Groundhog Wars

If you are sqeamish, don't read further.  I don't mean that I am showing bad pictures (there are none).  But I am fighting with groundhogs that damage my garden.  I mean, they destroy my food. 

Today, while I was weeding the garden, I heard an odd thrashing noise nearby the fence and old toolshed where a groundhog had taken up residence.  I had let Ayla out and feared she had tangled with the groundhog.  She is, in some ways, stupidly fearless.The only tool I had on the way was a gardening spade.  I grabbed it and ran toward the noise. 

I may also be stupidly fearless.

When I got to the fence, I saw the groundhog run into the burrow under the old toolshed.  I have GOT to make that space inaccessible!  But I also sawsomethng else.  3 groundhog pups huddled together 20' away from the burrow.

2nd Warning:  Violence ahead...


There I was with a garden spade, expecting to protect my cat from an adult groundhog.  What I found was future garden-destroying varmint pups.  I had the garden fork in hand.  They had no flight instincts.  I dispatched them as quickly as possible.  I didn't like it, but I did it.  Nothing needs be said further about that.

I did not enjoy it.  But I thought it was necessary.  Every year when a groundhog lives under the toolshed, my crops are ruined.  That is my food.  Last year, they ate all my cukes and most of my bean plants.  I am determined to drive the adult away.

I scooped up one dead pup and put it in the entrance burrow.  I moved a barrier board out of the way enough to place a second dead pup in there.  If that doesn't make Mom Groundhog leave the property, I will take further measures.  I am growing crops for ME, not her.

If I had a 10 acre farm and lost 100 sq ft to a groundhog, I wouldn't worry too much.  But last year, I lost every cuke and bean.  Between my organic safe food and the groundhogs, they are going to lose every time.  I have been tolerant for years, but the tolerance has ended. 

Mrs. Groundhog will die next!  And I will bury mesh wire 18" deep all around the shed to prevent any new ones coming back in the future!

 ----------------------

When I was 14, my dad took my brother and I out to a huge field to "hunt" groundhogs.  He had a whistle that made them stand up to look around for danger.  Toward twilight, he whistled at them again.  One stood up a long distance away. 

I laid down for a careful shot.  Dad laughed and said I couldn't aim that well.  I pulled the trigger and the groundhog vanished.  He said I scared him with the shot.  I said I got him.  I was insistent enough to make him walk with me to the spot.

There was the dead groundhog.  I nailed him right between the eyes.  He brought the dead ground hog home an made a stew of it.  Trust me, it doesn't taste like chicken.  He did it because he was being mean.  I made him look wrong.

I hate groundhogs...

Some Days Are Just Good

I love productive days!  It doesn't matter much what I am productive at.  Some days it is gardening, and it might be planting seeds, transplanting seedlings,  or weeding large areas.  Some days it is building stuff indoors.  Some days it is cleaning the house.  Some days it is organizing things.  Some days it is as basic as cleaning out the fish tanks.  Or other stuff.

It matters that I keep busy in retirement.  It is easy to waste time.  "Tomorrow" is fine...  I don't work that way.  I have less time left than I did when I was 20.  I don't mean to say that bothers me all that much, I stayed busy when I was 20, too.  But I don't want to sit around thinking I will do things tomorrow".

I could go into great detail (and I probably will in future posts), but lately I've weeded 500 square feet of flowerbed, planted small crops (carrots, radishes, kohlrabi, leeks, etc etc),  trapped a threatening groundhog and a rabbit with a taste for cucumber seedlings, cleaned out and rehabilitated an aluminum bass boat with floors, created a new plant light stand for seedlings, destructed the old light stand, drained the hot water heater of mineral sludge, cleaned the washer/dryer/dishwasher/oven, rewired several basement outlets to code, and about finished the new plant light stand (which was a real piece of work)

And then there are the cats.  I love them all dearly.  At least Iza and Marley come in when called.  Ayla doesn't. She likes to stay out a night first before returning.  So I had the idea of letting her out as long as she wanted til she was bored and preferred the food inside.  Its opposite feral adoption, in a way. 

