Invaders

While I was gone last weekend some backyard invaders decided to attack my garden.  My first invader was a local rabbit.  Somehow the rabbit got through my fence and decided to start a nest in between my rows of lettuce.  Not a bad situation - food and shelter - all within a few inches of each other.  When I got home the nest was empty and there was no sign of the rabbit in the yard so I removed the grass that the rabbit had accumulated and filled in the hole.  I checked out the fence and made sure there weren't any holes so we should be good to go again.  The only major loss was my row of peas.  They were completely eaten down to the ground.  I can only imagine what would have happened if I had been gone longer then a weekend.

Rabbit next in the lettuce rows

"Thanks for the peas. They were delicious"

My second invader was a cutworm that attacked my sunflower seedlings.  Cutworms are one of the most frustrating insects that I have ever seen.  All they do is literally chew through the stem of the seedling and leave the plant laying on the ground.  They don't even eat any of the plant.  I could handle it a little bit better if they would at least eat the plant.

Cutworms

Cutworm is the named used for the larvae of many adult moths.  They are very hard to catch since they come out at night to eat and hibernate during the day.  Cutworms can be stopped by putting barriers around your seedlings.  The barriers could be made from cardboard, aluminum foil or any stiff material that that can circle your plant.  I have also heard that crushed eggshells and coffee grounds around your plants will help.  Anyway about it they are nasty.

Damaged Sunflower seedlings

More damaged Sunflower seedlings

                                   

My solution.  Landscape tube cut into sections.