Saucy Squirrel Takes a Peek. Slug Wars Escalate with Copper Tape

Squirrels cannot be startled away from the window.
This one liked to feed in Bella Vista, so the view from the bedroom window
is the ravine and the highway down below Walton's Mountain.

Today I was feeding the birds and squirrels with their usual allotment. The squirrels take off when I come outside, especially the one who was chewing into the seed supply. I bought a metal pail for him. He will have his quota for zinc long before he reaches any food.

So - the squirrels scattered and I put some seed into the hanging platform shared by the birds and squirrels. As I was filling it, I saw a squirrel peeking around the corner. He had not run away, just out of eyesight. Perched around the corner, he was able to look around and watch me. He seemed to be very happy at the sight of a free meal.

I found peanut flavored suet the birds might like
and used a feeder just like this one.
The suet was gone in days.
I am rounding up the usual suspects.

Slug Wars Escalate with Copper Tape

We have 10 days of rain predicted, so diotomaceous earth with not work and slugs will multiply. Mrs. I asked, "What about the beer?"

Beer is going to be watered down with so much rain, so I wanted a long term solution. Slugs supposedly cannot cross copper, because it set off the electrical charge in their bodies, which is revolting for them.

I fashioned three pieces of cardboard with copper taped around the hole for the three vulnerable and slug-chewed plants. For one I taped both sides of the hole in the cardboard collar.

This website calls copper versus slugs a gardening myth, but allows that copper may be a deterrent.

To add to the deterrent, I have already planned to crush more clay from a pot or two. I join the garden myth guy in questioning egg shells.

The previous beer party has reduced the visible slug population.

The most important Butterfly Bush has a new lease on life from diotomaceous earth, egg shells,  and clay shards around it. Maybe it is the placebo effect - it just needed attention.

The two Passion Vines have stayed green but remain chewed with no new leaves.

Upside Down Pot for Mr. Spider
I like to try out ideas, and Sharon Lovejoy has plenty of them. I know she is not one to copy dumb ideas but try them out and share them. Her ideas was turn a clay pot  upside down as long as there is a drainage hole on top. Check. I had several small ones ideal for that.

She said a spider would take up residence, and curious insects would come inside for a meal - the spider's. I tried that and looked inside the pot near the Passion Vines several days later. I saw a spider, a web, and an insect hanging in the web.

There are many kinds of shelter that add to the diversity of the yard:

1. Half pots as shelters for toads.
2. Logs that feed the soil and shelter various animals, including toads, promoting soil fertility as the wood rots.
3. Piles of sticks, because any kind of shelter or perch invites insects.
4. Dead leaves, since beetles and other creatures enjoy the shelter, moisture, and food possibilities.
5. Bushes are havens for birds and insects.
6. Living trees are loved by birds, but so are dead trees.