Oh, dear.
While all those rose posts were going on, I was fighting to save the newly planted cherry trees from a gopher who moved in last Friday night.
Dirt disruption:
Saturday morning I noticed the tell-tale mounds and put the trap out immediately. A few hours later, the gopher had filled the trap with soil and dug more tunnel. I reset the trap. The next morning, the gopher had once again filled the trap with soil. Uh oh. A smart gopher. I went to Home Cheapo for another trap--they didn't have them. They did have "gopher gassers", which is a dynamite type stick you light and shove down the tunnel. It produces poison gas to kill the gopher. Brutal, yes, but I had cherry trees to save.
I tried a couple of gopher gassers, and no luck. More mounds of soil and tunnels. One was right under one of the cherry trees. Some of the Ligustrum I planted back last fall were also now in danger. The next day, I tried more gassers, and reset the trap, too. Tuesday morning the trap was sprung. Gopher inside. But still alive. It wasn't dead in there. It was stuck in there. Oh, dear. Now what?
I ended up taking a long walk with a gopher stuck in a gopher trap. Arriving at an uninhabited area of Eucalyptus, I dropped the gopher off. It was not in the greatest of shape having been stuck in a trap for quite a few hours, but it was walking. It turned and bared its big yellow buck teeth at me, and before ambling off, gave me a look that appeared to be a mix of equal parts terror, loathing, and bewilderment. I felt the same.
One always turns to the garden for comfort. Aloe ferox is in glory:
A. cameronii and Yucca 'Bright Star' shine:
And there's much hoped-for A. marlothii! That structure appears so quickly. Two days ago it wasn't there.
The cherry trees, by the way, are fine.
While all those rose posts were going on, I was fighting to save the newly planted cherry trees from a gopher who moved in last Friday night.
Dirt disruption:
Saturday morning I noticed the tell-tale mounds and put the trap out immediately. A few hours later, the gopher had filled the trap with soil and dug more tunnel. I reset the trap. The next morning, the gopher had once again filled the trap with soil. Uh oh. A smart gopher. I went to Home Cheapo for another trap--they didn't have them. They did have "gopher gassers", which is a dynamite type stick you light and shove down the tunnel. It produces poison gas to kill the gopher. Brutal, yes, but I had cherry trees to save.
I tried a couple of gopher gassers, and no luck. More mounds of soil and tunnels. One was right under one of the cherry trees. Some of the Ligustrum I planted back last fall were also now in danger. The next day, I tried more gassers, and reset the trap, too. Tuesday morning the trap was sprung. Gopher inside. But still alive. It wasn't dead in there. It was stuck in there. Oh, dear. Now what?
I ended up taking a long walk with a gopher stuck in a gopher trap. Arriving at an uninhabited area of Eucalyptus, I dropped the gopher off. It was not in the greatest of shape having been stuck in a trap for quite a few hours, but it was walking. It turned and bared its big yellow buck teeth at me, and before ambling off, gave me a look that appeared to be a mix of equal parts terror, loathing, and bewilderment. I felt the same.
One always turns to the garden for comfort. Aloe ferox is in glory:
A. cameronii and Yucca 'Bright Star' shine:
And there's much hoped-for A. marlothii! That structure appears so quickly. Two days ago it wasn't there.
The cherry trees, by the way, are fine.
Happy to hear that the cherry trees are fine and the gopher has a new habitat. :)
ReplyDeletexoxoxo ♡
Sorry to hear about the gopher adventures.
ReplyDeleteThe blooming Aloes always produce some of the best shots of your plant combinations though, so good follow-up. :)
I have an incredible memory of my father thrusting his hand into the soil of our house in Oceanside, CA and grabbing a gopher as it dug its way through our yard. He pulled it out by its back and I think it died of fright because it squeeked, spasmed, and died. I was 6 and thought it was even cooler than setting the couch on fire or having a shaving cream fight. Just something to try for the next gopher. ;o) Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI had to turn to Wikipedia to find out what a gopher is, with only its bum and tail on the photo I had no idea what it was! No wonder I didn't as they don't live in Europe. Good to hear you got it relocated, I am all for defending ones garden if possible :-)
ReplyDeleteAre the dogs allowed in the garden? Yukon used to be amazing to watch. I'd be gardening and all of a sudden I'd see him with his nose to the ground and he'd bang with his two front paws at the same time on the ground BANG BANG BANG and then I'd see his head go down and come up like a whip and toss the mouse/vole/mole over his shoulder with it's neck snapped! He was so fast all this would happen in a matter of seconds.I didn't even have to feel too bad for whatever he got because it was instant death (better than gas or being stuck in a pipe!)
ReplyDelete:)
As challenging as gardening can be when wildlife interferes, I don't think I could bring myself to kill a gopher (or the moles more common here) so I'm glad yours was relocated to dig his (her?) hole elsewhere. The aloe makes everything better!
ReplyDelete