By Victoria Torley

Oh, those tasty seeds and seedlings! It seems like everything out there wants a snack.

My first experience with them was with corn seeds and their sprouts. It was the Nicaraguan grackles that pounced on them. First, they took the seeds. Then they came back when the last remaining seeds had sprouted to about two inches and pulled them up for lunch.

So what is eating my plants?

We have voles, rabbits, squirrels, shrews, mice and rats, and they are all hungry. Some of them go for the seeds, some for the seedlings. Then along come to the armadillos, which head for your tubers. And let’s not forget the iguana, they love flowers, and the monkeys who enjoy fruits and flowers. Then there are the deer...

It’s enough to make you tear your hair out.

Before you lose all your hair, try some un-tasty sprays. Cayenne pepper sprays are a good bet and easy to make.

Cayenne pepper spray can start with powdered or liquid pepper but the liquid is a lot easier to use. The recipe is easy: one tablespoon of liquid to one cup of water, or one cup of liquid cayenne per gallon of water. Add six drops of liquid dish soap to the gallon of spray to give it some sticking power and you are ready to go.

Growing your own cayenne or equally deadly peppers? Chop up ½ cup of peppers for every two cups of water. I recommend throwing everything in a blender that you have set aside for garden use, the flavor of cayenne peppers can linger and ruin your next fruit smoothie. Once you have thoroughly blended the mixture, let it sit overnight before straining it into a container (don’t use the container for anything else either).

A third method involves boiling the cayenne peppers to extract the flavor and then grinding them. This can be a bit hard on the sense of smell, not to mention causing sneezing and watering eyes...

Whichever method you choose, be sure to add those few drops of dishwashing soap for staying power.

Ready to spray? Get out your gardening goggles and you might add a mask. Stand upwind of whatever you’re spraying, trust me on that one. You also need to remember the bees.

Bees are your friends. If you are going to spray with cayenne or anything else, be sure to spray when bees aren’t active – early morning or at dusk when they have returned to the hive. You also want to be careful not to spray blooms that attract bees. Spray on foliage only and be sure to spray the tops and undersides of the leaves. That will give you protection against foraging insects as well as nibbling mammals.

Once a week with pepper spray and you should be enjoying a larger harvest.

Plant of the week. Mondo grass, monkey grass (Ophiopogon japonicus), is a favorite for borders in the sun or the shade. This is the variegated variety. Mondo is a slow spreader but once it gets started, the plants can be divided again and again to cover more area. It seems to thrive even if neglected but start it in rich well-drained soil and add some fertilizer occasionally for faster propagation.

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For more information on this article or request about gardening, Ms. Victoria Torley, gardener columnist, can be reached by emailing victoriatorley1@gmail.com