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.

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.