an e-mail telling her about her new pet and suggested she call the city.
When we got back Elaine had a police department trap next to her deck with watermelon in it. Gary said it was the wrong kind of melon. When he lived in Dixon, Illinois, he had lots of critters in and out of his house. There were pet owls, skunks, and more. Gary thought the best thing to put in the trap would be muskmelon. We bought some and he cut up one of the pieces which is now in the trap.
Now it is just a matter of waiting. As I told Elaine, if we don't catch the ground hog, at least we'll have our own spring weather forecast.
While he was at it, Gary checked out her deck and found wasp nests. He waited until dark. Just now he came back from releasing a wasp bomb. I hope the ground hog doesn't get sick from it.
No comments:
Post a Comment