After Ayla escaped out a couple weeks ago and stayed out three nights, I have let her out regularly.  She stays near the fence, just won't come back in when called.   The idea is that I let her out enough so that she gets bored and decides the house is good at least at night.  I don't know for sure that this will work

But she stayed out 3 nights at first, 2 nights the next 2 times, and not at night today.  It MAY be that enough outside time equals more inside time.  She sure loves my attention!  When se comes in she crawls all over we seeking my scritches and neck rubs.  So it may be that, let out enough, se will b more willing to come inside again.

I HAD TO relent.  She had gotten so frantic to get outside after a year confinement that she would hide behind the drapes near the deck door, stalk behind me, etc.  She just couldn't be kept inside anymore.  As strong as my desire was to keep her in, her desire to get out exceeded that.

Yard Wildlife

I bought a wildlife camera (GameSpy) in April and got some pictures, but forgot to post them as promised.  Since Iza ran into the groundhog (which was caught in a live trap) recently, I remembered the GameSpy pictures.

There is more wildlife living under my toolshed than I thought!  The shed is a foot above ground level, so there is lots of room underneath.

Some of the pictures don't come out very well.  I need to read about the autoflash feature more carefully.   This is a rabbit.

Here is the groundhog that I knew I had there, emerging from the entrance.

 Here is the best picture I got of it.

Seeing a possum emerge from the same hole surprised me!

The groundhog emerged again soon after.

I'm sure they don't share the same burrow, but they do share the access hole to below the shed floor.  The possum probably just sleeps in a corner under the shed.  I have most of the rest of the shed access blocked by boards.  But apparently the groundhog also tunneled through the compost bin.  I surprised it once and it dove in there and vanished.

Odd Remembrance

I was watching TV this evening, and saw a gas commercial.  One part involved putting a gas nozzle in the inlet part.  And I had a flashback to my first car.

My parents gave me a 1966 Pontiac Bonneville convertible for my 20th birthday (1970).  It was a complete surprise!  As a freshman in college, I wasn't allowed to park a car on campus (weird old rules), so there was little point in my having a car before.  And I was never a "car guy".  I just borrowed the family station wagon if I REALLY had to drive somewhere.  Although I did get to drive the Lincoln for special dates.

But anyway, I was presented with a card with a car key in it when I turned 20.  It was one of those shiny red or green duplicate keys from the hardware store.  I assumed it was for the station wagon.  I hemmed and hawed about what to say, because it didn't seem like much.  I mean, I could use the car when I needed to already.

But then they pointed out the living room window to a different car.  The Bonneville...  I almost fell over.  I was speechless.  It was a great gift!

Here's the funny part that the commercial reminded me of...

After a week, I needed gas.   I drove into a filling station (as we called them back then) and the attendant came around to fill it up (yes there used to be such people who actually filled your car with gas while you just sat in it).

He asked where the gas cap was.  Think about that for a moment.  He couldn't find the gas cap.  I had just automatically driven to the pump on the side of the station wagon gas cap.  I got out and looked.  There wasn't a gas cap on either side of the car!

Don't laugh, but we actually looked under the hood for a gas cap.  I'm serious.  The attendant finally brought his boss out to solve the problem.  He looked, laughed, and tilted the license plate down to reveal the gas cap!

It had a 26 gallon gas tank, too.  Good thing, it only got 13 mpg!  On the other hand, gas was only 29.9 cents per gallon then.  I learned the gas tank size when I ran out of gas once and coasted downhill to a gas station and filled it up!

Who on EARTH thought to hide the gas cap behind the license plate holder?   Apparently, the idea didn't catch on.  On the other hand, I was always able to drive up to any side of the gas pumps available.  But I'll just say that was one of the funniest/odder things that ever happened to me.

Just wanted to share a great old memory...

