Underestimated my enemy

You really can use statistics to say whatever you want. It turned out that right after my last post I visited my garden to find that my two capsicum, two cucumbers, and two squash seedlings, were brought from about a foot height down to one inch nubs of stems. This brought me to a different, but just as valid, perspective of my gardening thus far. The last post was more of a celebration, but those statistics were all about the success I've seen, but didn't mention the death and failure that has come as well. I realized out of my 40 (now 34 or less) plants that are growing now, I had already lost right around 40 plants as well. Mostly to snails, but some others have failed just due to conditions. This led me into a mourning period where I had to do some reflecting on what I had learned as well as why I was doing all this. It didn't help that the first thing God had told me was that my garden would be a direct reflection of my life.

So I had to start looking at the metaphors, at the same time that I regrouped with a new plan for what to plant and how to do it. I talked with my friend who is knowledgeable in anything having to do with plants, and he told me, to my disbelief, that it was snails, and said that I must have A LOT of them. So with that news, I finally decided to pull out the snail pellets, and today when I went back found around 100 dead snails scattered around my plants and garden. I think there are more as well. So all in all, I have deeply underestimated my enemy, and it's cost my garden a lot. But I've learned a lot as well, and as usual it's bringing fresh perspective to my life and how to go about each day. 

Once again it's all about the process, as far as my gardening goes, so it takes a bit of the pain out bad results. On a lighter note, right as each set back has occurred, there has been a friend who randomly decides they want to donate to my garden. The day after seeing my plants destroyed, my friend Chris gave me 90 sunflower seeds. Which was really encouraging as well as fun to think about all the crazy options for guerrilla gardening. I've just been given a bunch of pots and soil, which is also very timely.  My garlic, red beans, and cherry tomatoes are looking really good right now. One thing to look forward to is my avocado seed, which I'm hoping will sprout this week as well. Unfortunately the pineapple didn't take root, so I'll have to try another one.

I'll have some pictures on here as well in the next day or two.