Rodents Are Ruining My Garden

Field mice, meadow voles, gophers or whatever you want to call them, I’ve got them in spades.

They may be the number one pest in my garden, and I can’t seem to get them under control.

These critters love eating onions and underground tubers like potatoes and carrots. They often eat the root and leave the greens sticking out of the ground. You don’t know anything is wrong until you pull a carrot and get nothing but green tops.

I’ve tried flooding them out, blasting their tunnels with firecrackers, stalking and shooting them, siccing my dog on them (she’s too lazy), and various organic deterrents. Cayenne pepper works somewhat. I spread out the mounds and sprinkle a bunch of pepper on the loose soil. That keeps them away for a while, but they just move to some other area.

I’ve heard that products with castor oil will keep some species of rodents away. I’ve also heard that growing castor bean plants can keep them away. Castor plants are quite beautiful as well, but the seeds contain the deadly toxin ricin. The lethal dose for humans is considered four to eight seeds. For that reason, I’m not too interested in growing castor beans.

These rodents really ticked me off this week.

A few months ago I started a new garden plot. As an experiment, I’m going to plant this plot in traditional rows instead of my prefered block method. To get the weeds and grass out, I tilled the soil every few weeks and gave it a good watering each time. I tilled it for the third or fourth time this past Sunday and deemed it ready to plant.

The plot is about 60 feet long and 20 feet wide. I spread out about 30 lbs. of Medina Growin’ Green fertilizer and raked it in. Then I marked four rows spaced three feet apart.

I planted one row of Asian green - “Purple Lady” bok choi, mibuna (a delicate, spear-shaped mustard green from Japan), Japanese giant red mustard and Chinese cabbage. I planted the second row with Japanese green onions and mixed carrots. The third row was is planted with an heirloom Dutch cabbage variety called “Glory of Enkhuizen.” The last row was mixed beets (Bull’s Blood, Chioggia and Golden). I’ve been keeping it watered every day while I wait for

I’ve been keeping it watered every day while I wait for the seeds to sprout. By Tuesday, a giant fresh mound appeared in the middle of the plot. These critters never bothered the plot for the past couple

These critters never bothered the plot for the past couple of months. But two days after I plant they decide to shop up. Wednesday there was another mound.

Does anyone have a solution that doesn’t involve poisons? I’d love to hear from you. Send me an email at andy@fayettecountyrecord.com.