At War with the Squirrels

Dear Reader,

My apologies; I’ve been absent too long.  During the missing months I purchased the house I’d been renting and started a new garden.  It took a year of planning and months of construction and installation.  The result so far has been more successes than failures; not a bad scorecard.  I have much to report, but illogically I’ll start at the end and work my way back to the beginning during the winter. 

At War with the Squirrels

As Washington careens towards conflict with North Korea, I have launched a pre-emptive strike against my enemy -- the squirrels.  They are in the middle of their seasonal cycle, laying waste to a crop of walnuts.   My garden is beautifully shaded by the dappled light of black walnut trees, but I pay a steep price when the nuts start to fall. 

My terrace is one of the areas so beautifully shaded.  Why did I choose to locate a terrace directly in the line of fire, you might well ask?  Despite having a few years to observe the pattern of falling walnuts and the habits of squirrels, I did this out of sheer stubbornness and the belief that is it my right to sit outside my kitchen door. And, evidence to the contrary, I was convinced that I could outwit the marauders. 

Newly-laid Bluestone

But they are so clever.  Last year my neighbor couldn’t start his car, and lifted the hood to find his engine compartment neatly packed with walnuts.  My plan was to head the squirrels off at the pass, collect the nuts and deliver them to the dump before the squirrels could get to them.  But I underestimated their determination. 

For weeks last year I collected each day’s crop of fallen walnuts and stored them in the car for delivery to the dump.  The squirrels, infuriated, would wait for me to emerge for the morning collection and shake the overhead branches so furiously I needed a hard hat to work outdoors.

My squirrels are not inclined to store their nuts in my car’s engine compartment because, unlike my neighbor’s house, here they have paving to work on.  They are busy collecting the nuts, piercing the shells that have not smashed open on the paving, taking off the shells on the long front bluestone walk or the new rear terrace, laying the nut meats on the tree branches to dry, and eventually storing them for the winter.

For those of you unfamiliar with the product, the walnuts are encased in a hard shell wrapped in a green husk, the inner layer of which is composed of inky black extraordinarily messy soft matter.  For six to eight weeks in the early Fall the walnuts come crashing down at the rate of 50 to 100 per day.  When landing softly in grass or soil it is only a matter of collection, but when they hit pavement it is with a shattering force, spewing black dye on paving and house walls alike, often landing on the chair in which I used to enjoy my morning coffee.

Walnut Ink Stains on Bluestone

My daughter, a zoo veterinarian, says squirrels are trainable. Her suggestion was to rig up a cloth across the blue stone terrace, cut a hole in the middle and put a large basket under the hole to collect the walnuts.  Then build a bench of the same stone alongside the terrace; hang a small basket level with the new bench; transfer the nuts from the large basket to the small and the squirrels will learn to use it.  This plan did not pass muster.

 

I believe her theory in principle, thus the first line of attack is to train the squirrels.  This year I am collecting all the walnuts and depositing them in the rear corner of the garden; a pantry if you will.  Having observed the squirrels shelling the nuts on the aforementioned single slab of bluestone that is my front walk and the 4’ bluestone squares of my now unusable terrace, I’ve paved an area adjacent to the walnut pantry with bluestone; a kitchen table if you will.  It is too soon to tell if it’s working.  So far there has been no sign of activity, but I remain optimistic. 

Squirrel Training Station

The second stage of the offensive is to cover the terrace with some garden-esque form of protection.  There is already an arbor to the east of the terrace offering tactful screening of the house next door.  We could build another arbor on the west side, cover it with lathe and plant vines.  The lathe alone would not be sufficient to prevent walnut husk fragments from falling through, but if we erected an open frame peaked roof, and then covered that roof seasonally with a strong shade cloth … well, you can see where this is going.  Who are the “us”and “we”?  Whoever will take on the construction of this folly.

