EMERGENCY!

Garden Bonanza!

A real emergency? No, not really. A bit of an overreaction on my part? Possibly. But, to be honest, I was worried. I still am worried. I have good reason to be worried about the state of the 2024 vegetable garden. It is turning out to be one of the most successful gardens I have ever planted, either directly in the ground or in a series of raised gardening beds.

The picture to your right is just one example of what is taking place in this year's garden. I started harvesting a month ago. A tomato here and a tomato there turned into two or three fairly quickly. Add that to a Sumter cucumber or two harvested from the cucumber patch, and that's a right fine salad for dinner, lunch or both.

But it didn't stay that way for long. Two to three ripe tomatoes per day turned into dozens very quickly when the five plants that I designated as Cherry Row began to produce. Combine that with the heirloom and hybrid tomato varieties that had started to show signs of turning a pleasing shade of pink, red, or yellow and things began to get interesting to say the least. But, I wasn't worried. Not yet.

Cherry Tomato Plant Row

That all changed one week ago. That is when I spotted trouble. The first sign of trouble. A pest known as a rat, or perhaps several, had discovered the ripe tomatoes waiting to be harvested at the base of a Better Boy tomato plant. This one rat, or many members of his or her family, had managed to eat a large chunk out of one very red and very ripe tomato, and had also started in on another ripe offering just behind it.

It has been some years since I spotted any kind of rat or critter damage in the garden. So, I was somewhat surprised to see this kind of critter trouble suddenly resurface. The adoption of a rescue cat from the Sacramento County Bradshaw Animal Shelter put an end to never-ending rat raids that destroyed vegetable gardening efforts of the past. The kids who live next door, and who also love home-grown garden produce, christened my new orange striped rescue with the name of Mango.

Mango Kitten: 2021

That was three years ago. Mango immediately sprung into action the moment I introduced him to the backyard garden in May of 2021. This five-week old ball of fluff immediately owned every row of garden, as well as the fruit trees planted nearby. The rat and critter raids that had decimated the gardens of the past came to an immediate end. Mango caught his fair share of rats, but in reality he scared most of the garden predators out of the yard. Possums and skunks still made an appearance every now and then, but Mango formed a kinship with both. As long as they stayed out of the garden and the fruit trees, all were welcome in Mango's backyard. It was interesting to see those relationships grow and develop.

Unfortunately, Mango developed a bit of a limp last winter. Although it was unrelated to his rat hunting escapades in the garden, it still worried me a bit. Yes, Mango received veterinary care. But, I passed when the veterinarian proposed a surgical solution that carried a cost comparable to the purchase of a new car. There are reasons why I passed. I suppose the biggest reason was that the proposed solution was largely experimental. There was a chance it would not have worked. There was also a slight chance that it would have resulted in a permanent reduction in Mango's ability to walk, let alone run.

Mango on Garden Patrol

Given time, and the onset of summer weather, I had a strong suspicion that Mango's limp would improve with time and rest. It was a correct assumption. Mango's limp vanished as the weather turned from winter to spring. It wasn't long before my rat hunter was springing over fences again and charging after unfortunate dogs who dared to walk in front of his home. All was soon right in Mango's world again. If you don't believe me, just ask the poor German Shepherd that dared to lift his leg on the corner of some inviting grass in the front yard. Mango plays with all dogs who choose to visit. Or launches a surprise attack from beneath a bush or car.

The recent discovery of serious rat damage in the garden, however, surprised me a great deal. No rat had dared to visit since Mango started his daily patrols as a small kitten. It did not take long before that recent discovery of rat damage led to another distressing sight. Mango showed up a moment later, limping badly on the same back leg that troubled him a great deal last winter. I knew immediately that Mango had done battle with a large rat or several rats, and those garden raiders had managed to get the better of him. Or, that was the initial belief. It's been a week since that discovery, and the rat or rats have not returned. There have been no further raids on the garden. Mango's limp, meanwhile, has improved somewhat dramatically.

