Homeowner Forum / Lawn and Garden / July 2008

I was talking with some friends to today and we were discussing our
gardens. My comment to them was that I was really hopeful for mine this
year and I mentioned how much better my garden was doing this year than
the last even though we are still somewhat considered in drought
conditions. My garden corn crop was tall or taller than I am (5'5") and
they would start coming off in the next week or so; beans, peas, and
squash were doing great, cukes were coming off left and right...things
were really looking great.

So later (early this evening) I happen to walk by the back door and look
out at the sky as I knew we had the potential for some income storms and
they were posting some warnings for the next county over...well, much to
my dismay it looks as if the storm had dropped a twister right over my
corn patch! To better explain, the cows got out and had ate half of my
corn in the garden! I put Breanna in her playpen and go flying out the
door while calling my hubby on the phone to tell him to come home quick.
Put the extra wiring up on both ends of the house to keep the cows
confined to the back yard  and also shut the gates at the drive ways for
extra protection should they break thru the wiring I had just put in
place. I literally run back to the backyard and come up from behind them
from the other end of the garden to try to get them out of the garden
while also keeping them from destroying the half of the garden they
hadn't got to yet.
Start calling at them and "shoo-ing" at them, and they wouldn't
budge...just looked up at me like I was crazy and kept munching. So I
grad this piece of limb that was near by and start waving that at
them...still didn't move an inch. By now I was mad and about ready to
come in the house and get the bird-shot, so I took that tree branch and
knocked the one nearest me on the rump. She moved then! Managed to get
them all out of the garden by the time the hubby & Wyatt got here (they
had been harvesting wheat) and I was purt near in tears standing there
looking over all the damage done to the garden. Between the 3 of us we
then got them all back in their fence and got the fence repaired.

Total damage report: half of the corn is destroyed, tried to right what
we could of it, but of the damaged corn stalks, they are all knee high
or lower now. An equal half of the peas, beans, & squash were all
trampled but otherwise appear to be able to recover. I can't even look
at the corn patch without crying now though...pregnancy hormones I
guess, but pregnant or not, it's still discouraging to look at. I know
there is plenty of other corn around here, but this was my own corn
patch, not some my hubby planted for someone else! So now I'm
frustrated, discouraged and very disgusted with the cows.

How's everyone else's gardens doing?

~Rae