Who’s trampling our veggie garden?

We’ve kept a veggie garden since my retirement in 2006. For that many years, we’ve grown herbs, lettuces and strawberries with pretty good success. 

This actually was until the trees around our house kept on growing, inviting much more wildlife than ever before (birds, squirrels, rabbits, deer, elk and moose, among other critters). 

Three to four summers ago, our strawberries were the first to be targeted. We tried everything available to chase magpies and American robins away, but with little success. The deer also like the strawberry, preferring the leaves and pulled some of our lettuce to munch on them. 

We could have used a machine gun, but we relented. This year we finally put an end to the culture of strawberry. To almost paraphrase the Beatles, our “strawberry fields aren’t forever”. Yet, in spite of this kind of adversity, we’ve prepared the ground and sowed lettuces that have just begun showing up.

Except that two days ago, I discovers the big footprints left by a wandering moose, and I took it as a dire warning that were candidate for having moose, elk or deer using our yard as a self-service food-stop. 

We’ll keep you informed how this potential war might develop and which, between the human and the animal specie, is likely to win it!