Down the Hatch

Or: Attempting to preserve my garden...as it were.

But first a Marigold photo, because it is lovely. 


These are so pretty.  I'm going to save a bunch of seeds.  Marigolds tend to reseed themselves spontaneously, but I'm going to save some extra seeds on purpose, just in case 

Now.

Here is the remnant of one of my nice cantaloupes.


 It wasn't ripe yet.  The same night the diner, as it were, also went over and enjoyed a tomato.



This was about a week ago, I believe.  The next night it returned and finished off the other half of the cantaloupe.  The next night it ate half of a smaller cantaloupe and duly returned for the second half the next night...along with another tomato.

To keep any more of my choicest cantaloupes from going down the hatch before they've ripened I rigged up a cage of sorts for them.


I had to carefully maneuver the vines around so as to not break them off prematurely, but I managed to get 5 of them in there.  I really ought to cover it with chicken wire, but I don't have any at the moment.  I think next year if I feel like growing them again, I will rig up some sort of cantaloupe cage system.  

At the moment though, I am not feeling the urge to want to repeat the hours and hours of backbreaking work killing bugs just to watch the fruits of my labors go to a varmint of some kind.  Ugh.  The joys of gardening.

On a brighter note, we have been enjoying some nice tomatoes.  I've been picking them before they get really ripe and letting them ripen in the house.  I can't let the wildlife get everything.





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