Memorial Day 2011

Seedling Light Stand, Part 3

OK, so I have the new light stand about half assembled.  The 2 bulb fixtures were 1/2" longer than the shelves.  I was thinking "4' light fixtures, 4' shelves with the supports on the outside, should fit".  I should have checked more carefully.  But it wasn't as if I was going to buy more light fixtures, so it didn't really matter.  I had to attach them a little lower than planned.  The fixtures have attachment holes in them, but I had to partially take them apart to get at them and drill though-holes so as not to drill the insulation off the wires inside. 

The 4 bulb fixtures were easier in one way.  The wires were channeled around the attachment holes.  On the other hand, they were designed to hang from hooks on chain.  So I needed to drill a hole through the fixture anyway.  I ruined a drill bit trying to drill through what I thought was aluminum.  It was steel.  I should have checked with a magnet!  That was a bit from my REALLY GOOD set of bits.  I'll have to replace it.  I partially disassembled THOSE fixtures...  You may notice I keep having to do a lot of extra steps to make this project work.  I was not thrilled, but having started down this path, I have to continue.

So I got out my metal step-bit and the drilling went fine.  I reassembled the fixture and dropped in the bolts through the plywood.  Did I mention the plywood?  The rack comes with 3/8' pressboard shelves.  Strong enough for shelving or plant trays, but not much to drive a screw up into from below or countersink a bolt from above to support the light fixtures.  So I added 1/2" plywood below to hold the fixtures and counter-sunk the pressboard from below to cover the bolts.  It works great.  The resulting upper surface is nice and flat for the plant trays.  Looks good too. 

Here is the first 4-bulb fixture attached to the bottom of the 3rd shelf.  The top shelf will be identical.

Except...  You may notice a shelf support missing on the photo above (right side).  That's because one was 2" too short!  The box came with an information sheet asking that I call the manufacturer before returning the product to the retail store.  My interpretation of that is "we make a lot of mistakes, please don't tell the store.  Well, gee, it is about all constructed.  It would be a lot of work to take it apart and the box it came in is all ripped apart.  I emailed them about the problem.

The emailed back that a replacement shelf support is being shipped for delivery in 7 days.  That's reasonable.  I would have preferred a UPS overnight shipment on principle, but all my seedlings  are outside now and the light stand is for next year.

Here is a photo of the plywood base I used and the fancy cover shelf.  The are the same size, though the angle makes it look different.

It's been an minor adventure - more than building a box and less than building a shed.  I seldom get to build anything to specifications.  I end up having to craft things by trial and error.  Drives me nuts.  I have the genes of an engineer and the talent of an art major!


Which reminds me, I need to replace the roof on the shed.  I didn't know about roofing paper 20 years ago, and now it leaks.  Time to redo it right.  That's on the list.  The really really long list of major "to do"...

The lesson here is that I should have built the light stand as I originally intended.  3/4' plywood, 6' high and 5' shelves with the fixtures simply screwed right up into the shelf bottoms!  Don't get me wrong, the new light stand will be great for decades.  But the original plan would have been easier and worked as well.

Live and learn...

Seedling Light Stand, Part 2

Well, at least I have some pictures to add for the assembly!  And I have to admit, the assembly IS well designed and simple to do.  The upright posts have "keyholes".  Think of a hole with a narrower slot below.  The horizontal side pieces have mushroom heads that fit through the hole and the "stem" of the mushroom heads fits the slots below tightly.  The connections are indeed "rigid".  You tap them firmly in place with a hammer (gently - I used a 2x4 and a deadblow hammer).  So far, so good. 

 This is the old plant light stand.  I am taking it apart as I transfer the lights to the new one.  The old shelves had a 2 bulb fixture.  The new ones have TWO 2 bulb fixtures per shelf.  

Here are the old light shelves being disassembled.  I really over-engineered the previous light shelf.  I am learning to back off on the over-engineering.

