Buttercup: What about the R.O.U.S.’s?
Westley: Rodents of Unusual Size? I don’t believe they exist.
– The Princess Bride, 1987
This week, I’ve gone into my garden with great trepidation. Every morning when I went outside, leaves were strewn in the pathways between my garden beds.
The first thing I noticed was a stray broccolli leaf below one of the plants. I saw a grasshopper leap away and thought, “okay, it’s hot and grasshoppers are eating my plants.” So I read about making grasshopper traps (10% molasses and water) and set them out.
The next day, there were brocolli leaves everywhere. And no grasshoppers in the trap. So I mixed up a hideous organic brew of garlic and cayenne pepper and sprayed it on my plants. The house reeked of garlic all day.
The next day, there were brocolli leaves, stems, and bean plants everywhere. I was starting to get disturbed. Whatever it was didn’t actually even really eat the plants, it just destroyed them. I collected a few sad plant parts and took them into the Master Gardener Plant Clinic for evaluation. They suggested my problem might be rodents.
So I went home and read about rodent fencing and deterrents. Rather than investing in expensive fence, I used some of the many extra pieces of roofing metal we have around. I leaned the metal up against the fence posts that hold up our chicken wire fence. And I sprayed animal repellant on the plants.
The next day, there were shredded brocolli leaves, stems, bean plants and kale leaves everywhere. As James went off to work, he noticed a HUGE rodent in the garage, probably a pack rat. He said, “I don’t believe in coincidences” and decided to do a few errands on the way home for rodent removal supplies. I don’t know, and don’t want to know, what happened from there.
This morning my garden was untouched.
** Editor’s Note **
If you haven’t seen it, the Princess Bride is a great movie for all ages that is filled with great quotable lines 😉
You can read more about the Princess Bride here:
The Princess Bride