Lots of varmint stories and solutions around that should probably be in one thread:

Sooo, I watered the corn today - it’s been really dry. I had used a spring-tooth harrow to get the weeds down and loosen the soil for corn, beens, cukes, etc.

I hoed a shallow furrow between two rows and laid the hose in. When I was about to move the water down a bit all of a sudden the about ten feet of one row simply sunk out of sight!

Turns out that moles had followed in the furrows left by the harrow and had undermined a good portion of the patch. Not all were under the rows and I wound up stomping the soil on either side of the rows before watering the rest to good effect. I know about gophers, which are fast, and leery, so I had a little satisfaction when in another area a tunnel collapsed and there was one of the little buggers soaked and gazing around blindly. I {edited for violent content} the little sucker and enjoyed it immensely!

So I understand that moles aren’t vegetarians and like grubs - which is a good thing. I haven’t had any problems in the raised beds, only where I have an old-fashioned row-crop type garden. And I suppose after a while of having weeds off the plot they will go to the wife’s lawn where they belong, I hope, or am I wrong?

RE: Raised beds where there are gophers and moles.

A trick I learned over a decade ago is to place tight woven chicken wire at the bottom of the dug out bed before replacing the soil. This keeps the buggers from coming up into the bed.

I don't know much about the little rodents...my dog takes care of them mostly. But i have heard that the occasional garlic and/or marigold planted among the veggies/corn will cause a smell that the critters dont like & will stay away from that area.

such as owls and hawks to feed on varmits. Moles and western pocket gophers have plagued farmers on in west since the Russian "support farmers" for the fur traders gave up trying to raise potatoes and grain at Fort Ross north of San Francisco.

Read up on & Google organic/sustainable farming and rodent/varmit control, and you might find some good ideas with details on implementation.

Dave

Quite an appropriate topic, Pops, considering I ran three rabbits out of my garden this morning. I watched the little buggers go right through the fencing that I've put up - apparently the mesh isn't fine enough. We'll have to remedy that with some chicken wire before everything starts producing at once or I won't have anything to can .

One thing that I plan to do is get some rubber snakes to put throughout the garden. That does help keep critters away, but only if you move them every day. If the rabbit (or other critter) sees them in one spot for too long they know they're fake. My dad bought a plastic owl to put up near the eaves of his house a few years ago, to deter squirrels. But then he made the mistake of not moving it. Within a couple weeks, the squirrels and birds were sitting all around and on top of the owl. It only works if you move them regularly.

Of course, a 22 rifle works well too - but thats the method of last resort, because I dont want rabbit stew right now lol.

Marigolds do help deter pests, but I think more of the 6-legged variety than the furry kind. I might be wrong. Regardless, I have them planted everywhere, because they do help deter bugs.
Kathy

RE: Marigolds

There's one beast that they don't repell. SLUGS

Many years ago in the Puget Sound I planted 3 dozen marigolds around my garden. I bought them at the local nursery and each plant was already flowering.

In the morning every flower was gone and the plants eaten down to stumps.

It didn't help that we lived up against several acres of dank NW forest. Slugs in there grow to the size of small birds.

DIOTOMACEOUS EARTH! Slugs absolutely cannot abide the stuff. Encircle your garden with a liberal dusting of diatomaceous earth and you have yourself a wall of slug-death .

Or you could trap them and stir fry them in garlic and butter. But that's a different thread.

Another thing that works with slugs is beer. You can place saucers around your garden and they flock to the stuff. It kills them. Then again, if it doesn't work, you could always drink it and not worry about them.
K

Something has taken all my asparagus plants, I had 35 healthy plants growing from seed planted in early May. About a week ago they all vanished overnight without a trace, no half-eaten plants or anything. I intend to try again in the same area (although it maybe too late to plant them this year). Does anyone have any ideas what might have taken the plants and what I can do to prevent a re-occurance? I've never seen any rabbits in my area but there are lots of foxes.

I'll give you a hint. Change your name to Mr. Mice Guy.

For every predator in your area you can figure there are hundreds of prey. They might not all be rabbits but they are definitely herbivores.

How's your fencing around your garden?

never even considered them, is there any way I can discourage them? There are already too many cats in the area and no fence will keep them out.

Lots of information here - especially for sustainable/organic/low energy input gardening and farming.

Using owls to control rodents


Washington State University on attracting birds of prey

Google IPM (integrated pest management), "attracting hawks" "owl boxes" etc., and you'll find a wealth of information about creating a balanced and productive garden and farm without using a lot of poisons, which can kill friendly critters as well as pests.

Chickens and ducks are also excellent for pest control, but you'll have to learn what eats what, and how to balance your efforts to avoid losing crops and "friendly" predators to other pests and predators. Don't think that it cannot be done - organic and sustainable farmers and gardeners around the world succeed at pest control - at least enough to be successful at growing and harvesting crops.

Or you could just go down to the nursery or "home improvement" center and bring home a trunkload of chemicals and poisons.

Dave

A friend of mine, plagued with pocket gophers, dug in salvaged galvanized sheet-metal roofing around his garden-lasts much longer than chicken wire. I hear there is a petroleum based mesh that is available for the same purpose. I patrol my garden daily for gopher piles. A garden hose will flood them out. When they come up gasping for air, I wack 'em. The Shoshone considered them a delicacy.
Fortunately, the gophers have been my only garden pest. I tilled 5000 feet of new area this spring and found only 1 vole. Feral cats, hawks and owls are on the job here. I absentmindedly left an open sack of wheat berries in a shed over the winter and no sign of rodents. Amazing!

oowolf,
That is amazing. I can't keep up with the field mice here. Of course, we did move into the middle of a big hayfield - so I guess I can't complain about the field mice . We keep all our animal feed - and almost anything else we don't want gnawed on - in large plastic totes and trashcans. Otherwise they'd eat everything in our storage and outbuildings.

We're having a problem this year with Rabbits. Last year, I think there were a total of 3 all year in the garden. This year, I run out 3 a day. The dogs go nuts at the window looking out at them; I go crazy listening to the dogs bark, and the poor rabbit just runs away confused . While I don't want them eating everything in sight, I did plant a little extra knowing we'd have to deal with rabbits or deer or both. They'll make for good hunting later, so I'll get back what they take .

Dvanharn,
Thanks for the links - one thing we don't have to try to attract around here is birds of prey. We have hawks flying over daily and I hear owls every night. Hence, the reason my chicken coop is covered with wire. I just wish the hawks and owls would take out more of the above mentioned little buggers.

Kathy