i've noticed that close to the ocean the rabbits are everywhere
but go inland 60 miles and there are NONE to be seen ...

Wouldn't the coyotes take out the rabbits?
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you'd think so....

but cats have a weakness that the coyotes have keyed in on

and that is... when they are transfixed onto prey such as a chipmunk, mouse or bird
they concentrate on closing the distance and develop tunnel vision
crouching to stay unseen... never taking their eyes off their quarry

they don't OFTEN watch their "6" and the coyotes sneak up and grab them
i know because i lost two well schooled cats in 2 weeks down there
in buzzards bay on a short visit.....

Raven I AM 60 miles from the ocean and we are loaded this year. I wuldnt waste even cheap strawberry wine trying to trap them! It is rediculous what they have eaten. We have hawks but they must not be hungry enough to wipe them out. Same with the coyotes. We had a bobcat roaming around a couple years ago and that was the only year they seemed to "disappear" :)

between the insect damage, weather and rabbits we were getting pretty bummed about this years garden. On a better note tonite I picked a single cherry tomato (that seems early, no?) spotted several miniscule cukes starting and a teeny tiny zucchini starting. Cant seem to grow greens to save my life but I was finally able to pick a salad tonite along with another pint of blueberries so faith was somewhat restored, if only for a moment!

most people consider the garden to be a "spring thing".....

or at least that's when they have the most motivation to start one
as the weather warms up and old man winter begins to fade away

but the best gardens are started "now" as the shorter and shorter days light
spur the plants to develop sooner...

many plants can take allot more cold and actually prefer it... the cool....
i've had my very best gardens in the fall i can say.... that i began now

Guy's... the best way( short of a bullet) to catch a yard pig ( wood chuck) is with a blind set live trap ( I was in the buisness for over 20 years... I got sick of the phone ringing all hours of the day and night anbd gave it up))... open both doors and set it in his trial.... add a small amount of grass from the trail on the cage floor so the wire does not spook him.. bend some grass and weeds over the cage to break up the outline to make it look like a tunnel... LIGHTLY block the trail sides of the trail with small sticks and vegetation.. . you'll avoid the unwanted catches and catch the garden raider... makes sure the cage does no rock.. they are extremly skittish about unstable/unfamilure grounds.. the same tactic works well on bugs ( bunny) too.. just find a pinch point where they are entering the yard...

the golpher traps out west used the tunnel trick too

of course tho it was a belly squeezer bar trap but very effective

but the way they fooled the gopher was to make a small round hole

in the back side of the trap [ o ] so when they look ahead it
APPEARS as though the tunnel exit is up aways and then they'd stumble/bump
into the spring lever....

so R9's method is tried and true :point: dead on

I've caught 100's of them that way.... almost any varmit can be caught in a blind set... all animals ( and fish) are creatures of habit.... with a little study and careful placement of said capturing devise.. they all can be caught.. rather easily...

and I have eaten them before... they are rather tasty ...slightly/mildly gamey.. but not unpleasant...very simular to muskrat...

Thanks for the tips rockfish! Thinking i got them all .Caught 2 so far ,and haven't seen any more damage . I released them both in the area of elitist snobs who cut off access to one of my favorite spots . Well worth the potential 100 fine :)!
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awesome :btu:

that's great... I like the way you think...When I used to trap unwanted beaver ( under my ADC license)... I always thought about live trapping them and letting them go in areas where people thought they were "cute".. unfortunatly ( for the beaver) all the problem beaver I trapped were deceased...

with all this humidity and rain my landscape gardens have gotten out of hand requiring a lot of cutting back. Like a jungle out there.

ya'll need some red flamingo's Paul

1/2 hour of picking. Going to freeze these and make jam at a later date. Too busy now.

My youngest son who turns three next month could put all those away in one sitting.
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LOL. but you wouldn't want to clean up after him. Can you say blue poop

Been there done that. Very blue!
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cupcakes please

i learned an important lesson about fertilizer this year
back (last fall) when my worm bed was covered in leaves that were
partly shredded then covered with stacks of leaves laid flat
for over winter protection... i had added some strong fertilizer (organic)
that would provide ample nitrogen for decomposition.

Well that fertilizer was still "available" come the next spring
so much so... that my pepper crop grew 5 feet tall and produced
small peppers even though the foliage was LUSH meaning it was
dedicated to growth and not fruiting. Lesson Learned!:wall:

adding a note:
actually they are fruiting just not the way i had envisioned

Tons of tomatoes.... But all are green. None ripening.:fury:

I got so any friggin tomatoes......made 10 pints of salsa last weekend, made 10 pints of pasta sauce today......picked enough today to make another 10 pints of something
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Dani was psyched about your cukes and tomatoes. Thank you.

then pick some....toss in a paper bag with a few cut apples
and since they release Ethelyn (sp) gas that the professional growers use
to ripen a warehouse full of green tomato's (thats how they ship-em)
you can force them to ripen....

placing them on a sunny window sill does the "trick" too

Tomatoes and peppers awesome,zucs were a complete failure.

My zucchini was jammin until I got the powdery mildew......wiped them out.
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Tomatoes and cukes both went extremely well. Trying to find new ways of eating tomatoes now.

Unfortunately the beetles got to my cukes bad- wilt did them in. Still got some nice fruits from them tho. Next year I think I'll do corn.

Exactly!Wiped mine out too.Treated to little to late.

Jar up a bunch of salsa.....real easy to do and now I have a bunch for the football season. Gonna make some more next weekend.....
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