Thursday, June 24, 2010

Thursday In The Garden With Jonesie

Meow!  We have a crisis in our garden!  The weather has been rainy and damp and awful.  We've had too much rain and the high temperatures are too low...sigh.   This means my basil is in danger of going to the herb Bridge.   I've tried keeping a vigil, but mom and dad bring me in at night and when I'm not there...the...ugh...slugs move in! 

This means war!

Not only are my beloved basil plants in danger, my raspberries are not very happy.  This makes my mom sad.  I will do what I can to purr over them and make it right.  Even a master garden cat has her limits.
It makes me cry to look at my darling basil furriends.  Mom said I can get new ones once the weather dries out and warms up...but it doesn't ease the pain of watching these little plants suffer.
I have ammonia spray to help take care of the nasty slugs.  The milder mixture is supposed to be good for the leaves too.
You might have to biggify the picture below...but I'm there, watching over my garden and purring that the sun will come out soon!

42 comments:

Mishkat said...

Jonesie, we are sorry about your basil - we hate seeing plants die too. And we hope it gets a little warmer where you are soon (and cooler where we are!)

P.S. Our mom uses "Sluggo" for slugs - we have a lot of them. It is kind of expensive so she only uses it for a few special plants, but she thinks it works pretty well. And it is not toxic for pets or other animals.

NAK and The Residents of The Khottage Now With KhattleDog! said...

Woo khan khome borrow some of my basil!

Sorry 'bout your weather -

Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra
PeeEssWoo: Hi Grete!

Angel MoMo and Charlotte said...

We sympathize totally. Our garden fluctuates from a swamp to a soggy sponge. It never has a chance to dry out completely since the winter sun does not stay long even when it comes and half the yard is in the shade anyway. Nothing is growing.

Gemini and Ichiro said...

Oh we know exactly where you are--our spinach hardly leafed at all and is already going to seed--probably because the poor stuff hasn't had any sun at all hardly! Perhaps the next batch will do better.

Lisa + current cat said...

Oh, those nasty slugs. They've been doing a number on some of the hostas, but not all of them. We biggified the last picture and you certainly are patrolling your garden well.

Milo and Alfie Marshall said...

Hi Jonesie,

Yoo are an excellent gardener but sum times even excellent gardeners fail to battle the elements and plant diseases. Slugs are mighty pesky critters and we know yoo are vigilant and doing yoor utmost to save the plants from them.

I've had no luck wiv my carrots. They sprouted but went to the carrot-bridge not long afta (while mom was away they died of drowt! :sigh:) But my herbs are a BIG success and my fambly eat them on a daily basis which makes me feel VERY proud. Even Milo eats them!

So celebrate yoor success, and try not to worry abowt the stuff that goes to the bridge ~ 'cos yoo do yoor best.

Love Alfie Marshall xxxxxxxx
(yoor numero uno fan!)

dArtagnan Rumblepurr/Diego Hamlet Moonfur said...

Watch out for the slugs my dear!!!

SeaThreePeeO said...

Oh no! We're sorry that things aren't going well in your garden at the moment Jonesie.

We're purring for better weather!

SeaThreePeeO said...

Oh no! We're sorry that things aren't going well in your garden at the moment Jonesie.

We're purring for better weather!

Milo and Alfie Marshall said...

PS: Yeah, it is a deaded mousie in the water! The bottled water company provide a speshull vershun called Aqua-Mousie ~ espeshully for cats.

Kea said...

Jonesie, when our human was growing up, the remedy for slugs was a saucer of beer in the garden. Seriously. They're attracted to it and drown...but die happy. LOL.

Things have been soggy here too, in June, after such a dry winter and spring.

We wish you drier, warmer days!

Angel Simba said...

Sorry your weather is so damp and the slugs are such a problem. As Alfie says, concentrate on what is working well.

Purrfect Haven said...

gardening is a 'no win' activity and the little slugs and stuff ... well they are a law unto themselves. But keep heart, WE think your garden and plants is a marvel. Love Darcy and Bingley xx

Tama-Chan, Benny, Vidock, Violette, Ollie, Heloise, Momo, Ryu said...

Your dedication to your garden is quite admirable, Jonesie. sorry about the rain and low temps. We had that too, for a couple of weeks, but now the sun is shining again and the garden is happy!

Anonymous said...

We're also sorry about your slug problem Jonesie. But you live in prime slug territory. . . . I don't think over all that it's a good year for gardens. No one we know is having a fab year. Maybe next year will be better.

Winston said...

Mama kills basil all the time! I'm sure you will be able to get yours up and growing again.

Brian's Home Blog said...

Oh no, not the slugs Jonesie! Looks like maybe Mishkat is onto something there!

