Okey dokey.
I am planting Edamame for the first time this year. Planted the first row in April in the hopes of planting another row two weeks later, just like the package said. That technique will spread the harvest for a longer time. Made sense.
Seven to ten days later, I have one plant growing. Me thinks the seeds might be bad or perhaps I did not water enough initially. That plant is now about 9" tall and very lonely in that empty row!
Planted two rows about 10 days ago because I just want a harvest. Good germination. Went back yesterday, only two seedlings remain. The rest of the seedlings have been snipped by some silent critter. Most likely a bird.
The joys of vegetable gardening, indeed.
Good thing I know that there is a way to work with these "pests" and good thing I have a Floating Row Cover to put over the top of my seed plantings. Too bad I did not know this was going to be an issue until it happened! On to Round 3.
In addition, if you have a vegetable garden and have something from the cabbage family (cabbage, broccoli, kale, bok choi), you might start noticing some beautiful, flitty little white moths traveling around your garden space. This lovely critter is the Cabbage Moth. And, while I think they are just beautiful, they are the ones who both chew your leaves and lay eggs so the new caterpillars can feast on your leaves also!
Do you think that this is the natural path in the growth of cabbage-like plants? Well, it might be okay if your plant does not get so stressed that it cannot continue to grow and produce the fruit you desire!
Again, the Floating Row Cover can do the job for you! You just need to cover up the plants BEFORE they start getting , against my better judgement, after the signs of pests were present, and got mixed results! One of my dwarf cabbages nearly bit the dust while the larger plants did fine.
Time to keep vigilant with your veggies and overplant when you can. And, as some gardeners in my plot attest, some of their plants are there to feed the other wildlife around! One year I lost nearly 25% of my tomatoes to either squirrels, chipmunks or woodland voles (teeth marks were visible!). But, by planting 22 plants, I still had a pretty good harvest!
Enjoy the wet weather ~ good for plant growth with no effort by the gardeners.
Seems like you have some good ideas noted below. I have only planted corn one time and, at that time, I did plant the seeds indoors and transplanted to the garden. I had similar issues though because the crows pulled up the seedlings to snatch up the seeds! Very frustrating but I did overplant so I still had a crop when harvest time came around. It is a constant battle. I admire you for attempting to try new vegetables! This one may be too much trouble for this year...but, as you know, there are always places which sell seeds to you to keep on trying!!
Birds generally have very little sense of smell, but excellent vision. They, and squirrels, are quite adept at digging where others have disturbed the soil before. So, after planting, rake the whole area or cover with mulch, and water down for an 'old, settled' look. If your seeds are specifically dug up from under uniform cover, I would suspect someone with a good nose, likely a rodent. Happy gardening -- Peter Paul