This morning I planted beans again.
This is the third time.
The same beans.
Not the same *type* of bean.
The same actual beans.
Raccoons are not my friends.
After finding bean plants uprooted, scattered, and buried under dug-up soil a week ago, I hastily replanted them. The poor beans rallied and continued to grow, which was remarkable considering their ordeal.
This morning I found the same rows dug up again.
Disheartening, to say the least.
Again I replanted any intact plants I could find.
I'll keep watering and hope for the best.
But I need to better protect the garden from varmints.
(Yes, I said varmints. Strong word, I know, but this destructive behavior is inacceptable. Raccoons have plenty to eat without digging up my beans in search of worms, or whatever the heck they are doing.)
Earlier this season I experimented with planting hills of beans instead of rows.
This is the tidy garden the day I planted the seeds:
And this is the same garden the very next morning.
The three hills and a row of cucumber seeds.
Excavated.
Faced with such devastation, Moxie and I had to have a little sit-down.
Done.
But since putting up the fence, rows of bean plants have been churned up twice.
Does anyone have a tried-and-true method for keeping raccoons out of a fenced garden? Burying the fence a foot deep isn't an option here. I tried scattering cinnamon sticks along the fence and even along the bean rows.
For a few days, all was well.
Until this morning.
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Varmints is the nicest thing I'd say about them. Short of building a greenhouse I don't know the answer.
ReplyDeleteI had all my cotton plants, three, and my sunflowers, picked by I think birds. Neatly gone, no digging, just holes where they were.