This is what the rabbit did to my soybeans.
I love edamame, especially fresh from the garden. And I prefer a variety called Butterbeans. It has big pods and very good yields. I planted a patch earlier this year using seeds left over from 2 or 3 years ago. They did not spout (about 1 on 20 sprouted and the rabbit ate the few that did sprout). Maybe this is a seed that does not store well.
So I looked up online to find more Butterbeans. It seems they are out of stock everywhere. I found them at advertised one website and ordered two packages. But when they arrived they were a different variety (Envy - it has little pods). But I planted them anyway just before I left on vacation.
To make a short story long - the baby rabbit ate all the sprouts. Before leaving on vacation, I asked my husband to barricade the cold frame so the bunny couldn't get in. He reinforced the edges, adding lattice and plastic stapled to the wood frame. The problem was in securing it to the house. Well, the rabbit must have found a way in. Its too late now for a third try. No homegrown edamame this year.
5 comments:
Bunnies!! If only we could train them just to eat the weeds!
My grandparents used to always grow butter beans in their garden. I spent many a summer afternoon in the shade of the pear tree beside the house shelling them. Good stuff! Sorry the bunny got to yours!
Jan
Is there something natural that repels them maybe?
Marian (LondonUK)
i made the hardware mesh boxes that mel bartholemew talks about in his original square foot garden book: 1 ft X 1 ft square and about 1 ft tall, shaped like an upside-down U. start with two of them one atop the other to prevent varmints when the plants are smaller. remove one when the plant is bigger (i.e., before it grows through the mesh) so that you can get access to weeds.
it really helps with rodents when you've got the pair forming a box, and later, when you've let the plant grow through the one, it's fabulous for the occasional marauding deer: the deer eats to the mesh instead of the ground, and the plant recovers nicely still giving beans.
making them as small as he says helps for putting them in whatever odd corner you use to plant your beans (i'm forever mixing up my crops).
lee
A muskrat ate my soybeans. I caught a glimpse of a brown furry body one night, scurrying back to his burrow under the compost bin at my community garden. Thought it was a groundhog, but the people who evicted him (without harming him) said muskrat. We're a fair way from the ravine so that seemed odd to me, but whatever. Some of the soybeans seem to be recovering but not sure if they will come back sufficiently to actually produce the yummy beans :(
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