Prime Suspect

California Ground Squirrel

Here's the prime suspect in the stripping of the citrus tree last week:  the California Ground Squirrel, Spermophilus beecheyi.  

They're actually rather handsome animals, with their long bushy tails, white spotted fur on their backs and shawls of white fur on their shoulders.
Like tree squirrels, they can climb trees and bushes; Sunday we saw one perched in one of the Lemonadeberry trees, trying to figure out a way to get from the Lemonadeberry tree to all the seed in the bird feeder.  Unlike tree squirrels, they don't seem to be able to jump from branch to branch, or else they would be in that feeder in a New York minute.  As it is, they have to be content with seed that the birds kick out of the feeder onto the ground.  

Also, unlike tree squirrels, they don't live in the trees but in burrows in the ground, where they raise their young and take refuge from predators.

That's the part that worries us, because they can undermine hillsides and contribute to erosion.  Our yard drops off steeply beyond the hedge and we're always concerned about erosion that could cause the hillside to collapse and our yard, and possibly our house, to slide down into the canyon.

So we want to discourage them, but just can't bring ourselves to poison them.  Unfortunately, because they can spread diseases (did I mention that they're susceptible to Bubonic Plague?), it's illegal to just trap them and deport them.  So we'll have to try using something to discourage them from stuffing themselves on our plants and birdseed and encourage them to move on to eating the native plants in the canyon instead.

Next on the menu for the squirrels:  some form of capsiacin, the spicy hot chemical found in chilli peppers, mixed in with the seed--it's supposed to discourage the squirrels but not affect the birds.

We'll see if that works, but the way things are going, they'll probably just consider it a condiment.

Last Call

Still A Few 2011 Tomatoes

Since it's almost February, and time to be starting the new tomato seedlings under the grow lights in the garage, Cindy decided it was finally time to take out last year's tomato vines so she can prepare that raised bed for something else.

The vines were still producing both tomatoes and blossoms, and even a few new leaves, but the tomatoes were mostly green and the vines were getting very leggy and ratty looking, so it was time for them to go.

Cindy At Work

So we started chopping.  And chopping, and chopping, and finally, after filling up two green waste bins, got it done.

So now Cindy will have to haul out her many recipes for Green Tomato Pasta, Fried Green Tomatoes, and whatever else you do with green tomatoes.

Lots and lots of green tomatoes.

Last of the (Mostly Green) Tomatoes

Potatoes Up!

Potatoes!

The seed potatoes Cindy planted in the two Potato Grow Bags have come up and are starting to leaf out.  As they continue to grow, she'll add more soil to the bags and raise the sides until the whole bag is filled with soil and growing potatoes.

Right now she's busily constructing protective cages out of hardware cloth to keep the voracious varmints from nibbling off the tender young leaves.  She builds these cages out of quarter inch hardware cloth and holds the sides together with electrical ties.  She also covers the bags at night.

Anti-Varmint Cage

It's a pretty clever system and so far has thwarted the larger varmints and the birds, although sow bugs can still get through the openings in the hardware cloth.

It will take the potatoes a while to grow, but with this protection, at least we have a chance of getting some of them eventually.

Leaf Count--33 Leaves

I counted the remaining leaves on the ravaged citrus tree yesterday and found 33 remaining leaves, including a few that hadn't quite unfurled yet.

This morning there are still 33 leaves, so moving the plant from outside the fence to the driveway in front of the garage seems to have worked, at least for now.   However, I did see one of the ground squirrels scamper away from the steps leading up to the driveway the other day.

Cindy's Master Gardner pest control sources indicate that the likely suspects for this type of damage are usually deer, ground squirrels or rats.  We haven't seen any other signs of deer, but we definitely have squirrels and various types of rats.  By keeping track of how many leaves are left, we hope to be able to tell whether any further damage is caused during the day (squirrels) or at night (rats), so we can devise a plan to thwart the critter.

Whatever the varmint is, it has very sharp teeth.

"Three Fat Squirrels, Three Fat Squirrels, See How They Eat, See How They Eat..."

