Eeeewwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here's an interesting and amusing little article about groundhogs and their damage in the garden: http://landscaping.about.com/c... Maybe it can help you identify the problem for sure... I was just guessing ^up ^there!^

Kyla, we're just talking about groundhog poop, nothing too scary!

Kyla, that devilvine definitely sounds like a challenge worth sharing here!

Speedie, I've always wondered why my neighbor has a pinwheel in their backyard--maybe ground hogs in the area explains it! Well, only damage so far is to the cuke plant, but I'll need to keep an eye out...

I've just been trying to catch up in this thread, and reading about JB's trees. I feel the same about trees, you can have a personal relatioship with them almost like with people. (Better than with some people!)

Anyway, JB, just wanted to sympathize. I'm grateful to you too, for taking care of the trees.

I've got some other challenges than devilvine but too tired to even think about them let alone post about them right now!

But about pokeweed, tee hee, I convinced my cousin the other day not to weed one out that's growing in the shade bed, because the birds love it so. I'm going to relent on it though because our neighbor across the alley has a huge one in full sun and the birds are fine with that one, and we don't have to grow it also.

I always get pokeweed growing around the edges of my property; it seems to come over from the neighbors. If I don't pull it out, it towers up to 6' tall, with huge ginormous small trunks for stems, then it starts sending baby volunteers into my garden beds. Anyway, out it must come!! I have some I should pull tomorrow.

Okay, sandaltan:



I got real tired of gardening in flip flops! Here are my new shoes!

Nice shoes!
I have to put on my regular walking shoes with orthotics now to be out in the garden--darned ankle.

That's a drag, Catmint. These shoes are wonderful! I also ordered myself some garden wellies but they're not arriving until probably Monday. That will be nice to have. Garden footwear options, what a concept.

Garden wellies--that sounds very useful! Especially in the morning with the dew!

My thought exactly. I hope they're comfortable; you never know with mail order shoes until they get on your feet.

How's your ankle progressing? I hope it's well on the way to complete recovery!

thanks, Kyla--it is definitely better. The PT is helping. It still begins to ache after walking on it for 5 minutes or so. The PT said it would just take time--a severe sprain with partially torn ligaments. It's been about 4 weeks now. Could be another 4. So for half the growing season my garden beds have been mostly on their own! On the other hand, it's all done pretty well without me!

I need to plant my two new coneflowers this weekend. These are the ones I got last Sunday.

That's the sign of a successful garden, you know, when it starts to be okay without daily or even weekly attention from the gardener! So, good for you! But it must be hard to be out of the action, well, I know it is from having injured my back a few years ago. I'm just grateful I can still do the things I do.

A big challenge here is watering. I can't really keep up with it all and my cousin tends to be a "plant it and forget it" style of gardener. I only water in the front when things get dire. They are dire now. I do hope we actually get the rain forecast for this week!

And when I have the sprinklers on, I can't do a whole lot else because that's both hoses and spigots being occupied. (Have to get a couple of splitters!) So, I come upstairs to my computer, and forget that the water is on! unless I am really focusing... which usually I get distracted.

Catmint20906 said:Interesting about the ground hogs, @Speediebean! I have definitely found some rather large poops that don't look like they belong to the ferals...

They are larger than cats, dark in color and may have some seeds or other matter in them. I have one young one under my barn now and I thought it was the cat also, until I saw him. In fact I thought he was a large squirrel since he was up on the fence under the bird feeders. If he gets in the greenhouse he is one dead hog.

aww, thanks, Kyla! I've been going out about once a week for a little while to pull up the worst of the weeds. Was able to spend about 3 hours out there this morning, trimming and weeding. Planted my 2 new echinaceas and transplanted one of my speedwells ('Eveline') which kept putting up shoots which would fry in the sun rather than blooming. So, I moved it to a spot where it gets a little more shelter from the direct sun.

Watering: I'm *so* glad we had that nice long rain last week--it was just what the plants needed. Just prior to that I was having to hand water the thirstiest looking. Sounds like it's been a while since you had a nice long rain, Kyla?

@JB and @Speediebean, I think you guys have hit the nail on the head with the groundhog ID. It sounds like those are the poops I've been seeing and probably who gnawed my cuke plant stems. I need to get the gate to my backyard repaired. That may help. Sounds like a job for my handy-dandy handyman!

*makes a note to self not to ever mess with JB's greenhouse*



Catmint, yes it has been a very long time. I started keeping track in July -- only 2.5 inches total all month, most of that toward the end of the month.

August so far, on the first we had a nice one-inch soaker, and on the sixth I've noted 3/8 inch.

And, that's it. We were forecast to have good rain last weekend but nope, nope, and nope.

oh, dear. That is really not much rain at all! Hope you guys get some soon. It's nice that you have a sprinkler, though--that's helpful. I have one soaker hose and a water wand. The soaker hose is nice but it's a lot of work moving it from garden bed to garden bed. I love the wand but of course you have to stand there. Maybe I should get a small sprinkler that I can place in a single bed at a time.

This is one my cousin had when I got here; it has a rotating array of spray patterns but the one that just arcs is best and covers best. Tomorrow I'll take a picture of it for you.

Another drawback of these tightly curved beds is getting the sprinkler positioned to cover the maximum area and not overshooting too badly.

Crispy crunchy on the lawn right now. But, hey, my garden wellies came! LOL! I mean, here we are talking about how dry it is, too.

But the dew still soaks through in the early morning, so I'm glad to have these.

Okay, here's that sprinkler:



Was it here I said I'd get a picture of it? Well, here is where I've put it, LOL! It's a nice sprinkler!

yeah, it looks really nice! I'll have to look for something like that.

Oh, well.

In the footgear department, I recently ordered "gardeners' wellies" from Gardeners Supply. They were on sale and I really needed something I can just slip on to keep my feet dry. Did I already post about this? Sorry if I did but anyway.

They arrived. They are the "correct size" but in fact are about a whole size too small. I am going to have to return them. I usually wear a 7 1/2 or 8 -- so with these I figured it would be safe to order an 8. I mean, wellies, come on, right? But, they fit like a 7 would.

*sigh* I was so looking forward to having them, too! I did discover they had little padded inserts and fit a teeny bit better if I took those out. So, I decided well, I am only going to wear them around here, no socks or anything, no long walks -- maybe this will work.

I even cut my toenails!

Wore them a few times today.

And, nope. Just, nope.

Hate having to paypostage to ship them back, but I'm gonna! I hope they will exchange them for me even though they're on sale but I may end up with a credit instead. I'm going to call on Monday and see if I can elicit any sympathy. In the past, their customer service has been outstanding, so I have hope.

Still. DANG!