Isn’t it the worst when you realize that a critter or an animal has been perusing and prowling through your garden? This morning I found some of my bean plants mushed into the soil. It didn’t seem like anything was eaten but something really church stomped on my bean plants y’all! One of the stalks seemed beyond repair and another one was completely pulled from out of the ground! But I still carefully replanted them, whispering my wishes for them to prosper. Not to be dramatic but when you first notice the aftermath of an animal in your plants, you feel a little bit of heartbreak and maybe a little devastation. But we share this earth with animals and they are free to roam wherever they want so we can’t be too upset about it (just a little bit). Especially when we’re planting tasty things.
All we can do is figure out ways to help protect our plants from animals who may unknowingly or unexpectedly hurt them. More than likely these animals know exactly what they’re doing and they’re out on a hunt to munch but sometimes they are just trying to see what you have going on. Maybe whatever animal trampled on my plants last night was just curious and wanted to see what I’m growing this season. Sometimes you just got a look at it from the animal’s perspective 😂.
But one lesson I am taking from this is that once you see something happening in your garden that you don’t like, take action so that it doesn’t happen again. Nature moves quickly. Very quickly. And if we don’t keep up, we will lose out on good growth opportunities with our plants. Some people suggest using certain sprays (for both plants and critters) but I prefer to avoid any unnecessary chemicals in the garden so I don’t use them at all. I’m going to put up a little gate or some kind of barrier so that way these beans can grow and thrive and not be trampled on or eaten like they were last season. Last season I tried to grow some beans and I literally couldn’t even get them to grow past a certain height because every time the leaves would grow after the last time they were eaten, an animal would come again and eat them and the cycle would continue. I can’t let that happen again this year. I’ll keep you guys updated on how this goes.
If you have any suggestions for me on how to prevent this, please let me know!
Helena's Haven 