VOA健康报道2024--Protecting Bulbs from Animals and Cold Weather

 

It would not be autumn without planting advice from Associated Press gardening expert Jessica Damiano.

Damiano recently wrote about her experience planting garlic cloves². She was concerned not just about protecting them from low winter temperatures. She was worried that animals would dig up her bulbs and eat them.

Tulips, daffodils and garlic, for example, produce bulbs that bloom in the spring in places that have four seasons and cold winters.

To keep away animals, Damiano put netting over the soil and covered it with straw to a thickness of 10 centimeters.

She said this is good to do with any bulbs, especially ones like garlic, tulips and crocuses. That is because animals like to eat the bulbs of these plants.

Protecting bulbs

Netting or a kind of fencing called chicken wire can serve as a physical barrier that prevents animals from digging up plants. Such barriers do not block sunlight and water from reaching the soil. Damiano said they can be secured to the ground with pieces of wood or rocks. They can be removed in the spring.

Straw is a good mulch material that helps keep the temperature of the soil from changing too much. That can help avoid damage to plants caused by freezing and thawing⁴ conditions. It also keeps the soil from drying out. Protecting soil is important during the winter when cold dry weather can damage even the strongest plants.

Straw, hay, what is the difference?

Damiano said it is important to use straw, not hay, in your garden. Hay is animal feed. It contains tall grass, alfalfa, clover and other seeds that will cause problems in your garden.

She said straw is leftover⁵ material from crop harvesting. It is better because it has fewer seeds.

Damiano also said straw is less likely to contain chemicals used for insect control on crops. Straw is also good for other purposes around your house, the gardening expert noted⁶.

Fertilizers and repellants

Damiano does not like to use some popular fertilizers such as bone meal, blood meal or fish fertilizers. She said hungry animals might find such fertilizers appealing.

She also advises not to leave parts of bulbs on the ground in your garden because they might be a sign to animals that there is food nearby.

There are many products meant to keep away animals that eat bulbs, which include squirrels⁷, rabbits, chipmunks⁸ and others. Damiano does not use repellants because they must be must be replaced often. She said she does not like doing garden work when it is cold outside.

Some repellants can be used to treat bulbs before planting. But, she said, they wear off over time. Damiano considered a physical barrier like netting or chicken wire to be the best defense⁹.

But, she added, the repellants and other methods can be effective so long as you are diligent¹⁰.

Words in This Story

clove¹ -n. a segment¹¹, or part, of a plant bulb

bulb -n. the underground part of certain plants that produces leaves and flowers

bloom -v. to produce a fully¹² developed flower

thaw³ -v. to melt from a frozen¹³ state

repellant -n. a substance that keep an animal such as an insect or a larger animal away because of some chemical property

diligent -adj. showing care, hard work and continuous effort

1 clove   

n.丁香味

参考例句：

• If tired,smell a whiff of clove oil and it will wake you up.如果疲倦，闻上一点丁香油将令人清醒。
• A sweet-smell comes from roses and clove trees.丁香与玫瑰的香味扑鼻而来。

2 cloves   

n.丁香（热带树木的干花，形似小钉子，用作调味品，尤用作甜食的香料）( clove的名词复数 )；蒜瓣(a garlic ~|a ~of garlic)

参考例句：

• My country is rich in cinnamon, cloves, ginger, pepper, and precious stones. 我国盛产肉桂、丁香、生姜、胡椒和宝石。 来自辞典例句
• Ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper and cloves are common spices. 姜、肉豆蔻、肉桂、胡椒、丁香都是常用的香料。 来自辞典例句

3 thaw   

v.（使）融化，（使）变得友善；n.融化，缓和

参考例句：

• The snow is beginning to thaw.雪已开始融化。
• The spring thaw caused heavy flooding.春天解冻引起了洪水泛滥。

4 thawing   

n.熔化，融化v.（气候）解冻( thaw的现在分词 )；（态度、感情等）缓和；（冰、雪及冷冻食物）溶化；软化

参考例句：

• The ice is thawing. 冰在融化。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• It had been snowing and thawing and the streets were sloppy. 天一直在下雪，雪又一直在融化，街上泥泞不堪。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

5 leftover   

n.剩货，残留物，剩饭；adj.残余的

参考例句：

• These narrow roads are a leftover from the days of horse-drawn carriages.这些小道是从马车时代沿用下来的。
• Wonder if that bakery lets us take leftover home.不知道那家糕饼店会不会让我们把卖剩的带回家。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 squirrels   

n.松鼠( squirrel的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Squirrels are arboreal creatures. 松鼠是栖于树上的动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Red squirrels are now very rare in Britain. 红色松鼠在英国已十分罕见了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 chipmunks   

n.金花鼠( chipmunk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

9 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

10 diligent   

adj.勤勉的，勤奋的

参考例句：

• He is the more diligent of the two boys.他是这两个男孩中较用功的一个。
• She is diligent and keeps herself busy all the time.她真勤快，一会儿也不闲着。

11 segment   

n.切片，部分，段，节

参考例句：

• The company dominates this segment of the market.这家公司控制着这一部分市场。
• Give me a segment of a tangerine to taste.给我一瓣柑橘尝一尝。

12 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

13 frozen   

adj.冻结的，冰冻的

参考例句：

• He was frozen to death on a snowing night.在一个风雪的晚上，他被冻死了。
• The weather is cold and the ground is frozen.天寒地冻。