Nice, nice! It looks like this is a fairly new garden, all of the trees are very small, and I right? So you'll have many seasons ahead of you to enjoy it.

I don't envy you all of those giant piles of mulch to spread -- that will be some work!

What wonderfully large yard you have! I've been thinking about turning my backyard into a fruit and veggie garden. Especially since I get so upset when I go to the store for produce and find most things coming from out of the country. So, I come home empty handed.

I did quite well with growing spinach, parley and three different kinds of kale for my salads! Tomatoes aren't ready, but I did get three that were ripe, and a few string beans. Had lots of navel and Valencia oranges, avocados and white grapefruit.

Recently, the squirrels have been super busy destroying some of my fruit trees. My persimmons were about grape size, and now the small tree has been stripped. The Valencia oranges are being dropped when they are still green, and just yesterday I went out and found about 30 Anna apples on the ground! They are also eating the new leaf growth from my apricot tree. To think that years ago, I thought squirrels were cute!

Denninmi- Yep first year garden for me on this scale. Lived in the concrete city before and did a lot of container gardening. All of my trees are 1 to 2 years old. Been planting like crazy since we moved in 2 years ago. I am looking forward to the many gardening years I have ahead of me. I have been bitten by the gardening bug. Absolutely love it. LOL on that mulch, I keep eyeing it and telling myself that I am insane!

Eloise- You should totally transform it into a garden but be wary ...it will be all you think about every day! FOREVER :)
Those dang squirrels, I would be so upset. I had soooo many gophers when we first moved in. I was like "Ahh how cute" boy was I wrong those little suckers are mean and destructive. Lost a couple trees before I figured that out though :(.

I have the same issue in my garden, Eloise. The only control method that works for me is poison bait stations. They do have non-secondary kill bait that won't kill a snake or bird of prey (or dog) if the catch and eat a poisoned squirrel or rat (I have roof rats and ground squirrels in huge numbers here), BUT that bait has no antidote. So, you must make sure your dog doesn't get into the bait. That is the only thing that keeps the ground squirrel & rat populations down enough so I get some fruit. We have a barn owl house up and so do two of my neighbors. We have significant number of predators - gopher snakes, king snakes, rattlers, hawks, kites, owls, weasels and coyotes, and I still can't keep the rodent population under control without poison bait. Sad, but I didn't spend thousands of dollars on my fruit trees to feed a bunch of rodents. I'd rather have too much fruit and have the option to donate it to our soup kitchens that feed rats and squirrels.

Patty S.

Looks good! It's Saturday now go spread that mulch....chip chop!

PuggyLover, I too get the gophers and they have destroyed a banana tree, rose bushes and other plants. Recently, I had planted some chili plants in the ground and next day one of the plants totally disappeared underground! The only thing left was the tag. I hadn't trapped gophers in a while, but decided right then and there to make time to start again. Since, I've trapped three.

Patti, wish I could get rid of the squirrels, but not sure if it's legal here. Guess I don't have to show and tell :-)

Yesterday, put up a cd (only had one) and aluminum strips on my trees to see if that would deter the squirrels. They haven't found the fig tree yet, but know they will. I might try spraying the fruit with a chili spray and see if that helps. I so enjoy the fruits of my labor, but unfortunately, so do these 'rats'!