post-gopher garden
Sniff. Sniff. Above is the sorry state of our garden, which I explained yesterday has been demolished by some gleeful gophers who wreaked havoc on the lush green of our tomato plants. There are a few tenacious golden cherry tomatoes that are still hanging on for dear life, but as you can see, everything else has shriveled up.
But really, the gophers are just one in a long line of critters that has been plaguing us for the past few weeks. I talked about the ants way back in May. They’re still around despite numerous attempts to flood the nest, repel them with a homemade organic peppermint essential oil and alcohol spray, and block their entry with trails of Borax. We’ve learned to live with them. Unless we’re willing to spray with chemicals (which we’re not), I think it’s best we just accept they’re here to stay. And since they’ve stuck to the kitchen and aren’t doing any damage or increasing in number, I can deal.
But recently we’ve moved into a new class of animals: rodents.
I returned home one night from my writing class in Sacramento, tired after a long drive in the dark, and as I stepped wearily onto the porch I heard rustling in the bushes in the yard behind me. Must be Marley, the neighbor’s cat, I thought, looking casually over my shoulder to discover a rotund skunk rapidly bounding in my direction. Yikes! I was now wide awake as I fumbled with the door and nearly dove into the house just as Pepé le Pew hung a left into the side yard. A near miss. And he’s still lurking with the missus somewhere out there.
But I’ve saved the best for last. Well, in this case, the worst (Mom, you might want to stop reading here). Two weeks ago, I walked out onto the porch mid-afternoon to do a load of laundry and heard rustling in the wisteria. I looked up from the towels, assuming I’d see a bird (don’t you love how I always assume the best when I hear rustling in the bushes?) and set eyes upon three static creatures perched on the ledge just under the porch’s ceiling. No birds in sight. Am I looking at a rat?, was the first question that popped into my mind, but I quickly shook off that unpleasant thought. No, couldn’t be. I lowered my sunglasses (prescription–I’m nearsighted) onto my face and squinted a little harder in the direction of the wisteria. Six beady eyes were staring back at me, and I realized that yes, indeed, I was staring at a bunch of rats. At which point I turned on my heel, towels still in hand, and closed the door firmly behind me. I then proceeded to close all the windows leading onto the porch, call my landlord, and assess the scene of the crime.
I wish I could tell you there were only three rats out on our idyllic wrap-around, farmhouse porch, but truth be told, there was a giant rats’ nest out there, full of hungry babies and scavenging adults. Mind you, these were country rats, not New York City metro ones, but that only made them slightly more tolerable. Ultimately, rats are rats, and I wasn’t too happy about their congregating in the shrubbery nor was I thrilled about the prospect of their becoming house guests. I wish I could say we were able to deal with them humanely, organically, but there was no time for that. They reproduce too quickly, and short of turning the house into a laboratory, there was nothing to be done but, well, send them packing.
There will always be gophers and skunks and rats out there, but I’d like to think we don’t have to share our porch or tomatoes with them. And if I look on the bright side, I can say that I have not come across a rattlesnake yet (though Bastien cannot claim the same).
Oh the joys of country living. Despite it all, we’re still loving it here.
But it does look like we need a cat.
Cats can be useful, but they can also take up an unreasonable amount of space in bed. Good luck with the wildlife!
Je vous pretterais bien Koska mais elle ramnène plutôt les animeaux de l’extérieur à l’intérieur de la maison, les y lache et ils sont tjrs vivants! choisi bien ton chat!
becca,
have you tried lemon against the ants? I didn’t believe this when my coloc’s mum told me about it but it works! The only thing is that presumably they just dissappear off elsewhere but provided that’s not in the house then it’s all good.
So yes, pieces of lemon scattered about by their entry-routes. Give it a go.
If you happen to have useful mouse-eradication strategies then I’m in the market….
hope all is good.
sarah
I hope you get a Tuna Brain Jr. xoxox
try cinnamon for the ants… and big ole cat for the rest!
Sadly, we’ve tried the lemon and the cinnamon route but to no avail. Perhaps our efforts were too localized and sporadic? Maybe I’ll whip up a lemon, peppermint, cinnamon cocktail and spray it near the entry point outside the house…though with our luck that’ll just attract more of the other critters! Guess that’s where a Koska or Tuna Brain (i.e. a cat) would come in handy!
really really? It has worked like a charm here on the feeble sauternais ants. But its not lemon juice, I presume it’s got more to do with the pith than the juice. And you don’t half look odd scattering quarters of lemon around the place.