Now for lavender and gophers. There are parts of my garden unprotected and I will see the ominous mounds of dirt that are a telltale sign the gopher is working a particular plant. I harvest my lavender continually and fill five gallon buckets with leaves and stems and cover it all with water. These buckets are left soaking and when I see a plant endangered by a gopher I completely satuate the ground around the plant with the lavender water. This does the trick. I refill the buckets with water again and they sit in wait.
These techniques require that learning how to take cuttings in early spring from your lavender plants because it requires a lot of lavender. Can this be so bad?!
Plant Guards: Several years ago we planted over 5000 tiny trees to establish a wildlife reserve. In order to protect the trees from deer, mice, rabbits, gopher and porcupines, the Conservation Department recommended that each tree have its own guard. Since removing each guard from 5000 trees would be a monumental task, the protective guard recommended was biodegradable and disintegrated by light exposure in about three years. Having some extras, I began using them with small plants in the garden. For me the critical time is getting plants established. Once established, most plants can hold their own against rabbits and deer. But when young and tender they don't stand a chance. The guards protect the plant through this critical time. They would work just as well against cats and dogs. The guards were developed for the forestry industry but certainly would be useful to home gardeners. They're only sold in larger quantities, but I recommend garden club members go together and purchase a minimum order. They resemble an airy mesh one sees around fruit in produce departments, but they are flexible and tough. They come in various sizes but I used the 3 ¾ x 18" size. They're call Rigid Seedling Protection Tubes and are available from Terra Tech, Inc. P.O. Box 5547, Eugene, OR 97405. Phone: (800) 321-1037
These were graciously reprinted with the permission of Gerry from her website Blossoms and Bloomers! You can visit her great site from here. Go
Ants
If you are having ant problems at your hummingbird feeder, I have the solution! Rub petroleum jelly all along the hanger and anywhere else they can crawl onto it. They will NOT touch it, afraid of getting mired maybe. It really does work. Try it!
