Ah, yes. As if frost, wind, and small children weren’t enough, our poor plants are facing an attack from another front.
I give you el bandido:
Raccoon may not be exactly as pictured*.
This is how our garden looked the morning after the attack:
Post-Ravaging Raccoon
I have to tell you, I was fairly sad to see this. Mike, on the other hand was VERY sad. Fortunately, he was able to lift up and reposition some of the plants. Sadly, some carrots have gone to the great carrot patch in the sky, and some squash may be on the cloud next to them. For some reason our masked marauders were particularly partial to our zucchini plants. Bizarre. I had no idea they would be interested in our gardens when we’ve given them such easy access to our compost. In fact, it seems that raccoons will eat most anything.
The attack happened Sunday night (today is 6 days later), and as you can see by this photo, Mike’s ministrations seem to have saved the day.
Restored to its former glory...and then some!
Even our famous Squinach is coming along beautifully:
Check out our Squianch NOW!
Here are some opinions on keeping raccoons out of one’s garden. It seems to me that our best bet will be to build a life sized scarecrow wearing our dirty laundry which we’ve sprayed (liberally) with coyote pee and that has a motion detector which will play obnoxious music when tripped by roving beasties. I’ll get right on that.
In the meantime, things are growing nicely - particularly given the liberal watering mother nature has provided as of late - and the raccoons have not bothered our gardens since their initial foray. Perhaps zucchinis weren’t to their liking? And if all else fails, and they will not leave us alone…there is always this (JUST kidding, folk, everyone calm down).
We're still not sure what type of deterrent would work best for this predator.
*this dude does not subsist on pilfered produce. Rather, he leads a luxurious life with his pals at Oaklawn Farm Zoo.
Dang raccoons. An electric fence will also work. Oh! You could build your scarecrow so he looks like he is bending down to work in the garden. People will think you are super dedicated then. Or… make one like Dad built… his arm was on a pivot so he was constantly waving a little bit.
You are so hilarious. I promise that I will buy at least one copy of your book when you get published. BTW, you’d better get on that.
I approve this comment, LOL.