Pests

Pests aren't always the ones we see and read about that devour our plants and steal our fruits and veggies from us.  The ones that come out at night while we're sleeping and eat our new leaves or cut our plants down at the stem base.  No, sometimes the culprits are right in front of our eyes, our well loved PETS! Oh they act like they are just quietly observing while you are lovingly planting those new seedlings or in my case my new herb plants. Instead they are secretly plotting to pounce on those new mounds of dirt with the fresh little plants and markers neatly placed.

Last week I got in most of my new annual herb plants (cilantro, flat parsley, pinapple sage, basil and greek oregano).  My three pups sat near me and watched as I poured in my mix of bone and blood meal into the holes and place the plants in, not really paying much attention.  I watered everything nicely and went inside.  I came back later in the day and my cilantro was tossed to the side like an old weed and a nice round hole now stood where the plant used to be.

I wondered what critter could have possibly done this?  I didn't know of any bugs that could have done this.  I stood there speechless for a moment and happened to look down at my little innocent pomeranian Remy who had followed me outside.  There he stood with his usual full toothed smile looking at me with dirt in his teeth and a dirt smudged nose.  You've got to be kidding me, this little devil dog had plotted against and was proudly sitting there wagging his tail like he should be rewarded for digging up my plant.  My first thought was to grab him  and beat him within an inch of his life, but of course I couldn't and wouldn't ever hurt a hair on his devilish little body and my husband would kill me for hurting his "boy".  So, I took my second option and chased him around the yard with my badly beaten Cilantro plant screaming "bad boy" in the toughest voice I could muster which wasn't  much. Disgusted, I threw the plant in the compost pile and went inside and called his "dad" and told him what his little angel had done.

When I arrived home from work the next day there was a new Cilantro plant planted nicely where the other had been. A gift from Remy and my husband as an apology gift along with a couple of wet licks on the face to say he was sorry (the dog not my hubby :)).

Thinking that all the drama was over and my garden was now safe with the culprit properly chastised, I find another hole dug in the same spot the next day.  However,  this time slightly to the right of the poor new Cilantro plant.  What the heck is wrong with this dog?  Now my husband is a little po'd at that boy since he had taken the time to buy and plant this one.  So it's not so cute anymore when his plant gets tampered with.  Once again my husband neatly fills the whole and punishes the boy for his bad behavior.

On Saturday after spending all day doing yard work, we were shocked to see that right under our noses my oregano plant had disappeared.  All that was left behind was a nice neat hole that looked like it had been dug to plant the plant in not the reverse.  Clearly knowing who the culprit was, we went looking for the boy and found him rough housing with his sisters with his dirt caked nose clearly evident.  Remy had struck again! And this time had eaten the plant.  Why was this dog trying to single handedly ruin my herb garden.  We'd been at this house a year and he never touched the garden last year?  Was he seaking attention? Did he now have a taste for herbs?  What the heck was going on here?  We later found the poor plant buried underneath the dirt that was so neatly dug out of the hole.

Ahhh it wasn't the plant he was interested in...it what was up under the plant.  I had chosen to garden organically this year and had used blood and bone meal to fertilize te plants when I planted them and I had ammended the soil with steer manure.  By George I've got it, he smells those great smells and thinks a treat is buried there and all he comes up with is dirt so he keeps digging.

Mystery solved. But what am I to do, the plants are already planted and the fertilizer has been added?  Will my plants be on his hit list constantly?  When you have 3 dogs it's always really hard to know who does what unless you catch them in the act.  Later we found out he had an accomplice who was better at hiding the evidence than he was, our 9 year old chihuahua Mekah.  While my husband was working in the office he happened to  look out the window into the yard and spotted my innocent little Mekah digging away at the same spot Remy had been punished for digging up.

So a week later, we are still spanking the dogs for digging in those spots. We've even gone so far as to put rocks on top of the holes.  Another weekend is here and I have replacement herbs ready to go in the ground. Do I dare plant them?

Moral of the story..know you pests and be aware of what attracts them.