Playing in the Mud and Rain

Well by Easter, those rabbits had pushed me right over the limit. They polished-off my permanent poppies and phloxes. Those were the last plants that they had eaten this spring, and the straw that broke the camel's back. ---now that I think about it, it has almost broken MY back Wink

I say that because my partner and I have spent all yesterday working in the rain and mud to place more thank 17 yards of plastic-coated fence to seal-off the flower garden.
It was such a nasty job, but I was at the end of my tether...really. I have been watching my perennial plants disappearing one by one the past month.
I find the fence a terrible thing which takes away a bit of the charm of my flower garden, but I really did not know what else to do. I had tried all the legal means but there are not many. Laws prevent one from shooting these beasts or trapping them or injuring them in any way. Falconry and use of ferrets was a possibility, but the people who would do this shyed-away in the end and did not show up.
It wasn't just my garden but there is a plague of rabbits on the complex at the moment. I suspect that there may be more than 100. When you walk or bike down the paths, they scurry before you.
Dishartenig really. A few gardening members have left because of the problem. A couple were long-timers. Sad.
Well, it is in place now and I shall make some gates when the weather and time permits, For now I have simply wired a piece of chicken wire across the openings so that humans can step over them if he goes on his tiptoes. A stretch for my bride, but she can just make it. She finds it all way too hideous and says that it gives a feeling of a concentration camp. I know what she means, but I hope that the flowers in the summer will help take the edge off the way it now looks.
The up-side is that I can now get some new plants and plant them...ones that I could not get the past few years because of the brown marauders and their insatiable hunger.
Well, the fotos do not convey what work the installation truly was, but it gives an idea.
When we were finished, we tried to clear-away the mud with shovels and a big, stiff broom...to no avail. We will just have to let the rain ash it away and brush it again once the residue dries.
West looking eastward---

Down low at mud-level--

East looking westward--

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Sjoerd http://www.volkstuindersvereniginghoornenomstreken.nl/Page11.html

In Arizona they have free range laws so you have to fence anything you want to keep animals, large and small out of. We had cows one year munching on our garden. Javalina destroy many a garden of newcomers who don't realize the destruction they can cause. They are "ugly" cute and people try to feed them. We have rabbits but the stray cat problem has been taking care of those, plus the coyotes. The stray cats have been digging in my pansies because the ground is soft and a fence doesn't keep them out. The neighbor is having the same problem. I plant morning glories and cardinal vines on the fence. The fence seems strong enough to hold them. I hope you have lots of beautiful flowers now. dooley