Tuesday, March 15, 2005
You realize, this means war... Gardening in the middle of a woodland offers its pluses and its minuses. Certainly one of the biggest minuses is a 6 inch long, essentially blind critter, the mole. There are six species of mole in North America, but our mole is the common, or Eastern mole, Scalopus aquaticus, sometimes also called the #*% mole. Many of my flower beds contain small woodland perennials requiring loose, well-draining soil, which is like constructing a mole hotel and putting up a welcome sign. Small, delicate treasures will suddenly die, and it is found that a mole has burrowed right underneath the plant, leaving the roots dangling in the tunnel, to dry out, or to be eaten by voles that move in to the mole burrows. Last year I assiduosly trapped the moles when they first started burrowing, and had pretty good control until mid-summer, when a whole new crop moved in. Unfortunately, my garden is now like a piece of Swiss cheese, rife with a network of deep tunnels that are unreachable. Plan B is pictured above; I'm starting to dig an 18" deep trench around all the flower beds and surrounding them with a buried fence barrier. Working at it in bits and pieces, it will take a couple of years to finish (we're talking about an acre of garden, but I'm starting with the most critical areas first). Sometimes I think I'm in a Wiley Coyotey cartoon; stay tuned.
// posted by IBOY @ 10:19 AM 
Comments:
<< Home
You know, sometimes I think I've got a screw loose...I just finished burying an 18" fence around the first flower bed, then started thinking maybe the moles could still find a way in, so I'm redigging my trench and laying down 5" plastic edging around the top of the fencing.
Don
Post a Comment
Don
<< Home
