Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Garden Update

Nooooooooo!
Well the repellent didn't do much, the lavender was assaulted again and the verbena is almost eaten up and we lost two more watermelons. The chives weren't touched again (though I wonder if that was the squirrels they purportedly don't like onions)and I am wondering if the safety of the remaining watermelons is down to their position, ie they are hard for the squirrels to get at which means I might move some stuff around. If this keeps up I might no choice put to get some netting. Although doing a bit of research it says castor oil, black pepper, alliums, and marigolds can all deter squirrels as well. I could try smearing garlic all over the place that might help. Ah it looks like red pepper flakes are supposed to work really well so I know what I am getting at the grocery store tonight...cheap, eco friendly, and effective, win!

Now the good news is the morning glories are going gangbusters! I planted them in two stages so the newest ones aren't up yet, but the ones I photographed yesterday? Look at them now, that's a proper plant! I always heard morning glories were hard to sprout, these certainly don't seem that difficult at all, and in the wild they self seed very easily. I'm expecting some of the others to pop up by the time I get home from work tonight.

Not much to see here yet
The last thing I did was plant some temple orange seeds I got from eating some temple oranges, which are a tangerine/orange hybrid. They have a nice flavor which almost reminds me of grapefruit but sweeter. I am probably going to move them inside next to the seed starter on my windowsill but i need a water catchment tray to put under them first.  I honestly doubt I'll get any fruit off of them, this is just to see if I can get them to grow. My avocados did reasonably well despite being to leggy until the cats murdered them, the next time I eat an avocado I'll probably stick the seed in a glass of water and wait for the roots to appear.

Look at these babies it's amazing!
Someday when I am a famous and successful gardener I will have greenhouses devoted to exotics like citrus and avocados (maybe even coconuts!) But first I must defeat the squirrels!


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