Vege's? [& Pest Control]

26 Nov '04 6:15 pm

I'm back

You must take some of the blame for my absence Moosey, you are my role model Smile

"Would Moosey be out there in the scorching sunshine or the heavy precipitation?"..(at least 50mls if not more)...I ask myself when a good book or my stitching or this computer, is cajoling me to linger indoors... Yes She Would,comes the stern reply from within, so out I go, weeding, carting, mulching, planting, cursing the weeds, delighting in the flowers , taking photos like they are going out of fashion... but best of all CATCHING POSSUMS Laughing

Yes,we are on a roll here, bang, clang and the door slams shut on another evil beast..ha! The best bit is how we are doing it, my Non Gardening Husband(henceforth NGH) enjoys an apple once or twice a day and the cores and peels were biffed in the worm bucket... until the light went on one day and I said "Whoa" just before he ditched another handful... "We'll use that to bait the trap tonight".. this not something new because we have used apples successfully in the past but at $3 plus a kilo at the Supermarket at the moment I am reluctant to pour my housekeeping down the little furry beggar's throats... but this way NGH gets his helping of fruit and SO DO THE POSSUMS Twisted Evil

(Evil cackle).
But wait, there's more.. after the possie has been dispatched to the Big Orchard in the Sky NGH plucks it's fur... and when he gets sufficient he'll sell it and one day a rich tourist will come along and buy a beautiful piece of knitwear incorporating that same fur which will then go off to some exotic country far away. So you could say that we are doing the possums a favour, not only do they get to travel but they will be much admired.... probably stroked as well.... Razz

An Altruistic Possum hunter Exclamation

...with that in mind I'm off to reset the trap. Twisted Evil

26 Nov '04 6:38 pm

After all that gloating I forgot to tell you about my poor little abused tomato plant. It has surprised me greatly by returning to full health , when I had given it only a small chance at recovery.
It has not grown much but then that is to be expected as the roots would need to settle back into the soil before spreading out and gathering nutrients. I have no doubt now that it will pick up and go on to fruit but it will be a long way behind it's room mate which has it's first flowers. It is growing like the fabled beanstalk but the stem is quite thin, it may just be the variety but most tommies are quite thick in the stem aren't they?
I was given some of those Maori potatoes with the warning that they are floury and a bit bland so if anyone has any ideas on how to make them more appealing to eat I'll be interested to hear too. Maybe baking them then putting some tasty cheese sauce on top? ,or some garlic butter when they are opened or cream cheese with chopped gerkins..?

27 Nov '04 4:27 pm

The seeds I planted were Alma and Oxheart moosey.
Last years ones were the same and grew well until they were big, bushy and fruiting...then, after a week of disgustingly humid weather, they got blight!
This year I am going to get in early with copper...I think thats the one Confused

I have never grown purple potatoes. Shame they are bland... they would look pretty tho Wink

Maybe a little grated onion when you mash them...do you mash them?

LOL Mr. Green

Swallowstitch! You and those darn possums! I bet they are out there at night plotting and planning ways to jam that trap now Wink

Very enterprising use of natural resources on the part of your NGH however Very Happy

28 Nov '04 9:01 am

We are on the trail of possums. Twisted Evil

Have had the tell tale signs-chew marks on the lemons,so the trap is set Evil or Very Mad

And also this morning I saw 2 pukekos having a look round(hope that is all it was Exclamation

)in the orchard/vege garden.One of the dogs saw them off so hope they won't be back.

28 Nov '04 4:50 pm

Funny you should mention that Pumpkin because that is exactly what the brighter ones have done, somehow they con the blackbirds into doing a reconnaissance of the area and when Birdie reports back that ..Yes there are some bits of apple and a few walnuts just lying there inside a funny looking boxy thing...well, Mr Clever * Possum says ...Be my guest mate, I'll have what you don't want...bang clang, one trapped greedy bird leaving CDP to help himself to my garden.
I tell ya Pumpkin, it's too scarey when they start fighting back Confused

My one consolation is the old adage Cheats Never Prosper.. sooner or later we'll get the smart alecs. (Got an innocent young one last night.. Laughing

he's never going to grow up to be a confidence trickster. Ha!)

28 Nov '04 4:52 pm

Forgot to ask Chooky, what do you use for bait?.
We have Pukekos too but they are way down at the bottom of the farm thank goodness.

29 Nov '04 7:27 am

Hi Swallowstitch.At the moment we have a bit of banana in the trap(it is the cage type)but must buy some apples when next in town.Also I have heard that aniseed in oil form rubbed on the bait is a good lure.Have also caught them on kiwifruit.No point using lemons to bait as they have a whole tree full to choose from Exclamation

As for the pukekoes -until yesterday I thought ours stayed at the back of the farm as well Surprised

Vege's? [& Pest Control]

Swallows Return

Tomato Recovery & Purple Potatoes

Possum Plots

Chooky's Trap