I now have 3 gnomes patrolling the garden. Each one has a duty to fulfill. I'm not gnome crazy. I'm rather selective as to which fella I'm willing to bring home with me. The first two which I purchased shortly after moving in are multi functional. I'm eying just one or two more which have light features but we'll see if they impress me enough to join the 3 already patrolling the garden.
The little guy watching over the watermelons is also a rain gage. When he can keep on his feet he lets me know how much rain we have received each rain so I know if I still need to water the seedlings or not.
His buddy has been watching over the Great Lakes Lettuce since last fall. He was so busy trying to catch water for the butterflies he didn't see the cabbage caterpillars eating way more then their share of the bok choy and wok bok last fall. Since the lettuce should soon sir cum to the summer heat I need to find a non-cabbage or lettuce crop to plant in the bed for the little guy to watch over.
The latest gnome to join the garden patrol seems to be having problems with his new duties. The bed he has been assigned has been planted with corn, zucchini, and carrots. So far I have not seen a single carrot sprout and they should be poking through by now. The corn is only faring a little better. About half of the seeds sprouted but half of those plants were taken off at the ground by something. I didn't see teeth marks so I'm not sure if it was critter or human vandal. This past weekend I planted the remaining seeds in the bear spots in the rows. There were 4 'mounds' of zucchini with 3 seeds each. So far 9 of the 12 seeds have sprouted into healthy looking seedlings and seem to be doing well.
The little guy watching over the watermelons is also a rain gage. When he can keep on his feet he lets me know how much rain we have received each rain so I know if I still need to water the seedlings or not.
His buddy has been watching over the Great Lakes Lettuce since last fall. He was so busy trying to catch water for the butterflies he didn't see the cabbage caterpillars eating way more then their share of the bok choy and wok bok last fall. Since the lettuce should soon sir cum to the summer heat I need to find a non-cabbage or lettuce crop to plant in the bed for the little guy to watch over.
The latest gnome to join the garden patrol seems to be having problems with his new duties. The bed he has been assigned has been planted with corn, zucchini, and carrots. So far I have not seen a single carrot sprout and they should be poking through by now. The corn is only faring a little better. About half of the seeds sprouted but half of those plants were taken off at the ground by something. I didn't see teeth marks so I'm not sure if it was critter or human vandal. This past weekend I planted the remaining seeds in the bear spots in the rows. There were 4 'mounds' of zucchini with 3 seeds each. So far 9 of the 12 seeds have sprouted into healthy looking seedlings and seem to be doing well.
I found small teeth marks on the newly fallen corn stalks (spouts). I'm not sure if it is squirrels or another critter or how to make them stop before it is all gone.
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