And the Battle begins

Sometimes having a garden seems like a season-long battle. Battle against weeds, battle against animals, battle for my time....

I have taken steps to win the battle for my time but the weeds and the animals....well, they are quite persistent.  This morning, when I made my usual visit to the garden, I discovered this:

First Casualty

I'm not sure what did this, or even how it was done. I would think if it was a bunny, he would have nibbled on the little seedling.  It almost looks like something was passing through and stepped on it.  Or, even more worrisome, a mole who might have eaten just the root.

I do have some repellent spray that I bought this year so once today's rain is over, I will try treating them.  For now, I put a cage over 3 of the other zucchini's to try to identify if the attack came from above or below.

And, of course, since it is so early in the season, and I have many seeds left over, I replanted in this spot.  You can never have too much zucchini...oh wait, maybe you can...

On a better note, I am thinking that in a day or 2, I will be ready to start to pick my sugar snap peas. I planted these guys on March 22 and expected to be harvesting a week or so ago.  But we had such a cold and wet spring, they sat in the ground for quite some time...little tiny sprouts that refused to do much of anything.  They are a couple of weeks behind, but welcome nonetheless!!

Sugar Snap Peas

Finally, and somewhat surprisingly, 9 of my butternut squash seeds have already sprouted.  Most of the squashes, both summer and winter, have already started with their first set of real leaves as well.  I guess the really hot weather last week did a good job of warming the soil, and the last few days of spotty rain added the needed moisture.  It is amazing to me the changes I can see each day.

Now to stand guard over all these new plants.

Butternut Squash