Mystery Potato Leaf Heirloom

This did not stop me from stripping the garden of every last ripe tomato on the vine. I was not going to wait and risk further rat raids that would have laid waste to garden growth efforts. This was a very early harvest compared to years past. I normally have to wait until late August to see this kind of production out of the garden. This year, however, is proving to be one of those special production years. It might be the record heat that has hammered Northern California this summer. It could also be some changes I adopted in providing water to each tomato plant. It might have been some changes that I adopted when I prepared the garden area for spring planting. Or, I suppose, it just could be one of those years. I'm not sure.

I can only tell you that prime tomato production season has arrived early this year. Every plant in the garden, from hybrids to heirlooms, is sporting a fantastic early crop and enough green tomatoes to guarantee a fantastic late crop. Most of the late production is springing from the heirloom varieties like Caspian Pink, Pruden's Purple, Black from Tula and Watermelon Beefsteak to name a few. This is completely normal. Heirloom varieties are known to deliver bountiful crops both early and late.

Brewing Tomato Sauce

Hybrids are a bit different in respects to production. Those time honored favorites like Better Boy, Better Boy Plus, Big Beef Plus and Steak Sandwich Hybrid tend to produce one big crop. They tend to ripen at the same time and ripen earlier in the season than heirlooms. Which works for me. It makes for a nice garden mix. A sink full of red, pink, black and yellow colors is a pleasing sight to behold. It also means a lot of work!

As for the rats that made an unwelcome visit one night and took chunks out of two big Better Boy tomatoes, they have not returned. This is surprising because rats are very smart creatures. Once they discover a food source they normally make a return appearance. But, they have not returned. I'm fairly certain that it is due to Mango's patrol efforts. He has not provided me with any garden gifts just yet. Which is fine by me. As long as he keeps the raiders out, I'm fine with it. The rats have not returned to the garden, nor have they attempted to raid the black fig tree nearby. This is another welcome development.

Heirloom Tomato Sauce

My recent "EMERGENCY" harvest moment resulted in enough tomatoes, sweet bell peppers, hot jalapeño and paprika peppers, onions and basil to create 15-pints and five quarts of thick garden-grown tomato sauce. It has also resulted in multiple cherry tomato deliveries to the five children who live next door. They can't get enough of them. That kind of appreciative audience works for me. I hope you experience the same type of blessing.

EDIT: I am always listening to the advice of other long-time gardeners. Many are suffering from raids by rats or other wildlife this season. Rats are showing up in backyards where they have never paid a visit before. There are some gardeners who suggest that these raiders are, in reality, stressed by our extraordinary heat this summer combined with a lack of water. They have suggested bowls of water placed strategically outside of garden areas. This sounds like good advice to me.

That Instagrammable MUTT!!!

Bandit's Instagram Moment

There he is! In all his glory: I give you the Instagram Moment of the elder generation (this means old). This is Bandit. He is a rescue mutt from the from the Bradshaw Animal Shelter. I believe he is a Border Collie or at least a Border Collie mix. He is in his element. Among the wildflowers currently in bloom at Marco Dog Park in Roseville.

I snapped this photo a few days ago and placed it on Instgram. It has all of seven likes. Bandit has gone viral. Or, as viral as Bandit is going to become. I am not a social media darling and never will be.

For most of the year, Marco doubles as a drainage ditch smack dab in the middle of the busiest of commercial district in all of Placer County. It was built as a flood control facility, but also does double duty as a dog park. After a winter of record rain and snowfall, followed by a few warm spring days, the so-called drainage ditch begins to take on the look of a pristine Northern California foothill setting.

Marco Dog Park-Roseville, CA

This was Bandit's second visit to this park. This is about the time he discovered the well-worn dog trail that multiple other dogs have created. It's a ring of a trail around a park high above the ditch below. This trail gives mutts like Bandit and others an unprecedented view of the countryside. It's also about the time that Bandit would discover this trail and dog park are alive with gophers and other critters that he can chase to his heart's content.