In the meantime, there is a lot of scrubbing of trim and collecting of walnuts.  The only bright spot in this story is a wonderful new tool from the Lehman’s Catalog:  The Nut Wizard.  It’s a round wire basket with a long handle that rolls merrily across the lawn with only a gentle push, effortlessly collecting all in its path.  It is available in Small, Medium or Large, depending upon the size of your nuts, crabapples or golf balls.   

The Nut Wizard

November Notes

Mulch clematis vines with rotted manure.

Check rose climbers for insecure ties.

Rake gardens clear of all debris. 

Prepare beds for next spring by tilling the soil lightly.  

You may still find a few interesting offerings for sale this time of year. 

To boost your inventory of house plants look for oxalis.  O. rengnelii sprouts from underground corms.  White flowers grow in clouds several times during the year, accompanied by green, clover-shaped leaves.  When they become leggy, cut them down to soil level, and they will start all over again.

Oxalis

If you have been storing amaryllis, keep an eye on them.  As soon as they send up new shoots bring them back into the light.  They should be blooming by late December.

The clocks have been turned back, and the weather is grey and finally cold.  Squirrels are racing around collecting all the nuts and berries they can find to store away for the months ahead.  They have made a mess in the Rhinebeck garden, shaking black walnuts from the trees, selecting the nuts for storage and leaving the rest behind.

Raking is the major November work here and, although I advocate  leaving the task until all the leaves have fallen, we have too many to handle.  Raking is ongoing throughout the fall. 

Rake all garden beds clear of debris.  Any leaves the winds haven’t carried away are tucked around the acid-loving plants.  Cut back all perennials to four inches above the ground, leaving anything that’s still green.  Don’t forget to mulch the perennial beds with an inch or more of compost.  After the holidays, use evergreen boughs to weight down the compost and keep the soil from heaving. 

The main danger to flower borders is the alternate freezing and thawing of the ground during winter.  If the winter is mild this may occur many times during the season.  Some times the soil movement is so strong it will break the roots of the plant and push it out of the soil.  We’ve certainly found this true with fall panting

Alternate freezing and thawing does not happen in areas where there is a guaranteed blanket of snow all winter.  But in more temperate areas you can prevent this heaving by mulching heavily.  Almost any mulch will do -– straw, salt hay, evergreen boughs, compost or buck wheat hulls are all fine.  It’s best to wait until the ground freezes before mulching, so this task may stretch into December. 

If you have a vegetable garden, work the soil lightly with a tiller to get a head start on spring planting.

Paperwhite Narcissus

I’m already dreading the winter, and so have potted up the first bowls of paperwhite narcissus to see me through.  I’ve experimented with forcing tulips, but the cold treatment required for success is too fussy for me.  A spectacular failure in which I stocked a spare refrigerator with a winter’s worth of potted tulips produced nothing more than a refrigerator full of frozen bulbs.

Amaryllis are worth the effort of keeping them over from year to year if you have the space for it.  If you are a first-time buyer, now is the time to start.  Buy them from a florist, a nursery or a catalog.   Enjoy their bloom.  After they have finished blooming remove the flower stalk and fertilize monthly with Miracle-Gro or another water-soluble fertilizer.  By mid-summer, cut back on your watering schedule by one-half.  Once the foliage yellows, cut the leaves back to an inch above the bulb and store in a dark cool location for about six weeks.  Then bring them into a sunny window and start all over again.

Amaryllis 'Minerva'

If you are keeping orchids from year to year, feed them with orchid food once a month if not more often.  Southern filtered light is best, and give them relatively little water.  Ventilation is critical.

By the end of November you should have potted up your bulbs, completed putting the garden to bed for the winter, turned off all outdoor water faucets, coiled your hoses and brought them indoors.  Make sure your garden equipment and tools are clean; you can oil them over the winter.  When everything is cut down, put away, tidied up, mulched, wrapped and swept clean you can review your gardening year from a comfortable chair indoors and plan for spring.