at times i ramble on about native food plants and adapting to local conditions and overcoming, at least to some degree, an unrealistic and , in my view, dangerous dependence on industrial agriculture and processed food....part of doing that is understanding predators in your particular area...cynthia, for instance, has issues with deer in her backyard garden and sustains crop losses to them...in the community garden our biggest issue is squirrels ( so far...we have been spared insect infestation to date...that does not mean we are immune, despite the geraniums )...squirrels, like humans, seem to have marked food preferences when it come to the concentrated vegetables in the garden...they will eat cucumbers while they seem to have a marked aversion to tomatoes...maize, of whatever variety, is high on the list of their preferred foods however and we had enough going on to attract a good deal of unwanted attention...frankly it has been something of a disaster and if we decide to grow maize again we will have to take steps to cover it with netting to avoid more carnage...an alternative, and one i have pursued in my yard this season, is to avoid growing crops critters adore...i have a squirrel issue in my yard as well so i planted tomatoes and peppers ( another crop they seem to avoid ) and beans ( the beans in the community garden are unscathed by predation so far ) as well as spinach and peas...additionally i planted a variety of root crops which is another type of produce the squirrels have little interest in ( raccoons and mice are another story...but they are conspicuous in their absence in my yard )...turnips, radishes, beets, potatoes, and jerusalem artichokes have all done well this season and they came through whole...so as fall finds its way to the garden we need to think about next season...i have no aversion to the extra work involved in protecting a maize crop next year and we can find the resources without much trouble...there is something to be said for lightening the burden however and adapting crop selection to the prevalent predators may go a good way towards that....that said the maize did a fine job of serving as a trellis for the pole beans and the stalks will make a fair decoration for autumn...sad to lose the crop...but the effort was not a waste...particularly if we take a lesson...there is better news form the garden which you'll see as you read on to the next post.