The Island Cats said...

Jonesie, sometimes even the best gardeners have problems! You can't control Mother Nature. But we hope the weather starts to cooperate and your basil can be saved!

Alastriona, The Cats and Dogs said...

(Hiss) Slugs! We had to get some slug killer to put around our strawberries. Which meant we had to be kept inside for awhile. Our basil is doing good. The green basil is even blooming. We has some purple too. But we has our own gardening problems. This doesn't seem to be a good year for gardens (sigh) the weather seems to be very confused.

Daisy said...

Wow, I never knew gardening could be filled with such heartbreak! I hope you get better gardening weather soon!

Pip said...

We are so sorry to hear of the failing healfs of your Basil and berries. We hopes your sunbeams comes out very soon. Is not good for kitties to be without sunbeams either.
We sees you in your garden!

The Florida Furkids said...

Uggg....slugs! We have slug AND snails at our house. Once Mom put out beer for the snails and effury snail in the neighborhood showed up for the party!!

Sniffie and the Florida Furkids

The Whiskeratti said...

Oh, Jonesie, we are so sorry. Slugs. Blech.

Raymond and Busby said...

Jonesie! We feel your pain! Our basil is having lack of warm weather issues too. So is our verbena. We have been fortunate with the snails so far, but it takes constant vigilance. Lets hope your weather and our weather improves soon!

Memories of Eric and Flynn said...

We are sorry the weather is being bad to your garden Jonesie. The last three summers here were very wet and nothing grew well, so this year mum didn't plant much, so of course the weather is much better.

SASS....Sammy Andy Shelly Sierra said...

Jonesie, we are purring that the sun will come out for you!!!!!!!! xxxxxxxxx

Forever Foster said...

If anyone can help the raspberries, you can, Jonesie. Do not worry about your basil if it has to go to the herb Bridge. We have many many many many plants up there that will keep it company.

Jacqueline said...

Good luck with your crop of plants sweet Jonesie; we know you are doing everything you can for your garden to be a success, but you can't fight the weather...kisses and hugs x3 beautiful girl...Calle, Halle, Sukki

Angel Junior, Orion and Sammy said...

Bummer!!! We know you are doing your best for your garden Jonesie!

ANGEL ABBYGRACE said...

Jonesie
We hope that your basil will make it and that the raspberries do too. The weather has been so un predictable.

purrs

>^,,^<

♥Abby♥

SuziQCat said...

I don't know what happened with Mr. Linky...I promise I only posted one time :)

Amy & the house of cats said...

Oh that stinks that your garden is not having any luck in the weather. Could you maybe cover up the basil with a clear plastic something to make like a mini-greenhouse for it til it is nicer weather? We don't know if it would really work, but in our minds it does.

We hope you get more sun and less rain soon!!

CCL Wendy said...

Poor Jonesie (and Mom)! We've had lots of rain here, too, and yes the plants need a lot more sun to thrive. This definitely isn't your fault, but that doesn't make it any easier.

We'll purr for some sunny days ahead for you.

Quill and Greyson said...

Dam Slugs! I'll send Mr Sun right away!

CCL Wendy said...

Oh, I forgot. Figaro is on the LOLSpot today.

Mark's Mews (Marley, Lori, Loki, and Binq) said...

We are lucky not ta be hafin slug problems. It has been dry an hot here lately. We hope they all dried up.

But ya can put copper strips around individual plants. That does somethin electrical ta slugs...

meowmeowmans said...

Eww, slugs are gross. We are sorry you are having problems with them Jonesie. We hope your weather improves soon.

Katnip Lounge said...

Mommy thinks of "Slugworth" from Charlie & the chocolate factory whenever she hears about slugs.

Mommy needs to get her nose out of books and deal with real life...what??? oh, she also says the beer trick works well. Sorry, Mommy!

maya said...

oh no, the poor basil.
gardening is hard work and we are not very good at all.

check out our blog?
http://acatcalledharley.blogspot.com

Chrissie said...

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I was a Gardener Cat, Jonesie. But, then, I learned how to es-COP-ay, and have been confined to the house, where nothing grows except for my dust-mice under the bed. But, I think your garden is lovely and I shall visit!

(angel) Grrreta and Fam said...

We are so sorry the weather is not cooperating. We know if anyone can save your garden, it is you. We are rooting for you to win the Slug War of 2010.

Cory Clark said...

Jonesie - we're sorry you are having trouble with your plants, our Mom says the weather can be unpredictable - especially in Oregon (she lived there for almost a year a LONG time ago, before we were even born!!)

You really blended into that last picture - we had to bigify it to find you - it was like a Where's Waldo, only with a Jonesie!!

Have a happy day!!

~Nico, Simon & JayJay :)