Strawberries!!!
And I’ll go to the mat on that one.
Oh, do they make me mad! This morning, I found a nearly ripe one (the
second ripe one of the year). It needed
maybe just one more day. But since it
was lying on the ground, I gently moved it up higher, resting it on some other
strawberry plants to keep it out of the mud.
And wouldn’t you know it … When I glanced out the window a few hours later, I saw a chipmunk running out of the strawberry bed, up and over the 2 layers of chicken-wire fence that surround it and slipping out under the deer netting that I placed over it all. And when I went out there, the strawberry was nowhere to be seen. But I did find this …
Oh, this makes me mad! Three half-eaten strawberries! Every year, the chipmunks get in and eat half of every ripe strawberry they can
find.
EAT
THE WHOLE DANG THING OR NOTHING AT ALL, YOU RAT-TURDS!
Every year! Even after the addition of the chicken wire
and the deer netting.
One year, I counted seven enemies that attacked the
strawberries: Chipmunks, birds, a late
frost, slugs, pill bugs (which I find sitting inside the little round holes
they chew out of the berry), mold (from too much rain), and moths. Seriously, the moths were dining on the
berries, too!
But by far, the hardest one to keep
out is the chipmunk. He can slip right
through the chicken wire or run up and down the sides. If he would just eat the whole berry maybe it
wouldn’t be so insulting!Sometimes, I wonder if it’s even worth it! I don’t know … maybe I’ll just get rid of the strawberries and plant something else there someday.
So, how about you? Any tips to protect the berries? Any plant that you find particularly frustrating? Come and let’s commiserate together.
