Planting at Dusk: Tucking the Seedlings in for the Night

Ready to Plant

It’s nail-biting time.  The pumpkins are in the planter boxes, watered and tucked in under a blanket of rich garden mix.  I erected what we affectionately refer to as Fort Knox for Squirrels, a chicken wire enclosure to keep squirrels (and rats)  from noshing on the tender green shoots.  We’ve learned this lesson the hard way.  It’s disheartening to see your starter crop reduced to wilted, broken stems.

So..now we wait and hope for the best.

Special thanks to Laura for the custom tie-dyed apron.  I love it!

Planting Collage

11 thoughts on “Planting at Dusk: Tucking the Seedlings in for the Night

  1. I am biting my nails too…and I haven’t even put my seedlings out yet! It is heartbreaking to lose your little plants. We lost our entire garden to deer last year.

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    • Oh Heather, that would be really sad. We’re too deep in the suburbs to have deer problems, but we have squirrels, rats, opossums, snails. I guess with deer you really need a good fence around your food crops. Best of luck this year.

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  2. Pingback: Pumpkin’s Progress: Wilted Seedlings, Sagging Ego | gardeningnirvana

  3. Hi, wonderful photos, you, your son and cat look very happy! I hope all goes well with your plants. It’s worth our efforts for all the successes isn’t it?! Oh and the apron is great.

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    • Thank you! My friend made it for me with matching towels and napkins. I love it, too.

      Thank you for reading and commenting. Yes, absolutely worth the effort. I’m sometimes discouraged but would never give up. So many wonderful rewards come from putting your hands in the the earth.

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    • Giving up tech for a few days was challenging for him, but we had so much fun. I miss it already. We gardened, played a board game, went to the nursery, visited with a friend…good times. He even read 50 pages of his book!

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  4. I love these photos! I feel like I could just reach out and hug you all! I admire the tenderness with which you tend to your seedlings, and the great efforts you make to ensure their best chance to flourish. Thank you for sharing this compelling backyard drama as it unfolds!

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    • You are so sweet! We’re checking on them every day. Today I dressed the beds with bat guano. It smells as bad as it sounds, and I wouldn’t want to be the one scraping it out of the bottom of a cave, but it works wonders!

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