A rescue mutt hath no greater joy than this. Unless, however, a jackrabbit should cross his path.

I am a fan of the many dog parks in Northern California. I am required to be fan of them. That's the price you pay for adopting a Border Collie or any other Border mix such as an Aussie Shepherd or a McNab Shepherd. These are "working dogs." They are a working breed. They need a place to work. Since there are no sheep or cattle nearby for them to run after or herd, a dog park offers the next best thing.

Looking for the Chase

Marco is unlike most dog parks that I've visited. Many of these parks are square or rectangular in nature. There are usually two of them joined together. One side is for small dogs. The other is for larger breeds like Bandit. Most are covered by a large expanse of grass. Others, like C-BAR-C Park in Citrus Heights, feature an undulating hill and a sprinkling of native oaks and other trees.

Marco, however, is unique. If a dog wants to vanish in the undergrowth, he or she can. They can run up a steep hill to the rim of this park and run among the trees, bushes and other plant life that dominates this park. They might be less than 25-feet away, but you will never see them. This is Paradise for a dog. They can run. They can sniff. They can play. They can be safe from trouble. The comfort of a chain-link fence keeps them away from busy city streets and within the confines of the park area.

But the best feature of this park, at least in my option, is the drainage ditch itself. As of right now, it's full of water. It really is just a ditch. But with nature's overgrowth on both sides of this basin, it doubles as a stream cutting through the park. If Bandit isn't chasing a gopher or two on the trail that rims the upper portion of Marco Dog Park, he's playfully splashing after any unfortunate bird that dares to land in this drainage area.

Seasonal Stream (Ditch)

A good hour of running the dog park trails, bounding through high grasses and chasing after gophers or birds produces the required result: a tired herding dog. Tired herding dogs tend to sleep at night. If you don't tire a herding dog out during the day, they might spend the night chewing your favorite shoes into pieces. Or, chasing the cat all over the house.

I do imagine, at some point, the water will stop running through this ditch. The intense heat of summer will turn those green grasses brown and gray. It won't be as pleasing to look at, or for a dog to play in. But, if you're looking for a unique dog park that offers some unique dog exercise, this dog park fits that bill and more.

Valentine's Day!

Garden Fresh Chow Mein

The best Valentine's Day gift is not chocolate. This may be depressing news to a friend who confided in a whisper to me last weekend that it was her favorite gift. I didn't want to burst her bubble. My favorite Valentine's Day gift is pictured to the immediate right. Can you spot it?

If that looks like a dish of homemade chow mein, points to you. That's exactly what it is. But that particular dish isn't the favored gift. It's what's in that dish. Look closely. Can you spot it? That dish contains two-three elements from my spring and summer gardening exploits. It's the garden that keeps on giving. Even in the dead of winter as I plan out the next spring and summer garden efforts, the 2022 garden is still paying off.

Dixondale Farms Onions

That garden gift is one of three vegetable packs that I prepared at the close of last summer's gardening efforts. Those packs include two chopped onions, courtsey of Dixondale Farms, the largest grower of onion plants in the USA. The packs also include anywhere from two-to-four chopped bell peppers and one or two chopped jalapeño peppers (seeds included), to give the finished creation a little kick. The packs also include the leaves produced by a prolific summer basil plant.

The creation of these winter packs is a fairly simple operation, but it does require a bit of time in the kitchen. This is where the process starts. The largest onions, which were hung to dry on a fence after a July harvest, are selected. So are the largest peppers. By late August and September, these bell peppers have taken on a pleasing red, orange or yellow hue. The jalapeño peppers are a bright red at this point in the summer garden season and are as spicy (hot) as they are going to get.

