Jacques

The fight is on. In spite of all the protection that I am providing the plants in the garden, there is still picking and digging going on. I know who the digger is: it is a pocket gopher, and as I have no experience catching them (as opposed to pack rats), I have asked my friend Dave, who does have experience, to get rid of this guy and a trap has been set.


I am suspicious of the quail doing the picking of the leaves. The melons and peppers in particular are suffering as the birds can get their head through the chickenwire, or over the upside-down pots. I have gone to bigger pots in some cases, but my newest way to foil them is Jacques. Dan made his frame and donated a shirt; I donated jeans and the hat. He is realistic enough to get Emma to bark at him and I finally had to let her check him out.


The quail or other birds better be fooled, as I am every time I look towards the garden. Don't ask why he has a French name because I have no idea why I am on this French kick. Awhile back we had a rooster called Henri-Pierre ...

As for the sunflowers at the barn, in spite of the chickenwire and protection of upside down pots (with bottoms), I am down to 7 plants, from a dozen. The victims get nipped off an inch above the soil, at night when the pots are in place. I have no idea how the animal, a rodent of some sort, gets to them. Plants need to grow quickly to outrun the appetites.