One boomer was remarking about the rabbits and squirrels in their yard. The rabbits are there because we no longer have foxes because the boomers poison their yards. The squirrels are a food source for our at-risk birds of prey, while their ecological role spreading plant seeds adds to biodiversity and landscape regeneration in important ways. She called them "vile little creatures" and wished there was a way to kill them all.
The other's yard was 90% dedicated to Kentucky bluegrass. Purely ornamental, green concrete that's too poisonous for the rabbits to eat despite their effort. When I arrived she was pulling clover out of the only garden bed. When I left an hour later, she was still pulling cover out and asked if I could spray the bed with glyphosate to kill them. I said she might want to keep that species because it's important for pollinators and adds to the health of the soil for her other flowers. She opted for a $150 glyphosate treatment which makes the ground carcinogenic and takes two weeks to work.
I fucking hate these people. I hate their settler-colonialism toward nature, their sociopathic need for domination, and their utter tastelessness once they've achieved that domination at the expense of every other species that once lived in that yard. In this desert these deranged freaks will spend thousands of dollars per year to preserve their lawns. The violence behind their bullshit community fetish is only ignored because their neighbours are worse.
They had apparently dug up some bulbs she planted. In a yard where she's otherwise destroyed the food sources and not replaced them with any edible species, the desperation of an animal to turn to a non-choice food or one that's accidentally edible should be punished. We should eradicate the thing we're starving for no reason.
Well that much is a little understandable. I can't look at snails the same way anymore after they ate all my corn and pumpkins. But squirrels? Just stick a fuckin bird feeder out there and maybe they'd leave your tulip bulbs alone
Even with garden pests, there are ways to deter them with trap crops or barriers. Snails have a similar ecological importance which we need to respect as a practical matter. If it isn't fulfilled, the metabolic rift grows and we get whatever toxic byproducts occur from an unbalanced ecosystem. They're turning non-edible decomposing matter into edible snail for larger species which do their own critically important labour.
Where do you learn more about these decoy plants and whatnot without spending a lot of money on trial and error?
https://www.nature-and-garden.com/gardening/slugs-snails-natural-control.html
I always go for flowering ones. Marigolds are a great option because they'll congregate on a flower and you can just pluck-and-toss it. Trap plant is the proper name for it.
:sadness-abysmal: