Update: I can't believe what I found this morning!
There is new growth at the base of the jujube trees.
Even better both instead of just the one tree! I'm excited about this. Now I need to protect them.
NOT MY PEAS AGAIN!! The title should be Garden Pest out of control. I guess the ongoing saga of not growing my peas may be a continuation from last year.
This morning I woke and enjoyed the first relaxing hour of my day off. I had a wonderful morning until I decided to take my morning stroll through the garden. When I came to my garden bed that I had planted peas, I had to stop in exasperation at what I came across. My pea seeds had been dug up and waiting to be eaten by anything that may find them appealing. I had a flashback of the previous year where something had been eating my pea sprouts before they had a chance to flower. I did not eat any homegrown peas last year. I had a little luck, and some seeds are still there, and I pushed them back down into the soil.
I think a squirrel had dug them up, I have squirrels digging in my soil constantly, and I haven't found a way to abolish that yet. That is one of the challenges I'm currently having. For the most part, the squirrels don't bother too much except for seed starting time. They nimbly get over my fence and dig in my garden.
Last year I had a problem with mice eating the pea shoots. I was looking out my window one afternoon, and I saw a mouse pop its head out just above my raised bed and munch on my peas. It's so frustrating. I felt defeated as I watched my peas disappear. I hope to handle this situation and eat my peas. I have a plan on what I will try this year. Last year I tried trapping the mice, and every time I got one, another one took its place. I also lost a kabocha squash to mice the previous year.
I had one more great loss to mice this year. I have two jujube trees I planted last year, so they are young and tender. I have chicken wire around these trees to keep bunnies from eating the tender bark over the winter. I was confident that they would be safe, but as soon as the snow melted enough to see the tree, I noticed mice had eaten the bark around the tree's entire trunk. This tree is dead for sure. My only hope is that the roots are still alive a new tree will sprout from the roots. I know that had to have been mice as well.
Last year I had bunnies destroy three trees over the winter months. I learned my lesson for that, and I bought a plastic covering for the trees' trunk. I have checked under the plastic, and I see that mice did not get into that, so I have had another important lesson learned this year again. Too bad I had to lose a tree to learn that lesson. I will be using these plastic covers from now on for my trees.
I will still be working on the mouse issue this year, and hopefully, I can update you with good news!! I hope you have learned from my experience with the trees and have better luck than I.