Summer Garden Peppers

Jalapeños are not the hottest peppers you can grow in the garden. But they are the best tasting in my humble opinion. The hotter peppers, which all grow well in this California climate, tend to be a tad bitter. This is all personal opinion, of course. There are hot pepper afficiandos who love the taste and jolt that comes from biting into a freshly harvested Ghost, Scorpion or Habanero flamethrower. That's just never been my style. To each his own.

Jalapeño peppers also tend to be the most prolific and easy to grow, which means I can hand out scads of them to neighbors and friends who love the jolt of summer garden heat. There were a lot to give away this past summer, thanks to the garden patrol efforts of a legendary kitten known as "The Mango." I've come to discover that the kitten I adopted from the Bradshaw Animal Shelter in Sacramento County last May not only chased a voracious army of rats out of my garden this past summer, he apparently did a lot more. Neighbors have confided in me that "The Mango" took this hunt into other yards with vegetable gardens, fruit trees, or both.

The Chop!

I did not receive any complaints about these visits. The neighbors loved these well-timed events. The army of rats that once feasted on these summer gardens did not. The end result was a string of successful garden efforts in every yard "The Mango" patrolled.

A food processor aided with the end-of-season chopping effort. The end result went into one-quart bags that went straight into the freezer. I have used two of these bags so far. I will most likely use the third at some point later this month or in March. The bagged peppers, hot peppers, onions and basil are perfect for stir fry dishes, soups, chili or any other dish complimented by summer gardening efforts. The only drawback will come when I finish off the last bag and wish I'd created a fourth or fifth chopped summer garden effort.

Finished Freezer Pack

Three is never enough.

There is a down side to preparing fresh summer vegetables that are chopped and frozen for future use. You do lose that fabulous crunch. But that signature smell of a summer vegetable garden is never too far away. Which is a nice thing to have in the kitchen on a cold and wet winter day.

The END!

The Cat and The RAT!

It is the end. Both literally and figuratively. It is the end of summer gardening season. And, if you look closely at the photo to your immediate right, it is also the end for that creature to the left of my ginger kitten.

I knew that this was going to happen at some point. There was going to come a time and day when Mango the Ginger Kitten was going to trap and catch a rat. That day came just the other day when I noticed this creature hanging from Mango's mouth as he proudly trotted by the back door leading to the backyard.

"That," I said to myself, "is a big, FAT, rat." I was immediately worried that Mango was headed for the garage door, which he can access to get inside the house and outside again. His intent, I thought at the time, was to haul that big, FAT, catch inside the house.

Captured Garden Raider

I took immediate action to make sure that wasn't going to happen.

As it turned out, Mango had no intention of hauling his catch inside the house. His intention was to prance around the yard for all to see and witness his hunting glory, before he dropped his catch on the backyard patio. You can guess what happened next.

I strongly suspected that rat didn't have much longer to live. My suspicion would turn out to be correct. I didn't watch what happened next, of course. That may be a rat. But it's also a living, breathing creature. I felt a bit sorry for the fate it would soon endure. But, nature is nature. You cannot and should not interrupt that process. I did not. When I returned to the french doors leading to the backyard garden an hour later, the deed was done.

Mango, of course, was very proud of his work. He chose to thank me for the care, love and cat food I provided for him during the summer by depositing a freshly harvested rat at the back door. I praised him for his work profusely, before depositing his "gift" into a sack. That sack went into the nearest outdoor trash can, leaving Mango free to prowl and hunt again. I do believe this was his first catch. I also believe it will not be his last. Not even close. He is just getting started.

The Mango

As badly as I feel for what happened to this rat, and the others who will join him, this was the plan. Mango was adopted from the Bradshaw Animal Shelter in Sacramento County in May for this exact purpose. A day after his adoption, this four-week old kitten was introduced to the trails I had created in the vegetable garden that I had planted just two short weeks earlier.

