Three weeks ago we finished the beds and planted the seeds. A week after that everything started sprouting and was looking fantastic. But this week we had a terrible setback. We noticed on Wednesday afternoon that the leaves of the beautiful little Chard sprout were gone! That day we came home from work to find that the chicory and brocolli were gone too. So we made some little cloches out of plastic water bottles and spread diatomaceous earth over everything--thinking that might deter whatever pest we were dealing with. That day we came home to find that the cloches that were firmly in the ground were untouched, but the cauliflower's bottle had been knocked over and the little cauliflower sprout was...of course eaten. Over the weekend, while we were exploring the desert, this same pest knocked over the onion bottles and ate the remaining two onion sprouts. So we plan to fortify the plastic bottle cloches with stakes. We've replanted all the seeds.
Whatever this is seems to have no interest in the radishes, carrots, beets or peas and the brussells sprouts, arugula and spinach are doing well in their little bottles...so at least we've got something going. But the whole experience has been rather disheartening. Nevertheless, we and our vegetables shall prevail!
