When I looked out, I caught a glimpse of one of them. It was carrying a baby bunny in its mouth across the patio… No baby on the return trip.
I went out to investigate. Freshly dug earth gave away the location of a new den alongside the house, into which momma and poppa bunny were moving their newly hatched brood. Shorn shoots all around testified to the fact that they’d been up to this for some time. My coreopsis and black-eyed susans that had been starting to re-emerge in that spot had… vanished.
Where’s a red-tailed hawk when you need him? Because seriously, after losing half of my perennials last year I am over thinking these guys are cute.
How are your relations with the critters in your environs? Snakes? Frogs? Squirrels? Flo and Eddy?? Is the entire peaceable kingdom welcome?
LUCY BURDETTE: We are in Key West for a few more weeks and John has a glorious garden growing on our little balcony. Tons of tomatoes, some nice peppers, and various herbs. Our perpetrators come in the form of mockingbirds. We love their spring songs, but it’s infuriating to both us and T-bone when they land on the rails and start pecking at the ripe tomatoes.
It wouldn’t be so bad if they ate a few, but to ruin a whole batch? Not cute! (Though I would have loved to have seen those baby bunnies…)
RHYS BOWEN: I feel your pain, Hallie. You have seen our garden--we are open to a hillside and every day we have at least five deer in the garden, sometimes as many as ten including a rather large stag. We also have several jackrabbits, gophers, and occasionally foxes. This means that the only plants I can grow, apart from our balcony, are highly poisonous or scented. We have oleander, lavender, rosemary and several citrus trees, although the deer now strip them of leaves as high as they can reach.
It’s quite disheartening. Guests think the spotted fawns are adorable. Me? Not so much. I keep mouthing the word ‘venison’ to them but they don’t go!
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Flo and Eddy and duck pals--goes without saying. Jonathan keeps wanting to let them in. ALL the birds--we are enchanted. We have actual goldfinches!
Our squirrels are completely hilarious, truly, so entertaining, but trust me, the first time one of them nips off the bud of a new tulip, I go homicidal. (I use pepper stuff the tulips, because..those critters need to stay the heck away.)
The raccoons who moved lock, stock, and babies into our attic--not so welcome, and it was a MESS. And oh, the bunnies. They are SO cute, and our hosta are the worse for it. I think the only reason they stay alive is that they are so ridiculously adorable. We love ours, gotta admit.
DEBORAH CROMBIE: The squirrels are my garden nemesis! They dig up all the pots on the deck, patio, and even on the front porch. But, weirdly, they haven't been too bad so far this year. I hope I'm not jinxing myself by writing that… I have tried every kind of repellent over the years, garlic, hot pepper, you name it, and the little pests just seem to think it makes the plants tastier.
I had some little herbs and veggies out on the deck last week, still in their plastic pots, and SOMETHING ate the parsley, chives, dill, and bell pepper plants right down to the dirt. Not sure if I can blame that one on the squirrels!
JENN McKINLAY: The bane of my existence is snails. Yes, snails. Forever, I’ve wanted a strawberry patch but my yard is thick with gastropods. When I was taking the classes to become a certified Master Gardener, the instructor assured me that a shallow dish of beer would take care of the problem. I ended up with drunk snails and no strawberries.
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: We have remarkable few garden pests, because we have foxes in our neighborhood! Last spring we had an enormous ground hog waddling around. We got a have-a-heart trap, but it didn't work... then the next door neighbor announced he had shot a large groundhog that had been digging in his garden. A little more violent than I was going to go, but I can't complain.
This spring, we have a pair of turkey vultures hanging around for the very first time! They're even better than a hawk, because they DON'T kill other birds, but their low swooping definitely frightens off small critters (including the dog.) Anyway, the solution to small garden pests seems to be larger, more frightening animals, and I am all for this.
HALLIE: So are you living in the Peaceable Kingdom or are your hostas and tulips and tomatoes and strawberries fighting for their very lives?