Mango turned out to be the solution I sought for years of rat raids in the garden. One tiny kitten is all it took to put an end to the misery of losing entire harvests to an army of voracious night-time raiders that gobbled up everything that I grew. Nothing else had worked. Rat traps got a few. But, trapping one rat didn't stop ten others from raiding the garden. The adoption of a Border Collie chased some away. But they just returned after the Border Collie went inside for the night.

The rats were not afraid. They returned. Night after night. Some nights they took a little. Other nights they took a lot. Waiting for a fat Brandywine tomato to ripen was a lesson in failure. No matter where it was on the vine, high up or down low on the bush, the rats always found it. Every morning revealed fresh damage.

End of Summer Garden Season

All of this damage, years of lost crops, came to an immediate end the moment that a four-week old kitten entered the garden last May. Everything stopped. The vegetables grew. They were not molested. Not one tomato. Not a single bell pepper. Even the bugs stayed away from the bush beans. There wasn't a single rat raid. Birds didn't risk a landing to peck at anything. Even the possums and skunks kept a healthy and respectful distance.

The result? By the end of this season, I was giving away as much as I could. I have a collection of pressure-canned tomato sauces and whole tomatoes. My neighbors received sacks of fresh produce. I even invited a few members from the Facebook gathering spot of Sacramento Gardening Group to drop by and take as much home as they could carry.

It was just that type of year. It's over now. Time to move on to the next garden challenge. Which is why there are piles and heaps of garden plants here and there. And, for each pile, there is a cat waiting to taste another opportunity.

The HAUL

Heirloom Tomato Haul

I haven't been blessed like this for a very long time. Not since my gardens were located in North Natomas and I was using a different blog from a past lifetime. The haul of tomatoes, peppers, onions and basil currently coming out of the Citrus Heights garden is one for the ages.

The photo you see pictured to your right is just one part of it. I picked this for a canning project last weekend. This sink full of ripe heirloom tomatoes came from approximately half of the plants in the garden. I'm still harvesting from the other half that didn't get touched, hoping that my neighbors don't get tired of my never-ending gifts of vine ripened tomatoes.

I've stopped waiting for the 101st Airborne Rat Army to show up. It's nearly September now. In the past two or three years, this garden would have been decimated from top to bottom by now. Every tomato still on the vine would be damaged with large and disgusting chunks in the shape of large, sharp rat teeth. It was impossible to walk down the garden rows, unless you enjoy rats suddenly zipping across your shoes as this walk interruped their non-stop feeding regimen and garden destruction habits. It was really something to experience. Depressing too.

Single Plant Harvest

But the introduction of "The Mango" as my neighbors now call him (they did name him, after all), has meant all the difference in the world. I kept waiting for weeks on end for the 101st Airborne Rat Army to parachute in on any given night and lay claim to the ripening heirloom tomato crop. They never did. Not with The Mango, my tiny orange rescue kitten from the Bradshaw Animal Shelter, now patrolling the garden area.

His presence has resulted in what is pictured above left. That isn't a harvest from my heirloom plants. That's from ONE plant. Plus, that is just the harvest from that ONE plant on the day this picture was taken. I've been pulling tomatoes off this ONE plant for weeks. It's still loaded with tomatoes that are still green at the moment. Which means another monster harvest from this ONE plant is coming soon.

Processing Tomatoes

So, with heirloom tomatoes literally coming out of my ears, it was time to put some old gardening tools to work again. This would result in a project I had not undertaken for nearly a decade. I would turn a sink full of vine-ripened heirloom tomatoes, garden bell peppers and jalapeño peppers, garden grown onions and basil, and turn it into as many jars of spicy tomato sauce as I could get.

This was an all-day job for two people a decade ago. I'm alone now. I wouldn't be all that surprised if this job took me more than a full day. That did happen, but only because I ran out of canning jars and the all important canning jar lids. The lids are the one thing you cannot recycle. Once they've been used, you cannot use them again.

