I went out this afternoon to water and what do I find?
Nothing! Whatever nefarious beast got them took them completely and didn't even leave a stalk as a how-do-you-do. They even had me second guessing if I even planted them at all, so I walked around and saw that the lettuce in both the corner yard and the other corner yard showed signs of a struggle.
However, to have a plant completely missing, hook line and sinker and all....something had to be going on. I blame the dog. I honestly do. He's the only one capable of pulling up the entire plant and then devouring it and the dirt whole AND he's known to have decapitated a few tomato plants in his history. He was outside yesterday while the boy and girl had friends over for dinner, and I bed he got irritated. Guess I'm off to find new transplants, for now, of course, I'm more determined than ever to have that stupid chard.
Stupid, stupid chard.
However, I do have one thing going for me now that makes me happier than a dead hog in the sunshine....
These peas are looking better and brighter than any I've ever tried to grow and we're still holding steady at 60's at night and 90's in the day. I doubt they'll flower until it gets a bit cooler during the days, but they're good and strong now...maybe I'll get two or three pods and I'll certainly count that as a success based on my track record.The morning comes early....and the boy just took ten years off of my life by coming up behind me silently while I was typing this and going "CCHHCCHHCCHH" (you really can't reproduce the sound, but it's like an rabid animal)and scaring the fool out of me. Tears were my knee jerk reaction which made him terrified as well, poor kid. Sweet chard eating dog-free dreams.
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Disappearing veggie plants are the worst! It makes me soooooo mad! Do you have any squirrels? I tend to blame them first.
ReplyDeleteYour peas look really good though!
Sorry to hear about your chard. If there was enough time, I would totally send you some chard seeds, but I guess it's too late to start them from seeds now.
ReplyDeleteYour peas look amazing. My pea seedling got eaten alive (literally!) by cutworms. I've been so upset about it that I couldn't even blog about it, yet. Maybe next week.
You know, the same thing happened to our pepper plant and our marigolds.
ReplyDeletehttp://nycgardening.blogspot.com/2010/07/who-stole-my-marigolds.html
http://nycgardening.blogspot.com/2010/08/thieves-in-garden.html
We don't have dogs, so I'm thinking maybe a squirrel did it.
The same thing happened to my chard seedlings I planted last week, but the dogs can't get into my fenced garden so I'm thinking a squirrel, possum or the like! My peas aren't up yet, I need to go check them this morning - then I have to cover them right away so the birds don't take them - they are only vulnerable until they get the second set of leaves!
ReplyDeleteIt takes alot of training to keep a dog out of your garden, and lots of patience too! I feel for ya....
ReplyDeleteTerrible.
ReplyDeleteI know the feeling though. I think I have posted about this before, if not here, on another blog. But I have a community garden, which is great, but the bad part is that there is no fence to protect anybody's garden from being poached.
So, I have "people on the prowl for free food" to look after, and of course the bugs.
At least in your case, since you think it was the dog, you can put him in the dog house. :D
"happier than a dead hog in the sunshine" ---- OMG, that is a good one! I've been outof the south for WAY too long.
ReplyDeleteYour peas look fabulous, I had to start mine in little containers since the darn gopher keeps stealing the seeds. But not for long....!
I got tired of the slugs & other questionable insects feasting on my swiss chard. This year I planted it in hanging baskets (oval galvanized tubs) that I hung on my front porch. A gardening friend laughed at me & said the plants would never have enough room. I got the last laugh. I harvested beautiful chard from May until last week. We ate chard OFTEN and had plenty to give away to friends at work. If you want pics & can supply them. Lisa
ReplyDeleteLisa, That's awesome. I tried chard last year in hanging pots off of my deck and the squirrels climbed the stairs, skulked across the screened porch to the deck railing, went across the deck railing and down to get to the chard. I planted some more today....we'll see how long it lasts.
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