What Did You Do In The Garden?

[ducks4you]

Over the last few days:
1) Weeded corn bed, west side of house
2) Weeded okra bed, west side of the garage
3) Weeded tomato/cucumber/bean/sunflower/okra/nasturtium bed, south side of the garage
Came back yesterday and pulled grass from the okra bed and fed it to the chickens.
Yesterday I mulched weeds and grass and put it on top of cardboard where I will walk to harvest tomatoes closest to the garage. 1/2 done. Hope to finish there today. I also laid down Preen around my seedlings, MOST of which are 8-15 inches tall. Had to replant sunflowers bc many never came up, although they were planted And watered one month ago.
I am PARTICULARLY proud that all of the tomatoes were started from seed.
Mowed down the main garden bed yesterday. I have collected my plastic for my brussels sprouts beds. I collected seed packets starting for several months. A few years ago I couldn't find any in July!!! I started 2-4 (or more) seeds in a 36 cell seed starter and put it in the fish tank on the porch. I will be starting more in the basement and on top of the fridge later today. I am stymied bc I am waiting for a call from the appliance repair guy. Dunno WHEN he will be here, so it's hard to go outside and do much. I keep checking my phone...
I have about 1/2 a dozen sunflowers flowered in my potato bed. I was shocked at the PRICE and tiny amount of sunflower seeds in the packages that I bought. $2/package, and Maybe 15 seeds. Anybody here know how to harvest the seeds? Thanks!!!

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

Back to Moles....I've spent over $120 for mole control. NOTHING has worked. But my Russian Blue, Max, did bring me this treat this morning. I wonder if he consumed any of its siblings?

 

[ducks4you]

I like them better in my kittie's mouths.

 

[flowerbug]

@ducks4you usually all i have to do to get a return call is go to the bathroom or take a shower... seems to work every time.

 

[flowerbug]

Back to Moles....I've spent over $120 for mole control. NOTHING has worked. But my Russian Blue, Max, did bring me this treat this morning. I wonder if he consumed any of its siblings?
View attachment 32378 View attachment 32379

the spoon and cutting board sure to make a nice, erm, context, like you're about to dine...

isn't that a shrew?

mole traps work for us, but you have to pay attention to which runs are being used regularly and check how deep the run is when setting the trap. we now have two traps because the one is very hard to set (a choker loop type but it works), the other we have can just be stepped on to set it which is much easier. between the two of them they cost about $60 total.

it is amazing how far a mole can dig.

 

[Zeedman]

isn't that a shrew?

That was my thought as well. Moles have larger claws on their front feet.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

hmmmm Just did extensive research on shrews. The Pacific Western shrew is endemic to my area and does come up above ground. Maybe that's how Max got it.

But moles are clearly building the massive amounts of tunnels along the side and the front of the house. If I don't get them under control, my HOA will complain about my turned up front yard. I bought a TomCat mole trap today. Just set it out front. Stay tuned....

Spoon set there for comparison size and the cutting board was from last night and has yet to be washed.

Its a darling little animal. I should open its mouth to see the dentals...shrews are different that moles in their teeth.

 

[flowerbug]

hmmmm Just did extensive research on shrews. The Pacific Western shrew is endemic to my area and does come up above ground. Maybe that's how Max got it.

But moles are clearly building the massive amounts of tunnels along the side and the front of the house. If I don't get them under control, my HOA will complain about my turned up front yard. I bought a TomCat mole trap today. Just set it out front. Stay tuned....

Spoon set there for comparison size and the cutting board was from last night and has yet to be washed.

Its a darling little animal. I should open its mouth to see the dentals...shrews are different that moles in their teeth.

the front paws are so distinctive that you will know if you ever catch a mole. they are like huge paddles with claws and they don't have much of a tail. shrews and voles will use mole tunnels (as will snakes, turtles, frogs, crayfish, etc.) to live in if they can.

 

[digitS']

This the shrew that we have up here:

https://en.m.wikibooks.org/wiki/Field_Guide/Mammals/Pygmy_Shrew

It is so tiny, if a cat doesn't bring it in, I don't know how a person would ever find a pygmy shrew. That's how I saw one, Kitty Rueben showed it to me, years ago.

Steve

 

[bobm]

We have been invaded by moles for several years with NO luck in catching a single one using every trap and gimmic that I came across . Finally we hired a pro who charges $60 set up fee plus $50 per mole. Got pretty pricey real fast. So, I finally found the exact trap that are being used by the pros at Ace Hardware... Victor " out of sight" mole trap for a mere $ 13.95 price each. I purchased 3. Pretty hard to set, and since I saw how the pro did the actual set up ... think of the workout at local gym and you will get used to the workout that becomes easier with each setting. Within a week , I caught 4 more moles so I saved over $150 and I still have 3 traps that actually work. + ? savings on gym fees and musclebound , Win , win ....