Simmering Sauce

I'm not sure why I chose to hang onto all of the old garden canning equipment when I found myself living alone again. Anyone who has been through this experience, and a lot of us have, will find themselves throwing away a lot of old and unpleasant memories. This I did through the years, but I kept the old water-bath and pressure-canning equipment sitting on a shelf in the garage. It had gathered a fine layer of dirt and dust through all those years of inactivity. But you know what? You can wash the dirt off. You can enjoy life again.

Turning a sink full of heirloom tomatoes and peppers into jars of spicy tomato sauce is a fairly simple task once you've done this a few times. The first step is to wash and core the fruit. It's then cut into chunks and liquified in a food processor. The amounts are then measured and added to a large pot. Once everything is added, you bring the mixture to a boil and let it simmer.

The Payoff

I wanted a thicker sauce this time. So, rather than just one hour of a hard simmer, I kept it going for two. It's useless to keep an air conditioning unit working during a project like this because the heat coming out of the kitchen is fairly intense. Of course I would choose the hottest day of 2022 to take on such a project. That only makes sense. I had forgotten about the kind of heat that comes out of a kitchen when a pressure canning unit is hard at work.

The end result is 13-pints and three quarts of the thickest sauce I've ever created. Do you really think I'm going to consume this much heirloom tomato sauce during the winter? Are you insane? That's what neighbors are for. The same neighborhood children who gifted my orange rescue kitten with the name of "The Mango" will get to enjoy the results of his non-stop garden patrol efforts.

The Mango

If "The Mango" enjoyed tomato sauce he would most certainly get his fair share. After all, he earned it. But, he's more than content with his kitten kibble. The only snack he seems to enjoy is the ocassional bug he hauls in from the backyard. This is one garden assassin who works cheap.

KOMPOT!

Bandit and Mango

I must admit that it has been a very nice experience to live right next door to a husband and wife who were born in Ukraine. They both arrived in California decades ago as young children. They were immigrants in what must have been a strange new world for them. But, they adapted. They grew up. They met, they fell in love, got married and started a family. This journey came to my attention when they purchased the home next door some years ago.

I couldn't ask for better neighbors. Sometimes I feel like I've won a lottery of life. The children from this marriage have been called upon, or put to work so to say, to name the beasts that are pictured above. Both cat and dog were procured from the Bradshaw Animal Shelter in Sacramento County. The dog, a Border Collie, was christened with the name of Bandit. The kitten received the title of Mango.

Recent Tomato Haul

I've come to learn that this family loves the produce that comes from the over-sized gardens that I plant every spring. I always make the mistake of planting far too much than I could ever consume, which means the multitudes of tomatoes, squash, peppers, onions and other garden goodies are always searching for a home. They have found a home next door (and elsewhere).

They have also been introduced to the tree-ripened delight of Black Mission figs. I first experienced this delight last year when the tree I planted three years ago suddenly delivered a small crop of fruit. Although I've planted and nurtured a multitude of fruit trees, this would be my first experience with tree-ripened figs. Oh my! I can begin to understand now why figs were, at one time, the most widely planted of all fruit trees in California.

Black Mission Fig Tree

The crop that is coming off the tree this summer can be described in many ways. But, the word "small" is not one of them. Dozens of figs are now ripe for the picking every single day. While I always enjoy five or six pieces of daily, tree-ripened fruit, the dozens that are coming off the tree right now are a bit much. They have found a home next door, across the street, down the block and even at a local dog park where Bandit can terrorize other dogs and dog owners.

It is this gift of fruit, plus other summer garden produce, that resulted in the discovery of an old Russian and Ukrainian heirloom recipe. It's called Kompot (Kohm-Poat). It's a simple way of using a lot of tree or bush-ripened fruit to make a fresh and natural fruit juice that is out of this world GOOD.

Black Mission Figs

I suppose you could call this the old-fashioned way of making Kool-Aid. It's just much healthier. It's also much, much better.