Two of the Three Fat Squirrels

We thought the squirrels were hibernating, but no, they're back and stuffing themselves on the birdseed that falls from the feeders.

Cindy tried using a squirrel repelling additive in the seed, containing rosemary oil, mint oil, cinnamon oil and putrescent egg white because it's is supposed to discourage the squirrels without harming the birds, but you wouldn't know it from these guys.  They're wolfing it down like there's no tomorrow.

With the theft of the False Sea Onion, the damage to the leaves of the citrus tree and consumption of the rosemary, mint and cinnamon-laced seed, these varmints are living large, and getting fatter by the minute.

Worse yet they, or some other varmints, are apparently developing a serious taste for exotic dinner fare.

If they keep this up, Cindy may be tempted to haul out the old shooting iron and make them into an ingredient in some real Brunswick stew.

New Garden Mystery

Stripped Citrus

Cindy went out into the garden this morning to see how the new Avocado is getting along (there will be more about this in a future post), and discovered that some critter had stripped almost all the leaves off one of the citrus trees out behind the fence.

When she put the Avocado out there a couple of days ago, this citrus tree was fully leafed out and appeared to be doing very well, although it didn't have any blossoms on it.  Today, almost all the leaves are gone, and the tips of each branch appear to have been sliced off.  The cuts are clean; they don't look chewed off.  It looks like some Mad Pruner went through and pruned the plant severely.

We have no idea what kind of critter did this.  The damage looks too extensive to suspect the ground squirrels of having done it, although lately they've been camped out in force under the bird feeders eating every bit of bird seed they can.

Because the cuts are so clean and go up to the top of the plant, it  looks like deer have been at it, but we live in the city of San Diego, surrounded by freeways where native San Diegans drive like maniacs day and night.  I don't think deer would survive for long here and we haven't seen any other evidence of them  in the area.

O.K., It's Really a Nasturtium

Another argument against deer is the damage to a marigold* plant inside the fence.  It's clearly been chewed up, too, but although not as cleanly as the citrus.  I think if deer had been inside the fence there would be other evidence of their presence and probably a lot more damage, as well.

So I guess the logical suspects are the ground squirrels after all.  Maybe they're in the mood for some salad after all that birdseed.

*It's a Nasturtium.  I knew that.

Cyclamen

I love Cyclamen and was thrilled when Cindy noticed the bright red petals of this beautiful flower peeping out from under one of the Bromeliads in the planter by the garage the other day.

I used to have several Cyclamen plants in a planter when I lived in northern California, and it was always a delight to find them popping up through the mulch in the early spring.

The Cyclacem Society has more information about these lovely plants.

"Get In The Bucket, John!"

Cindy and I attended a presentation of "Celebrate Trees--An Evening With Naturalist John Muir" at the Balboa Theater in Balboa Park last night, presented by the Center For Sustainable Energy.

Doug Hulmes, a professor of environmental studies at Prescott College in Arizona, has studied John Muir extensively and performs an evening of storytelling and conversation as John Muir to promote environmental education and consciousness of the importance of urban forestry.

One of the stories he told in the personification of Muir was the story of the young Muir digging a 90 foot deep well on the family homestead in rural Wisconsin.  He had to dig the first thirty feet of the well through close grained sandstone using a hammer and chisel.  As the well progressed, his father would lower him in a bucket using a windlass.  One day when the well was nearing completion, his father lowered John into the well as usual, not realizing that carbonic acid gas (carbon dioxide) had collected at the bottom of the well during the night.  Muir had become so accustomed to being in the well that he did not recognize the danger and was soon overcome by the gas and unable to take effective action, but when his father realized that he wasn't hearing any sounds of digging or chipping, he began yelling, "Get in the bucket, John!" and pulled him to safety.

Would John Muir think that our society is now in danger of being overcome by poisons and unable to make intelligent decisions to get out of the mess?

O.K., that was a rhetorical question if there ever was one.

Anyway, it was a pleasant and entertaining evening.  And I think we could use a few more people with the eloquence and foresight of John Muir.

