Garden Varmints!

  Well, this is it.  This, my friends, shows the results of time and work.  The picture shows the entirety of green beans in the garden.  No, this is not all of the seeds that I planted.  In fact, the pole bean seeds were overcrowded in the two rows.  This, however, is the whole shebang.  What happened?  Did the seeds just not sprout?  Were they all duds?  Nope.  A fine, little friend decided to help himself to my seeds.  Ugh!  Varmints!  While I adore all of my critter friends, when they start eating my garden, they become varmints! 

  After patiently waiting nigh on two weeks for the seeds to sprout and only getting two plants, I started watching.  Nothing happened during the day.  Nothing happened in the late afternoon.  It was those early hours that found the culprit busy at work.  Even after cleaning the row, the little squirrel still dug frantically to find more seeds.  That rascal cleaned my bean row of every last seed except these two.  Two plants will never make a mess for supper and surely won't provide enough to home can!

  While this is bad news about the beans, it is only a harbinger of what is to come.  I can pretty much count on the same squirrel (and friends) to raid the garden once the tomatoes, peaches and figs ripen.  Since I am not much on killing critters, I will have to find other ways to divert their attention.  None of the scare tactics work.  The flashing, sparkly pans dangling in the tree limbs were ignored and the decoy snakes and owls were used as perches.  In fact, one rubber snake actually was used to line a nest!  I have tried to convince Ms. Nycto, the Bayou Princess (cat), to stay in the garden but she would rather snooze on the sofa.  The old dog, Mr. PJ, has no energy to chase squirrels, so he is not a help.  I am at wit's end searching for a solution.  In the meantime, the seeds will be replanted and perhaps some wire mesh placed over the rows.  Something has to help!