Note the plywood shelf.  I made those.  It's tricky.  The plywood shelf supports the light fixtures below.  But since the supporting bolts stick up over the plywood, I needed to countersink the provided fancy shelfs from below.  In other words, the top cover shelf has a hole in the bottom where the fixture bolts stick up.  Does that make sense?

This is the new light shelf.  There are now 2 light fixtures per shelf (4 bulbs).  The fancy shelf sits on the light fixture supporting plywood

In this picture, you see two shelves assembled.  The green box is a support of the light fixture so I can feed the support bolts from above.

Each of the rigid steel horizontal bars have a double curve to them.   A lower curve is for strength, the upper curve has a flat surface that supports the shelving (a 2'x4'x3/8" engineered material).  I initially thought it was a sort of rubber/resin, but it is pressboard.  The instructions said it would support 800 poubds per shelf.  It also said not to stand on it.  Huh?  I only weigh 160 pounds.  They must have loaded the shelves VERY carefully to support 800 lbs  if I cant stand on it.  Well, I didn't buy it for the weight capacity.  Plants aren't all THAT heavy!

Next. I complete (almost) the whole shelf rack...

Seedling Light Stand, Part 1

A while back, I mentioned I planned to build a better seedling light stand.  The current one has only a 2 fluorescent bulb fixture per shelf, and even with good daylight bulbs, I find the plants get leggy.  I found 4 bulb fixtures at a decent price and bought a couple, thinking I could put two 2 bulb fixtures on the other shelves.  I planned to make it entirely of 1/2" plywood, 18 or 16" deep and 5 feet long to easily accommodate the 4' fluorescent fixtures.  I planned to attach cleats to the sides to hold the shelves.  The light fixtures would be screwed right up into the plywood shelves.  The shelves would be spaced at increasing distances so that growing plants could be moved to shelves further from the lights as they grew.  Simple basic construction.

It was a good plan.  I wish I had followed it...

But I saw an ad for rigid steel frame shelving at a really great price.  It was 4' wide, 2' deep and 6' tall.  Sounded great.  The shelf supports were adjustable in 1" increments and the shelves themselves were 1/2" recycled material that could support 800 lbs per shelf.  I measured the 4 bulb fixtures carefully and measured the floor display model.  It seemed they would fit right under the shelves perfectly!  It promised "easy assembly" (which, for its original purpose, was true).  I bought it. 

It weighed a ton!  Well, not literally "a ton" but I couldn't even pull the box off the stack due to the weight and friction.  I had to get a store person to help.  The top box was broken open (probably items missing).  The 2nd was fine.  We got it on a flatbed cart.  He assured me that there were outside people to help me get it in the car.  I planned to take the box apart from in the car at home.

Needless to say, no outside person ever became available.  In fairness, they were there, but backed up helping other people.  I finally did manage to wrestle the box into the car.  I'm not weak, but I'm not a weight-lifter either.  Fortunately, I do know some simple mechanical principles...

But I should have known I was off to a bad start!

Next, assembling the stand...

Aquarium Leak

It is almost funny.  I was sitting watching TV an heard a little "Pop".  I assuned the cats had whapped a pen off a desk.

But when I went to feed the fish, I saw a small puddle of water; only a couple of spoonfuls.  Tracking it up from the base with a paper towel, I found the spot.  There was a tiny fracture in a corner.

This is going to sound weird.  To get at an old 20 gallon tank, I had to empty out an understairs closet I have not investigated in years.  It was so old, I found a manual typewriter and an old 8 track player in  there!

But the 20 gallon long was still waterproof, so I got the fish in there.  I will try to seal the 30 gallon high with the silicone sealant I bought today.  I'll give it 2 days to set, then add some water to see if the leak is fixed.

Seedlings, Yay!

Well, I have seedlings of my large-seed crops up now!  You may recall I had pre-soaked them a few hours and drained the water out of the individual containers to let the initial seedroots develop before planting them.  It works really well!  It is guaranteed germination.  You have to handle the seeds gently so as not to damage the 1/4" root, but it is well worth it.

