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GRRRRR…..

September 28th, 2017

One of our most annoying garden pests are porcupines. Sounds strange, but it’s true. This summer they found my lettuce patch just as the butterheads were forming beautiful heads. They eat a lot of apples out of our trees, generally taking a bite out of one and throwing it down to get another.

They also love pumpkins and squash. I find bites taken out of my squash around this time of year, it’s frustrating to be sure.

Thankfully, they only gnaw on a few, which often heal up. But there are some that won’t, they eat a little too much. These will be thrown in to the chickens. Overall, I don’t have too many pest issues. The ones that I have can often be taken care of with an electric fence.

What’s your biggest garden pest? 

4 Comments to “GRRRRR…..”
  1. Chris on September 28, 2017 at 11:59 am

    Oh but they’re so cute! :) Deer and our little wiener dog, Tilly are our biggest garden pests!! What the deer won’t bother we have a little short Tilly fence around everything else! :)
    Have your dogs ever had run ins with the local porcupine population? Hope not!

    Reply to Chris's comment

  2. K on September 28, 2017 at 12:21 pm

    It’s a little disconcerting when you open your lunch to see a cabbage moth caterpillar looking at you. I washed, rewashed and inspected each leaf. Ugh. Totally my biggest garden pest right now.

    Reply to K's comment

  3. tommy on September 29, 2017 at 2:43 pm

    I have a dang gopher that has destroyed my garden. Literally ate just about everything that was living in it. And now I can’t plant my fall garden, as I cannot get rid of this gopher.
    It is very frustrating. I’ve tried a bunch of different traps, but he’s too smart and won’t take the bait.

    Reply to tommy's comment

  4. Nebraska Dave on October 6, 2017 at 6:12 pm

    Susy, you have heard my story many times about the pesky raccoons. I have finally secured the garden area with a six foot wooden fence for the deer, a five foot steel welded fence for the rabbits, and an electric fence for the raccoons. So now I’m down to the field mice. They like to dig out the seeds and eat them. The wild turkeys are still on bug patrol. I have yet to see many bugs in the garden. Tara doesn’t chase the porcupines off? Come to think of it, I haven’t heard any thing about her lately. Is she doing OK?

    Have a great day in the garden.

    Reply to Nebraska Dave's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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