"A Gardener's Work Is Never Done..."

More Tomatoes?

At least in the San Diego climate, a gardener's work is never finished, because there's always something growing that needs attention, or planting, or fertilizing, or pruning, or... fill in the blank.

That's the down side to not having snow here; the gardener can't look out the window, sigh and say, "Well, I can't do anything out in the garden today" and go back to doing other things.

The current problem is that it's almost time for Cindy to start new tomato plants growing under the grow lights in the garage, but last year's tomato plants are still going strong.  The vines are looking a bit bedraggled, but they're tall, bushy and still producing tomatoes and tomato blossoms.  She picked nine ripe tomatoes this morning, about the same number yesterday, and there are at least triple that number still on the vine.

I guess it's a nice problem to have; we have fresh tomatoes, and we don't have to shovel snow.

Can Of Worms

Can of Worms

Several years ago one of Cindy's Master Gardener friends sent out an SOS for somebody to take some of her red worms; they had reproduced so prolifically that she was running out of room for them in her bin.

So Cindy got into the process of worm farming.  We bought a bin cleverly titled "Can 'O Worms", put the appropriate amount of bedding and the worms in, and left them to it.

Cindy adds kitchen scraps and clean bedding for them from time to time and drains off the resulting "worm tea", which makes a wonderful fertilizer for her plants.  

We're occasionally had to cover the bin in cold weather or move it into the garage when a lot of rain was forecast.  Other than that, though, the worms don't require much care or attention.

Apparently today's sports page has now become part of the worms' bedding; she informed me that if I wanted it, I'd have to check the worm bin before they began eating it.  (She thinks I watch too much football.)

I said I didn't think it was a good idea to feed them the sports page--it might make them choke, like both the Chargers and the Padres did last year.

CONGRATULATIONS U of O DUCKS!  Ninety five years since they last won the Rose Bowl.

Really?  Too much football?  Me?

Still With Us...

Well, I saw a big, fat ground squirrel in the back yard under the bird feeder yesterday, so either he's not the varmint who stole the False Sea Onion bulb the other day, or, scary thought, he's immune to toxic plants.

We'll have to find a way to keep him out of the potatoes Cindy has just planted.

"How Do You Know It's Winter?"

What's All This White Stuff On My Windshield?

Cindy's folks came from Indiana to visit us in San Diego one November years ago, and while they were here we mentioned something about winter coming on.  Looking at the sunny San Diego sky, Cindy's Mom asked us, "How do you know it's winter here?"

That stumped us for a bit and we finally mumbled something about wearing long pants when we play golf and closing most of the windows at night.

So I just had to post this photo Cindy took of me scraping snow off the car two weeks ago when we were back in Indiana.

There was no snow on Christmas Day itself, but the family had decided to celebrate on the 27th to allow family members to gather, and that morning we woke up to more snow; big fat flakes covering everything.  It was like being inside a snow globe.

A White (Second) Christmas

It was lovely to visit, but we still think it's better to "let it snow, let it snow, let it snow... somewhere else".

Ha! We WinThis Round!

Our Blueberries!

We decided to save our New Year's Day champagne until today so we could drink it while we watched the Rose Parade.

So Cindy went out and gathered the ripe blueberries off the vines to put them in the champagne.

There were only four of them, but they were big, sweet, juicy, and, best of all--we beat the squirrel to them!  That's what you get for hibernating, varmint.

So we win this round.

New Year's Day 2012: The Varmint Wars Begin...

Cindy looked out the back window this morning and discovered that some critter had spent the night digging industriously in the planter bed beside the garage and had kicked dirt all over the top of the wall.

When she went out to inspect, she discovered that the varmint had made off with a False Sea Onion (Ornithogalum caudatum) bulb from one of the pots.  The bulb had cast several bulblets and those were still there, but the center bulb was gone.

Too bad for the varmint that most parts of these plants are considered highly toxic.  Seems kind of a shame after all the work that critter did to drag that big bulb off.

I guess we'll know if it survived if it goes after any of the others.