Portland gardener's have had to water like crazy to keep everything alive. Even my huge walnut trees are showing stress. They will be fine. It's the small trees that need constant watering to help them through.
One benefit to all this heat is that my roses, tomatoes and water lilies have been looking great. The tomatoes are 7' tall, the roses have zero powdery mildew, and the water lilies have been pumping out big leaves and copious flowers.
I was even contemplating having an open garden. The grass is spotty, dead, and mostly beige and many of the flowers are past their prime, but I thought what the heck! It would be worth it just for people to see the water lilies.
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| They were so beautiful! |
I do pride myself on my goldfish and water lilies. They are a unique feature of my garden and they make me happy. The water lilies were looking great until about two weeks ago!
Then the raccoons started raiding my ponds. They decided the "Lents Fish Buffet" was open for business.
Most know that raccoons (henceforth referred to as "Lil' F#$%-ers") are nocturnal carnivores and they can be quite a pest in the city, mainly getting into garbage cans, chicken coops and vegetable/fruit gardens.
Each of my smaller "ponds" has a "anti-raccoon prophylactic", which is a ring of rabbit fencing. The ponds are 3 x 40 gallon barrel liners, 5 x 70 gallon water dishes, and 2 x 100 gallon horse troughs.
The thought was that the rabbit fencing would keep the raccoons mostly out. The wires are close enough together to prevent their hands from getting too far in and I wrongly thought they wouldn't be able to climb over it.
In the past, over a summer the Lil' F#$%-ers would visit twice a summer. They would make a mess and rip up the water lilies but never actually got in the ponds.
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| A traumatized lily. |
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| A water lily "knot". |
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| Harder to get into, but they still manage. |
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| My new "One-Leaf" Lily |
This year the Lil' F#$%-ers seems to be smarter and/or more desperate, I'm sure due to the heat and lack of water and food. They have evaded the anti-racoon protection and actually gotten in the ponds, defoliating lilies and eating all the fish and Japanese snails. They have done this now three times in two weeks.
Last night at 12:30am, I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom and just happened to hear a Lil' F#$%-er trying to raid a pond on the back patio. I heard a loud splash, which was apparently either the raccoon equivalent of the "cannon ball" or perhaps the "nestea plunge".
Thankfully I was still dressed as I immediately yelled out the window screen and ran outside. The Lil' F#$%-er knew the jig was up and ran for the hills. Along the way I grabbed the only thing I could find, my 5" spider strainer, I use to scoop crap out of the ponds.
By the time I got back there the marauder was on the fence. It turns out there were actually a pair of them. One ran on the neighbor's shed roof and the other along the fence to the adjacent neighbor's house. It just sat on the fence mocking me and staring me down.
So, in the midst of my "raccoon rage", I grabbed the hose, turned it on full blast and gave the Lil' F#$%-er on the fence a face full of H2O, then the one on the roof got his just desserts.
I'm sure my neighbors were having a "wtf" moment as I was running around like a maniac cursing at raccoons. I was prepared to use my my 5" spider strainer as a ninja throwing star, but my aim is not so good (probably shouldn't have skipped so much gym in high school), so I thought better of actually throwing it.
I had every outdoor motion light and interior house light a-blazing, while I secured the perimeter.
After my raccoon rage simmered down a little, I bunked down in the Shedteau, hoping that if the Lil' F#$%-ers came back I would be right there ready to pounce with my broom and my ninja throwing strainer.
At 3am, my renter got up for work and all the lights in the house were on. I'm sure he thought "Mrs. Roper" finally went off the deep end.
I finally got into my own bed, the one actually in the house, at 3:15am and I think I slept until 6am. Every little noise waking me up. I barely slept.
Boy, I'm pooped... Sorry job, I'm too tired to work at work today. I think I need a nap today for lunch.
On the way home today, I will be stopping at Home Depot for more wire. I'm going to make lids for the raccoon condoms. I'm also stopping at the fabric/craft store for bells to hang off the wire. The bells will wake me right away and announce the Lil' F#$%-ers have come for another visit.
Upon hearing this story, a friend remarked that "crazy is essential when protecting something you love."
So let's get crazy! Perhaps the bat shit kind?!?
