[Nu_Mommy_2003]

I finally get to plant a garden with the kids and every morning it is destroyed. Our kid statues are knocked over, the basil has been pulled up, bulbs and and holes are everywhere and the sod around the garden has been rolled up. Every morning we clean up and the next morning it is the same thing. What kind of animal does this? DH said raccons are probably rolling up sod, but he does not think it would be playing in my garden. HELP! I never imagined natural gardens was this diffcult. Any suggestion on what how to stop this

 

[WannabeaFarmer]

All I can think of is rabbits and squirrels. Squirrels especially cause thats what was diggin up my garden. They actually dont eat right there in the garden, they dig it up, find what they want, then take it away and tell their other squirrel friends

and then you have a gosh awful mess....Thats what happened to my garden.
I did moth crystals, and hair clippings around the outside edge and so far so good. Now I just gotta get the bugs to stop eating my basil....LOL....best of luck.

 

[FarmerCathy]

That's awful. So sorry about that.

Can you set up a motion detector light? If you can that might help, but what pp said maybe you and the kids need a hair trimming party.

 

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

You could try a sprinkler with a motion detector.

 

[Erinz]

JEez I'm suddenly not that mad at our gophers anymore!

I just wanted to say that if you have a possibility of racoons getting into your garden I would be EXTRA SUPER DUPER carefull watchfull with your younger children. Racoon feces has all kinds of really bad stuff in it, and if your kids were to ingest any of it (my son eats dirt all the time, that's my point of reference here

) it could cause them major brain damage. We had a local case of it here and it's just such an awful story

Squirels could be the culprites too. Is there any way you could rake the dirt the evening before and then see what type of foot prints are there in the morning? Or make it a fun night with your older kids to get up with flashlights and see what the heck is going on out there in the middle of the night? Just be carefull of the racoons, they can be very agressive!

 

[ShannonCC]

It's squirrels for us. They dig holes in the garden a lot.

When the plants were tiny my dh built a chicken wire enclosure to go over them. It was like a 5 sided box of chicken wire. The bottom square was framed in wood but the rest stood up on it's own. He tied it together with these plastic ties you can buy at the home improvement store. It was 4' on each side and about 4' tall. Now the plants are big enough we had to take it off but they are also big and strong enough that (fingers crossed) I'm not worried about them being killed.

The sod being rolled up and statues knocked over though . . . are you sure it's not people? Neighbors kids or something?

 

[gottaknit]

The digger in my garden is a skunk. He doesn't seem too interested in the actual plants, but he likes to dig for grubs and insects, and it creates quite a mess. He's so freakin' cute though, it's hard to get too mad. Skunks are totally oblivious, too. He'll wander right by me in broad day light. At first it made me really nervous (no sudden movements!), but this skunk is like a senile old man or something...

Anyway, I second the motion detector/sprinkler/lights option. How's your fencing? Do you think something is crawling under or climbing over?

 

[FarmerCathy]

gottaknit - Aw. That's like having your own little skunk pet in your yard. I love skunks because they are so cute and curious and don't really want to bother anyone.