The introduction to this crazy-good concoction made a surprise appearance at my front door the other day. It was a gift from my Ukrainian neighbors. This particular Kompot was made with strawberries and blueberries. I instantly fell in love with it. I'd never tasted anything like it. I would come to learn that Kompot can be made with any combination of tree-ripened fruit. Or, it can be made with just one type of tree-ripened fruit.

Like, Black Mission figs, for example.

Making Kompot

The glass jug that my neighbors of Ukrainian descent used to introduce me to the wonders of Kompot would be returned two days later. That's how long it took me to drink a quart of strawberry and blueberry Kompot. It was that good. But, this jar would not be returned empty. It was cleaned and filled again. It would be returned with a Black Mission fig mixture of Kompot.

If one were to cast votes on this matter, I would personally choose the Kompot that came out of the neighbor's kitchen. That combination of strawberries and blueberries was truly something special. I wish I could share that taste with you. It is out of this world good.

Black Mission Fig Kompot

But, other people also get to cast votes in this election. It's a split decision. The neighbors who introduced me to Kompot claim they like my Mission Black fig creation just a tad better.

You can't ask for better neighbors. You really can't.

This is the recipe I used to make my own version of Black Mission fig Kompot. I also modified it a tad, so I've listed it below. Although this is a recipe that I used to create Kompot from Black Mission figs, any fruit can be substituted.

This is the month of August in California. What California fruit ripens during the month of August? EVERYTHING!

Have fun!

Black Mission Fig Kompot

-25 soft to the touch, tree-ripened Black Mission figs

-1.5 gallons water

-1 to 1.5 cups sugar (depending upon how sweet you want it)

Directions:

-Cut figs into quarters and set aside

-Fill a large pot with 1.5 gallons of water and bring to a boil

-Add quartered figs and return to a boil

-Reduce heat to a simmer. Do not cover pot

-Simmer for 30-45 minutes.

-Turn stove off after simmering is complete. Add sugar to water and fruit. Stir to mix. I covered the pot and let this mixture sit overnight.

-Straining the fruit from the liquid is tricky. I just dumped the entire concoction into a plastic one gallon jug. I used a colander to strain the juice into two half gallon jugs. Seeds from the figs do pass through, but I didn't mind. If you want a clearer fruit juice, minus the seeds, you can place cheesecloth into the colander during the straining process.

The left-over fruit used from creating this mixture is also very tasty. It can also be used in another dish called Kissel. This recipe comes courtesy of Natasha's Kitchen. Scroll past the Kompot recipe to access the instructions for Kissel.

The Kitten Chronicles

Mango

Meet Mango. That's the name that the children who live next door to me bestowed on the beast of a kitten that I adopted as a four-week old in mid May from the Bradshaw Animal Shelter in Sacramento County. He may look cute. He is cute. But, Mango serves a far more important purpose than just pure orange kitten cuteness. Mango is my new garden enforcer.

The Sacramento County Shelter likes prospective kitten owners to fill out a lot of paperwork before any adoption can take place. I clearly remember one question that the Bradshaw Shelter posed: "What do you expect your new kitten to do?" I nearly put down something snarky like "croon like Frank Sinatra," but I had second thoughts. I just put down the following: "be a typical kitten."

Bandit and Mango

In all honesty? I adopted Mango for a reason. The first was to become a lifelong pal to the Border Collie named Bandit. The same neighborhood children who named Mango were called upon to name the beast I brought home from the same Bradshaw Shelter in July of last year. But, Bandit needed a buddy. Bandit got a buddy. It worked. When the two aren't trying to bite each other to pieces in a never-ending play session, they are curled up in the most ridiculously heart-rendering pose you will ever witness.

They are my new Frick and Frack.

The second reason why I adopted Mango was out of pure garden frustration. An army of rats, opossums, skunks, birds, and other wildlife regularly assaulted the large gardens that I planted the previous two years. The large heirloom tomato crops were chewed up and eaten. Every kernel of Golden Bantam corn was stripped away and consumed. The California Wonder Bell Peppers were hauled off and spirited away. My nightly garden raiders even developed a taste for Yellow Crookneck Squash!