Oh but I laughed reading this post - and I DO sympathize too. I battle deer. And by mid-August they are so desperate for anything green that they'll walk right up on my front porch to the front door and eat everything in sight. I hope your raccoon condoms work for you. I have the porch barricaded with lawn chairs.
ReplyDeleteI guess there is always something... I have never seen a deer in my hood, but there are coyotes roaming the streets at night. Maybe I need to hire the coyotes to eat the raccoons?!?
DeleteI read recently about some gardener allowing Skunks in the garden ,because they chase wood chucks away. Probably not very helpful . I don't know if skunks eat fish ?
ReplyDeleteI have heard about using red fox urine to keep them out. I think a skunk would eat a fish if it found one laying around, but I don't think they fish like raccoons do.
DeleteI hope your plan is successful. I haven't started sleeping outside lying in wait for them yet, I'm too afraid of them. Although I suppose if they saw some fat old lady running at them yelling at the top of her lungs carrying a big metal spoon, it might give them pause.
ReplyDeleteWhen I scared them, they barely moved on. I think they thought I would go back inside and they would come back for seconds.
DeleteOh Matthew they were gorgeous! So lush and colorful. Those damn Lil' F#$%-ers have got to pay. I know Peter (the outlaw) has had electric wires across his pond. I don't know what's involved with that but might it be a solution?
ReplyDeleteI would opt for a glass dome over the entire yard if I could, but I don't think I can afford that. I think my new wire lids + sleighbells will do the trick. It's uglier, but I'd rather have ugly than no fish and smashed lilies.
DeleteHahahahahaha. I know it's not funny, but the visual is so damn funny.
ReplyDeleteMatthew, luckily no raccoons in our part of the world but the herons do like their sushi - how do you keep your Water lily tubs so clean from algae?
ReplyDeleteHello! I just do a couple things annually. I muck out the ponds in the spring and fall. Just pulling out the dead leaves and such. In the spring, I fertilize the water lilies with pond tabs. Over summer, I do partial water changes here and there (about 10-20%) every 2-4 weeks or so. When the water lily leaves kick in and cover the surface, the water clears up generally. I remove spent/yellowed lily leaves often. I don't mind the ponds a little green however. As long as the algae isn't too bad, I let it stay.
DeleteMine tend to get bad - maybe higher temps here in South Africa? The ones without fish need water circulation to keep Mosquitos at bay and the ones in the koi pond get nibbled
ReplyDeleteCould be - hot stagnant water generally leads to all sorts of bad things. It's enough to make a person gatvol! My "ponds" were always intended to be self-contained pools. It's just the fish, snails and plants with no electricity or moving parts. Koi, while pretty, do make a mess of things too.
DeleteI'm so sorry that they went after your beautiful water lilies and fish. Oh how I wish that I could have seen you spray those coons down with the hose. Serves them right! Have you considered having a water source just for them in a distant corner of your garden? I provide one for my coons. And I also throw dog food in a neighbors garden, she's never home, and it keeps them occupied elsewhere. I hope that your new set up works. Fingers crossed. P.S. I chase my coons and opossums with a flat head shovel while in my pj's.
ReplyDeleteYour story is hilarious yet I totally understand the frustration. We caught a a pair of raccoons picking strawberries in my backyard. We were standing 18-20 feet away and made eye contact with them and they just stood there staring back to us. No one moved. After about a min. the pair of thieves SLOWLY walked away. Then last summer they totally destroyed my half barrel water pond. They were going after the water hyacinth. There were bite marks on the bulbs and everything else was tossed out of the pond. I'm been doing some research and it seems nothing is a sure deterrent given how smart and persistent these raccoons are. I like your idea of the raccoon condom and bells tied to the wires. Was wondering how that worked out?
ReplyDeleteI was initially thinking of building one of these but then read that it did NOT work:
http://www.koiphen.com/forums/showthread.php?84006-Raccoon-proof-lid-for-a-half-whiskey-barrel
Beth's comments about the deer and porch barricaded with lawn chairs is really funny. One thing I read about the coyote is that in an urban setting, the coyote and the raccoon have a more amicable relationship than that of their country cousins, so coyote urine may not repel “citified” ‘coons.
I also read that if you leave food & fresh water out, they will leave your pond alone. However I feel like this is sending the wrong message.
ReplyDelete