A Green New Hope
I’m very happy with how these madder plants are growing! If the squirrels would leave us alone then this garden would be set.
So, it has been two weeks since I last posted about the garden and a lot has been happening. The squirrels just keep pestering my plants and, unfortunately, cinnamon is proving not to be an effective deterrent. Over the past two weeks I’d go water my plants in the mornings and find new holes in the dirt here and there. After briefly bemoaning the damage these squirrels caused, I’d fill in the holes and apply some cinnamon powder to everything. It seemed to be working, but it became a daily affair. I was beginning to doubt the cinnamon’s effectiveness. But, I kept up with it in the hopes that it would somehow prove to be an effective long term solution. It was wishful thinking at its finest. This morning made me change my mind completely.
Admittedly I went out a bit later than usual to water my plants, but I was horrified to find one of my madder beds practically destroyed. Nearly every inch of it was overturned. Some plants were half buried, some were torn up by the root. Some had vanished completely. Soil was scattered everywhere. It was a disaster. I guess the squirrels love the loose, airy potting mix just as much as my plants do. I was very dismayed because yesterday I tried the garlic approach for the first time. We had some old garlic that nobody was going to use lying around, so I buried the cloves in the dirt near my plants. I read online that the squirrels don’t like this aroma and that some people found success with this method. I had my hopes up, but they were immediately shattered this morning. To be fair, it wasn’t a complete failure. I found some exposed garlic on some beds. Those containers had the least damage. I’m assuming the squirrels dug until they found the cloves then moved on. I didn’t bury as much garlic in the initial madder bed because I thought the concoction of cinnamon and crushed red peppers already present was good enough. It wasn’t. So, now I’m trying out yet another new approach.
The murasaki has been hit the hardest by this squirrel menace. The rodents have shown absolutely no mercy to these defenseless dye plants.
I still don’t want to spend the money on wire fencing and still have moral qualms about poisoning these critters. So, I’m putting my stock in the idea of using plants to deter these pests. The plan is to fight nature with nature. If this experiment fails, I’m going to resort to some wire barriers. I already knew that mint is an effective deterrent. I also read somewhere else online that marigolds and dahlias have an aroma that repels squirrels. Fortunately, these flowers also produce a nice dye. The marigolds really surprised me. Apparently they belong to the allium family, the same family that onions and garlic belong to. That would certainly explain the aroma they produce. I hope you’re as surprised as I was by this fact because I would have never guessed.
I thought planting these flowers with my other dye plants would be a win/win, so I went ahead and did it. They’d deter the squirrels, and I’d have more plants to extract dyes from. I sowed the seeds about a week and a half ago. More reading, however, would reveal that squirrels actually eat dahlias. Sadly, I wouldn’t learn this until after I planted the seeds. Rather than planting a guardian, I ended up with a lure. I have mixed feelings about this. Obviously I want to keep squirrels out of my garden; but, I wouldn’t mind keeping the dahlias because they have such stunning blooms! I’m hoping the marigolds can be an effective enough deterrent so I could keep everything happy, healthy, and growing. I also really didn’t want to dig up my own containers in the search for dahlia seeds. I’d never find them all and I’d be doing the squirrels’ dirty work for them. I honestly never expected gardening to have such a steep learning curve; but I’ve gained some invaluable insight for next season. Dye Garden Season 2 is going to be so much better than this pilot.
The marigolds germinated almost immediately. Within two days I had sprouts. Unfortunately, these would do little to deter the squirrels. The furry invaders didn’t attack the sprouts directly but they kept digging around them and making a general mess of things. I guess they didn’t produce enough of an aroma, but I hope this is a good sign. If the squirrels left the sprouts alone, then maybe they’ll leave the whole bed alone one day. Perhaps this is wishful thinking again, but I’m really hoping the mature plants can keep the squirrels out of my garden. Now, a week and a half later, I’m seeing a lot more marigold sprouts. These little plants are serious growers. I’m really loving their saw-shaped leaves. I think they’re very cute and I can’t wait to see the blooms.
The dahlias, however, are a different story. I believe I’m finally beginning to see dahlia sprouts; but I can’t tell if they’re actually dahlias or if they’re late murasaki or madder sprouts. Dahlias have a longer germination period than marigolds, so the delay in seeing sprouts makes sense. I also should have done more research before planting these flowers. I had no idea dahlias produce tubers until after I planted the seeds. Apparently the tubers are edible, which is pretty cool. Again, I have mixed feelings about this because they’re going to compete with the madder, murasaki, and marigolds they’re planted with; but I wouldn’t really mind losing out on some of those dye plants if it means seeing some dahlia blooms in my garden. What I’m most worried about is them attracting more squirrels, but I have the faintest hope that these plants will work together to deter the pests and thrive. Hope might be a dreamer’s folly to some, but to us it is our most powerful weapon. After all, where would the world be without fools and dreamers? I know still have a lot to learn; this whole affair with dye plants is still in its infantile, experimental stage; but I am enjoying the ride so far. Maybe nothing will come of this experiment…but maybe, just maybe, it’ll bloom into something beautiful one day.
A lone murasaki standing tall in the face of unmitigated squirrel aggression.
After this morning’s fiasco, I decided to take the drastic step of introducing mint plants to the containers. We have plenty of mint in other parts of our yard, so I yanked up some stalks and put them in with the dye plants. I know mint grows rapidly and can become a problem. However, I also know that it keeps squirrels away. So, rather than letting my plants live a precarious existence at the mercy of these fuzzy demons, I decided the risk was worth it. I might be trading my madder and murasaki beds for marigolds, dahlias, and mint, but it’s not like the initial plants were withstanding the squirrel onslaught on their own. If these other plants prove to be effective squirrel deterrents, then the risk will have been worth it. I will also be keeping the mint in check by pruning the leaves and stalks. If this works, then we all win because we would have found an effective and free squirrel deterrent.
A lot of the gardening literature I read actually encourages this sort of companion planting. Monocultures don’t exist in nature, and many early civilizations used companion-planting to increase their chances of a successful harvest. My approach is admittedly much more haphazard and in need of more research, but it’s also a lot more fun. I feel like what I’m doing is more of an art than a science. It certainly has a lot more soul than science would allow for. That being said, I really don’t know if the combination of these dye plants will actually succeed or not. For all I know, these plants might kill each other off. But, I am really hoping they will thrive together. Only time will tell. I hope you’ll subscribe to this blog and follow along for more gardening adventures!
I didn’t realize how much taller the mint plants would be than everything else. Sure, they might take over my containers. But that’s a risk I’m willing to take to keep the squirrels out. It’s nothing some extra pruning won’t fix!
Thank you for indulging me and my stories. I hope to see you in the next one!