Garden in July

But if this wasn't bad enough? It didn't stop there. The 101st Airborne Rat Army that dropped in every night weren't just satisfied with stealing every last heirloom tomato. They didn't stop until they had consumed large portions of the plants themselves. Which should be poisonous to them. Unfortunately, these rats seem to be immune to anything in the deadly Nightshade family.

I've faced raids by rats in the past. In my North Natomas gardens they would drop in from time to time to filch a tomato or a mandarin. They might have even drilled a hole into a watermelon. But that damage was minor. I could live with one or two missing tomatoes. I could lose one watermelon or cantaloupe and "be one with nature."

But the garden raids that started two years ago were like nothing I had ever witnessed or experienced before. I had never before lost an entire crop of Brandywine tomatoes. Watching 60-70 Lemon Boy tomatoes suddenly vanish in the space of a week was simply too much to bear.

Tiny Kitten

Those big, giant, old-fashioned rat snap traps were not the solution. Sure, I might get five or six of them. But that didn't stop the dozens that came over the fences every night. Rat poison wasn't an option. That will just kill anything and everything that eats a poisoned rat. Besides, given a choice between rat poison and a vine-ripened Mortgage Lifter tomato, the rat is always going to choose the Mortgage Lifter.

Rats aren't stupid. They are, however, destructive.

Enter Mango. Stage right. I didn't really have high hopes. After all, the boy I had adopted was just a kitten. How is a small kitten going to stop a big and nasty rat? Or, more to the point, the 101st Airborne Rat Army? These are big, nasty, mean and hungry creatures. Will a kitten really stop them? A tiny orange ball of fluff?

Garden Enforcer at Work

That answer, so far, is yes he will. Yes, he has. But the most important test is yet to come.

Mango's education as a garden enforcer started with small prey. My boy began to haul small bugs into the house. Much to my horror, I realized those small bugs were, in fact, cockroaches. There's nothing quite like the feeling of dread that washes over you when the kitten hauls in a big, fat, fast cockroach and then drops it on the carpet.

Cockroaches run very fast. They head for the nearest dark crevice of safety, where they can set up a new home and produce lots of other cockroaches. That's what these bugs intended to do. Unfortunately, none of them were fast enough. Just before they could reach any measure of safety, Mango would catch them, flip them in the air, pick them up, bite them and start the entire play process all over again. When the roach stopped moving, he ate it. Every last bit of it. Munch, munch, munch.

You and I like popcorn, right? Perhaps a crunchy bell pepper? Tree-ripened fruit perhaps? My cat likes cockroaches. A lot. Deal with it. When he decimated the cockroach population in my yard, he took his hunt to the next door neighbor's house. The neighbor did not complain. Not one iota.

Squash Plant Patrol

I didn't adopt Mango to kill rats. I know this will probably happen at some point, but that wasn't my intention. My hope was he would scare them out of his yard. This is exactly what has happened. I can hear the squeals of terror that come at night when he surprises one. The next sound I hear is that of a rat scurrying over the fence to safety. That's fine with me. He's scaring the rats. He also chased a baby opossum into another yard. Perfect.

But, the biggest test is yet to come. The Garden Enforcer is doing his job, so far. However, the main crop of heirloom tomatoes has yet to ripen. While Mango has already prevented many raids from taking place, the real test will come in August, September and October.

Zero Damage

But, if you were to ask, my answer is "so far, so good." I'm harvesting vine-ripened tomatoes. I'm harvesting perfect Yellow Crookneck Squash. Garden peppers of all shapes and sizes are turning red and haven't been molested. Compared to what took place the previous two summers, the change has been dramatic.

But, will it last? Stay tuned. The Kitten Chronicles, featuring Mango the Garden Enforcer, will continue.