Tired and aching ---as hell, finally put some garden plants into the ground today, [View all]

and roto-tilled a little more ground--- that thing KILLS me, get's a little harder every year,
and now I am 62...
and as I once said, "the rototiller is the most perverse tool known to mankind"--
sometimes not unlike trying to "ride a bull" through your garden space

(starting to wish I'd bought something that could drag a plow---
suppose some riding mowers would do it, but didn't think I needed a riding mower,
back when I could have bought one... except for this---
still using an old rototiller which belonged to my late father,
and looks as if it may be a mid-1970's model, which he bought used)

Been cool in Michigan, compared to most other years---
started all my own seeds inside, but they've only started to do better this week...
Even last weekend, I took many plants back inside, as night-time temps were dropping into the 30's...

Also been delaying planting while trying to deal with a groundhog and rabbit problem---

this year I resolved to KILL the groundhog, but I got bad advice about
an air rifle with pellets being adequate for the job---

I did finally hit it, but it didn't die... and went back into its hole
before I could reload and shoot it again--- well, actually I had a chance
but hesitated. It was rather a grim scene. After it got back to it's main hole,
I hoped it was going to die in there, but I saw it once this week, and also a rabbit
with its face in the chives, but neither likes that kind of thing...

Well, think I found a better solution with a "motion-activated sprinkler"
which can guard the whole garden space--- it should arrive within the next week...
So, having already ordered that, I didn't attempt to kill the rabbit, although I had a very clear shot...
(Rabbits have been a constant enemy for my okra, but nothing in the ground, yet)

Got big and small tomatoes into the ground today, and part of my cucumbers---
saving the rest until that sprinkler "weapon" arrives--- just in case.

Two years ago the animals ate almost everything I planted,
things which they had never bothered before--- even nibbled tomato plants, whose greens are toxic....
I think it was because we had rather "droughty" conditions that spring,
and they were desperate for water--- but it has left me paranoid...
They cleaned out almost everything that year, cucumbers, green beans, hot pepper plants---
all while the plants were still very small....

I am very optimistic that the motion-activated sprinkler will solve my problem without blood,
and be much more effective than I can be with a pellet rife,
since it will work 24 hours a day, which I have no hope of doing...
neither species cares to be out in the rain, much less sprayed with a sprinkler,
so it should be an excellent deterrent, presuming it works as advertised...

Wish I'd discovered that possibility before I spent about $80 on the pellet rifle and ammo...
and, I won't have to feel bad after one of them gets shot with the sprinkler....