Gentle Gardeners Turned Homicidal by Pests
"After a season of grueling labor and multiple attempts at benign deterrence, the sight of a trashed garden is often the last straw: the moment when a gentle gardener will suddenly go Rambo."
The New York Times chronicles the battle between home gardeners and the pests who ravage their gardens. How do you get rid of squirrels, rabbits, birds, and raccoons who just can't take a hint and non-fatal options—such as electric fences and covering your crops with mesh—just don't work? Pick your poison: guns, sledgehammers, shovels, drowning, and so much more! Killing the critters who ravage your tomato plants may not seem appealing now, but someday you too may be pushed to the edge.
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10 Comments:
Rabbits and squirrels are good eatin...
simon at 11:14AM on 06/05/08
A elderly lady posing for a photo with a sledgehammer in her hand... like she's some kind of vigilante.
Another lady (cold blooded NUT, imho) posing with cages she's proud to use for drowning animals. DROWNING?
I find this disturbing... on several levels.
FastFoodCritic at 12:05PM on 06/05/08
I can't believe the New York Times is advocating killing bunnies! The nerve!
Raphael at 12:06PM on 06/05/08
Killing something is one thing. For various reasons, it's sometimes necessary.
But people who seem to ENJOY the killing... that's a whole different thing.
Those people scare me.
FastFoodCritic at 12:10PM on 06/05/08
The Godzilla of turkeys was in our front yard last weekend. And a deer ate most of our impatiens and pansies. I simply decided not to plant a vegetable garden. This year, anyway. The decision made me really sad.
But natural pest repellants work to some degree. For the flower beds, I use a spray made with egg solids, garlic, mint and cinnamon oil. It's smells unholy, but is a reliable, gentle alternative to Rambo mode.
P.S. ~ Deer and other critters don't seem to touch any type of salvia, geraniums or lambs ear, in case you're looking for pest-resistant plants for your beds.
Susquehanna at 1:01PM on 06/05/08
Wow... first a story about the pleasure of killing (I mean, "slaughtering") chickens, then a picture of a bunny with a target on it. And, all in the span of 2 days.
Ugh.
Anyone got a good cupcake recipe to share?
Brownie at 1:24PM on 06/05/08
Homicide means killing a human. I'm sure it's tempting to use hyperbole in headlines, but resist. Use English.
Don Luis at 6:50PM on 06/05/08
@Don Luis: Would 'Bunnicide' have been better?
Raphael at 7:47PM on 06/05/08
I had just put in my 24 tomato and 26 pepper plants when I discovered the next day that something had been nibbling on the tomato plants. Having been a gardener for several years, I knew it had to be the rabbits I see in my yard all the time. While I secretly cursed them in my own mind, I did nothing. A few days later I returned to the garden to check it for watering, and there, in the chicken wire fencing around the garden, was a dead rabbit, suspended from a hole in the chicken wire that it had attempted to squeeze through! I recalled my earlier curse & felt a bit guilty, but then told myself that in Nature's infinite wisdom, this bunny had committed suicide when faced with the guilt of his own crimes, and I was innocent. It was a real pain, however, to try to pull that rigor mortis-stiffened rabbit out of that damn wire!
lurquizo at 12:50AM on 06/06/08
@lurquizo: I've chased the deer out of our beds twice. There are two herds that roam the woodland in which we live. It's the boondocks, not the typical suburb.
Tell me: might you know of some fencing product that could keep the deer out of a vegetable garden? Need some good leads for that. Should probably go to a gardening website . . . .
Susquehanna at 12:05PM on 06/22/08