The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly – i’m sure that I’ve written that title before so we will say “PART II”
My day began with the daily checking of messages and what did I find but a wonderful message from Sharad wishing me a fantastic day. Well can life really get better than that? A friend, whom I’ve never met, from half way around the world, sending me good thoughts for the day and gardening season. That was the first item into my “GOOD” list.
Yesterday we had beautiful sunshine most of the day and and I spent part of it checking out the gardens, well as much as I could get through with knee-high snowbanks everywhere. I was reminded that I need to prune the grapes and so today I decided to tackle that job. First a little research to remind myself of how to prune the varieties of grapes that I have:
Concord: spur prune
Niagara: spur
Vanessa: spur
Sovereign: cane.
Today I tackled the grape arbor (the other plants are inside the snow-bound tipi area and will have to wait.) The pruning went very well as I was quite confident with the pruning process. (Now I have to wait and see if I did it right. The proof will be in the produce.) This also gets added to the “GOOD” list.
While I was busy snipping away I heard a familiar sound—a bird’s song that I haven’t heard for many months. I smiled. In the cedar trees was a flock of redwing blackbirds (my favourite bird) and sitting on the very top of one tree was a RWB singing his little heart out. I’m sure they, too, were sending me well-wishes for the day and gardening season. With the sighting of my first spring bird, I am definitely having a good day! “GOOD” list for sure!!
With that job done I scanned the fruit trees and smiled … but then …. what did I see? The devastation from rabbits. What !!!! All the trees were wrapped with tree protectors but they had climbed above them, tugged them down, nibbled in-between the spirals and … well, it isn’t looking good. On the damage list: my two new (expensive) colonade apple trees; prairie cherry; saskatoon berry; 2 new apple trees by the tipi area; new peach tree. “BAD” list AND the “UGLY” list… not good.
Shoot the rabbits Rick says. Yes, we can do that but more rabbits will come. That doesn’t solve the problem. I am going to have to invest in the time/money to put a more secure protection around my trees and end the worry.
The new fruit trees (fortunately purchased last fall at a great discount price) were my “espalier” trees in the making. I “should” have planted them inside the fences. I “could” have .. but chose not to for one valid reason or another. This fall I will “do over” and plant accordingly.
But …. the grapes look good. They may not be perfect; they may not be “traditional” re: pruning but the gist of the strategy is there and hopefully, hopefully, we will see a bumper crop.
And now for the rest of my day … my daughter has invited us over for a meal and that is definitely on the “GOOD” list. It will be ending my day the same way it started—- awesome!
-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)
10 comments so far
daltxguy
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779 posts in 1238 days
hardiness zone 5a
posted 73 days ago
Maybe the trees will survive the rabbit attack just fine – and it will be ALL good!
-- Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves. - Thoreau
MsDebbieP
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13909 posts in 2140 days
hardiness zone 5b
posted 73 days ago
wouldn’t that be nice!!!
Crossing my fingers.
-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)
MsDebbieP
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13909 posts in 2140 days
hardiness zone 5b
posted 73 days ago
oh and I forgot to say that I heard the Tundra Swans honking away as well, during their spring migration
-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)
daltxguy
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779 posts in 1238 days
hardiness zone 5a
posted 73 days ago
I saw a cow today in a field – a sure sign that they have migrated back and it’s spring.
-- Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves. - Thoreau
justjoel
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897 posts in 1521 days
hardiness zone 7a
posted 73 days ago
Rabbit stew – that’s the ticket! Or roast rabbit (might end up having some apple wood to roast them with, eh?) You’d think there’d be enough else around your place to eat that they wouldn’t resort to barking down your fruit trees. Bleh…
-- There's a box?
Radicalfarmergal
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3982 posts in 1403 days
hardiness zone 5b
posted 73 days ago
I am glad you had so many good things happen today. We had sunshine too and I was able to watch the snow melt, melt, melt! : )
I know how frustrating it is to have wildlife damage our plants. You have such a positive attitude about it, so you will figure out a solution. This is what Sepp Holtzer does to prevent animals from damaging his trees. I am not sure that I am ready to follow his bone sauce recipe, but I will provide a link to permies.com for your consideration.
-- "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." M. Gandhi
Cindy
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346 posts in 851 days
hardiness zone 6
posted 73 days ago
lol – migrating cows! My red-necky neighbors and their ten thousand kids are moving. That’s a sure sign it will be a good spring!
Debbie, do you have a dog? Maybe a border collie is in order! I agree, rabbit is yummy ; )
I was thrilled to read you are starting the espaliers, I may have to live vicariously through yours.
-- ~ Cindy, Virginia Appalachians, UDSA Hardiness Zone 6 ~
mmh
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300 posts in 1669 days
hardiness zone 7a
posted 73 days ago
I just hope that the migrating cows and red-necky neighbors and their ten thousand kids don’t end up in MY neighborhood!
You need a killer cat. My cat, buck, is a rabbit killer. My husband and I witnessed him catching a full grown rabbit across the street and while it cried for it’s life, we tried to chase the cat with rabbit in mouth around the yard to release it. After 10 minutes of keystone-cop antics, he finally let it go and it ran off. Years later I also learned that my neighbor saw him jump our 6 ft. wood fence with a rabbit in his mouth to bring home. I had found the poor bunny with a broken leg lying in the flower bed and it died in my hands. At the time I had no idea how it got into the yard in that sad condition, but that just proves how determined an animal can be.
I’ve got several herds of deer in the yard these days, so we’ll see what can grow and stay alive!
-- A weed is a plant that is growing where it was not purposefully placed by human hands.
Cindy
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346 posts in 851 days
hardiness zone 6
posted 73 days ago
I have a sure-fire repellent for deer – it’s organic (can even use it on your edibles, totally food safe) and it’s called Liquid Fence. I buy it at Walmart or Lowes. I can’t rave about it enough. I buy the spray bottle, and when it’s empty I buy the big refill that gets diluted & used in the spray bottle. I just used it today because I saw where the deer some of my tulips to the ground. I’ve tried it all, and this stuff works! It’s resistant to rains, but I reapply it once a month regardless. Once I use it, the deer don’t touch a thing. btw Debbie, it’s labeled a deer and RABBIT repellent!
-- ~ Cindy, Virginia Appalachians, UDSA Hardiness Zone 6 ~
MsDebbieP
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13909 posts in 2140 days
hardiness zone 5b
posted 72 days ago
our neighbour’s dog does take the occasional rabbit or two but apparently not enough.
Our cat: we’ve watched a mouse run across her paws as she lay watching it… no help there!
The bone-concoction = interesting, but I doubt I’ll try it. I could, of course use rabbit bones!
My options, as I see it:
1. fence in the entire yard
2. quit trying to grow trees
3. keep a vigilant eye on the rabbits (which are usually out at night)
4. the bone thingy above … probably not happening
or .. fence in the individual trees that rabbits like to munch on. <<< seems the most viable solution for me.
-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)