Although I put my garden to bed around November, I had to leave one little patch happy & growing: The carrots.
I planted them a little late, and they were still kind of small. But they continued to grow a little bit despite the cold, and I had been told that they would begin growing again in the spring. In January, I pulled up a small one just to see how it was doing, and it looked like a carrot! I was very pleased. :) I left them in the ground to get big & healthy.
When we came back from our Idaho trip in January ... horrors! The NUTRIA had come back & eaten every last carrot! I was so frustrated.
So, I've been researching how to keep nutria out of the garden, and it seems the only that likely will work is to surround the garden with 2 feet of chicken wire, with another foot of it underground. Sigh. This will totally disrupt the aesthetic qualities and ease of use of my adorable little garden. But I guess having an ugly garden full of veggies is better than a cute garden full of empty holes!
The Year 2009: Steph vs. The Nutria