I have had my garden now for about 3 years. So far we have had our share of bugs, worms and caterpillars. But, up until now, I have yet to have any larger pests in my garden. I will try to make this story as short as possible. LOL So this morning hubby and I woke up and looked into our back yard. On our fence we saw a hawk. Hubby immediately asked me for my camera to capture this beautiful bird of prey. Since he couldn't take the pic through the screen door, he tried to open it. The hawk must have heard it open and he flew off. This is the second time we have seen him, so we wanted to capture a photo. Problem now arrives. I know enough about birds of prey that they will hunt their food. So I get to thinking....if I keep seeing him, there must be a reason why. Well, not too much more thought was put into that. Hubby and I get our coffee and head out to the back patio to check on our garden. This is a daily thing we do as we start our morning.
As we walk up to the garden, the first thing we see is a partially eaten tomato. Now I know that this is fresh because we do this every day. The day prior a ready to harvest tomato was eaten also. Good clue that there is something around. We started to think that this little pest may still be in the area. Up till now I have lost two pepper plants. Something ate all the leaves off and left only the stems (on the entire plant). I had found a few peppers on the ground, but I figured that whatever ate the leaves left the peppers behind. They are Cayenne Peppers so maybe they were too hot for this critter. We continue our search. Hubby looks under the compost container, which is sitting on CBS blocks. Low and behold we find a plethora of tomatoes, peppers, and a few agave babies that I thought our new puppy ate a week ago. We started to laugh, because in a sense it's funny. At the same time we figured we need to do something to remedy this problem. Time for traps.
I love all animals big and small. I have had two rats before as pets. They are smart and most people don't know that. So the fact that I have to set a trap to kill this rodent is a problem for me. I really don't want to hurt or kill anything, but I am not just growing my garden for fun either. This is to feed my family and save us some money on our groceries. Not to mention the health benefits from having fresh veggies. This is just another example of how nature is. Sometimes you have to deal with things that you aren't planning for. I love my garden and so does my family. I hope to stop this pest without any more damage to my garden. I have a whole other side that is safe so far. LOL Have a healthy day!
On a side note....I am happy the world didn't end today. hehehehe
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