Threats to the spring garden

We have had two days in the high 70's/low 80's this week, so it has definitely felt like spring.  Everything in the garden is doing great. 

Garden on March 1

Despite the fact that February is gone and it is now officially the beginning of meteorological spring, March 1, the forecast for tonight is for temps near freezing.  Go figure!  However, all should be good with these particular plants as long as it doesn't get too cold.  For an extra margin of safety, I watered everything well.  That should keep things a bit warmer than if the soil were dry since water has a higher heat capacity than dry soil (or almost anything else that I know of other than liquid ammonia, but I digress).

I am getting anxious to plant some of the hot weather plants, such as tomatoes and peppers, but will wait a bit longer.  On average we get two freezes during March, so it is not worth the risk right now.

The bigger threat to the garden is likely attack from one of the four footed neighbors.  The squirrels have been in the garden several times retrieving buried nuts that I did not know they had buried last fall.  That has destroyed some of the seedlings, but the larger plants are ok.

The bigger threat is our neighborhood bunny. 

Bun "hiding" in the backyard

Bun typically hangs out in one spot in our backyard all day.  It is a little hollowed out spot that is just the size of one rabbit.  When he is there he is not very hidden.  We can easily see him from the house, but apparently he feels safe. 

Anytime I use carrots from the garden, I leave the greens on the patio for him.  He loves them and eats everything, leaving not a trace.  In retrospect that was probably not a good idea.  I may have created a monster.  Not only is he around nearly all the time, but he has now discovered that there are carrot greens in the garden.  Fortunately he has not yet figured out how to get over/around the chicken wire. 

Hopefully he does not figure out how to get in, or I fear there will be nothing left of the garden.