Of the 10 cukes I planted, 9 are up and there is time for the 10th.

2 of the three cantaloupes are up in each of the 2 places I planted them, as are 2 of 3 of the watermelon seeds and honeydew seeds in their single spots.  In any case, it looks like I will have a good initial growth of those this year.  We will see later if there is enough sun for the melons to ripen.  I mention that because I have not had success with melons previously.  But 2 years ago, I had a couple of trees removed that I think provides 2 more hours on sun on the garden.  Last year was just bad all around, so that doesn't count.

The flat italian beans are emerging; only 2 so far, but I expect all of the 10 to emerge. I expected the beans to come up first because they are robust seedlings, but they ARE planted deeper, so I guess it balances out.

The heirloom tomato seedlings are thriving.  They got 4 daylight fluorescent bulb treatment this year (2-bulb lights make them leggy) AND I waited a week longer to set them in the ground (til the soil temp was over 60F at the coolest).  That seems to have helped.  They are greener and stockier than in past years and the stems are noticably thicker after 1 week.  I am looking forward to a superb harvest this year.

In case you are wondering why there are 2 cages, it is because something ate 1 of the seedling's top off and I had to replace it.   The small green cage is to discourage the groundhog or rabbit (I have at least 1 of each in the fenced yard).  I didn't know any mammals ate tomato plants!  Well, that's why I grow extras...

I have 2 Brandywine, 2 Cherokee Purple, and 1 each Prudens Purple, Aunt Gertie's Gold, and Tennessee Britches.  Everyone has their favorites and while Brandywine generally wins contests (and I love it too), here in MY yard with MY conditions and habits, Cherokee Purple is the winner.  The taste is more complex, it is more productive, and it is more disease resistant.

I also have a hybrid Stupice as an early tomato, and a Sweet Million in a hanging pot for snacking in the garden.

I am not using the permeable red plastic groundcover this year (supposed to reflect the best light frequencies back up to the leaves).   It may or may not work, but I noticed last year that water was not penetrating it.  Maybe the pores get clogged after a few years.  I don't want to have to buy it new every year!

I planted bi-color corn, too.  It is just a 2'x3' block of 6 (its just me and I only eat one a day at best).  But I will plant a 2nd 2x3 block next weekend and another 2 weeks after that for succession.  I know how to maximize pollination in small plantings.  In case you are wondering about that, you snip off a tassel each day and rub it around the silks for a week.  If it is a really calm day, you can tap the stalks to make pollen fall straight down.  If you REALLY want to maximize pollination, you can put a plastic bag over the stalks and THEN tap them.  Here, 1 ear per stalk is good.  This is NOT "corn country".

I don't know why I bother to grow corn.  At harvest time, bi-color corn is available cheap.  I should grow something more expensive like red lettuce  That stuff is ALWAYS $2 a pound.  Bi-color corn is sometimes 25 cents an ear.  But its the challenge, I suppose.  I stopped growing green bell peppers when they were 10/$1.  But just once, I want to grow really good corn.  Straight from the garden to boiling water in 1 minute!

The flowerbeds are doing great.  I probably have them in better shape than in the past 10 years.  I got them pruned of old stems early, got the beds weeded early, fertilized them with organic slow release 6-10-6 early (a blend I make from 2 sources), and (for once) I got cages around the large sprawling ones early!  I let the cats show off the flowers in their Garden Tour Thursday posts.  You can see that HERE.

OK, no plant in its perfect conditions should need cages.  But I get less sun than they would like, so several are a bit leggy.  The cages help that.  With the slightly increased sun and good fertilizer, the troillus are standing on their own, the coneflowers are stockier and other larger patches of flowers are standing up aganst the weeklong heavy rains.  OK, only 2", but it comes in heavy downfalls.  In past years, they would all be bent over.

So things are looking promising here.