Garden Guests

I returned from California late Sunday evening and was very excited to go see the garden. Before I left I planned to finish the planting when I returned and the weather in Michigan has warmed nicely, perfect for tomatoes! While I was away, Jake expertly tended the garden and also discovered that we have some garden guests...

Can you take a guess as to who they are? Here is their nest.

And here is a peak inside the nest. Try not to squeal from the cuteness!

In case you can't tell, these are baby bunnies. We think there are about six of them and their mother has made them a nest in a pile of hay beside our carrot patch. I was planning to use the hay as mulch, but didn't realize how perfect a pile of it would be for a mother rabbit. She chewed through our (crappy) plastic fence in two spots to get into the garden, but so far it doesn't look like anything has been eaten. Though, I have my suspicions about two radish plants that have disappeared...

We're pretty baffled and a little honored that our garden was chosen as a bunny nesting place. There are a number of gardens at this plot growing much yummier foods (big heads of lettuce, cabbage, beans) and they don't have fences! Nothing has been touched. But our plot, enclosed on all sides, was apparently a prime location. It must have been the pile of hay. Our neighbor also uses hay for mulch but her garden is surrounded by metal fencing, so maybe it was a combination of opportunity and location?

In any case, we don't want to risk moving them — they haven't even opened their eyes yet. And, like I said, so far nothing has been eaten, even in the neighboring, unfenced plots. So we've decided to let them be. Jake did a lot of research and I've also looked into what Eastern Cottontails eat. They don't like nightshade plants (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, potatoes) and won't dig up the carrots. They do, however, enjoy lettuce, chard, radishes, corn (but not the plants), and peas which are all growing now. Luckily, except for the corn, I was already planning on doing a second planting of all of these vegetables in the Fall. So if they get eaten, they get eaten. If it becomes a problem we can also put up better fencing once the bunnies move out.

Jacob found them when he was watering. He got some water on the pile of hay and it started screaming! I've since heard the bunnies scream too, it's more of a high-pitched squeal and is pretty cute and funny. When we uncover the nest they kick and jump on each other and make other cute little sounds. We also read that the mother won't abandon them if they've been touched, so we've gingerly petted them a few times — so soft and they seem to like it!

Anyway, back to the garden, though I'm sure we'll have some more bunny updates.

On Tuesday we picked up some plants, materials for building a pea trellis, and a fish. First, the pea trellis:

Peas!

We bought one variety of eggplant, three kinds of peppers, and six different kinds of tomatoes.

Japanese Eggplant, two plants

Red Cherry 

Yellow Cherry 

We started by pulling A LOT of weeds to clear the plot.

Then we created three long beds.

Back to front: (cherry tomatoes, eggplants), (larger tomatoes), (peppers).

My garden site coordinator recommended putting a piece of fish into the ground beneath the tomato plants. She claimed that it was excellent fertilizer. It made sense to me, and so: fish in a hole.

Though, now that I think about it, the same woman assured me (Even after I asked twice!) that there was NO RABBIT PROBLEM at this garden site. So, hopefully the fish thing works out a little better for us...

Here's everything post-planting:

Tomatoes and Eggplants

Tomato cages

Peppers

The rest of the garden is doing very well too!

Yukon Gold Potatoes

Fingerling Potatoes

Corn rows

Corn 

Lettuce

Swiss Chard

Carrots 

Radishes, yes, some bugs are eating them...

I still need to plant the zucchini and the cantaloupe, we were too tired after all the work yesterday. I'll be putting those in soon.

Our garden is starting to look like a real garden!

I'll be posting about my California trip soon, so keep an eye out!