Garden Raiders

Our forested property is brimming with wildlife, both welcome and unwelcome. I love the birds and squirrels, but wish the destructive deer, rabbits, and raccoons would go away. I've been pretty successful in deterring deer and rabbits by spraying the plants with a rotten egg, soap and red pepper solution. The deer are staying away, but the raccoons are having a field day. I hate to admit it, but I may have inadvertently attracted them to the garden. The smell of putrid eggs may be abominable to deer, but raccoons seem to find it irresistible.

Raccoons Take Over
The masked marauders began by raiding the pond, reducing our fish population considerably and upsetting every water lily in sight. We repaired the damage as best we could and draped bird netting over the pond to thwart future raids. It worked! With the pond off limits, the raccoons moved on to unprotected garden areas, systematically digging and scattering over 300 newly planted summer flowering bulbs. I salvaged what I could and replanted, which was easy because the holes were already dug -- the 'coons for small favors. The rescued bulbs sprouted and bloomed, but the original pattern of great drifts of single colors was lost.

To keep the little beasts at bay I sprinkled generous amounts of black pepper around our vegetable plants. They apparently disliked the taste and odor, and left the veggies alone, although they did return occasionally to peel large patches of moss from between our stepping stones -- I suppose just to let us know they were still in the neighborhood.

Protecting the Grapes
As the days grow shorter and the nights turn cooler I'm as busy as ever in the garden, harvesting the last of the summer vegetables and carefully guarding the grapes against nighttime raids. To protect our ripening crop from hungry raccoons, we've placed bags over individual fruit clusters. We used sturdy lunch-sized brown paper bags, and tied them securely to the grape canes. Bagging will work because grapes do not require direct sunlight on the fruits in order to ripen and develop good color. It's the amount of light that reaches the plant's leaves that governs the quality of the fruit. Bagging also helps protect the fruits from inclement weather -- excessive rains close to harvest time can cause the grapes' skins to split. Of course, bagging is not very practical for very large plantings.

Moles Invade
The first sign of these little critters was a mound of soil piled on the lawn. A few days later there were four more mounds in a far corner of the yard. By the time I got out to investigate and really started looking around, I discovered two more heaps of freshly pulverized soil next to an uprooted perennial. Somehow our yard has become a playground for a family of moles and things seem to be getting out of hand very quickly!

Here in the Pacific Northwest we are host to North America's largest mole, Scapanus townsendi, known locally as Townsend's mole. Trust me, I'm not impressed with their size -- they can grow as long as 9 inches, plus a 2-inch tail -- nor am I impressed with their great capacity to produce offspring.

Claims to Fame
Moles are insectivores and dine mostly on grubs and earthworms, but that's not to say they won't gnaw through any roots or bulbs that happen to be in their way. They're reportedly some of the animal world's most talented engineers, easily repairing collapsed roofs and outwitting gardeners by digging detours around traps. During the rainy season a single mole can create as many as 500 mounds that are 1 foot across and spaced every 3 feet. And a mole on a mission, especially a male looking for a mate, can bulldoze soft dirt at the rate of 50 yards an hour. Now that's impressive!

After doing some research I began to weigh the pros and cons of moles in general. They tunnel underground which helps aerate the soil, they feed on grubs which certainly helps keep the bad-guy insect population down, and they leave convenient mounds of wonderfully rock-free pulverized soil for me to scoop up and scatter in my raised beds. On second thought, maybe they're not such a problem after all!

Photo by Patt Kasa/National Gardening Association

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