garden news-varmints in the garden

GARDEN NEWS-VARMINTS IN THE GARDEN

when i use to garden at the country n in texas i had a different set of pests and varmints to contend with compared to gardening here in santa barbara

in the country n i had a 900 sq ft garden surrounded by a 6 ft fence 
it was inside a 1 acre area that had a 7 ft fence around it
inside that area were two large dogs
so
varmints like deer and rabbits and raccoons and skunks and possums and squirrels were kept from getting into the garden
i never really had a problem with varmints in my garden
well
except for my wife she when she would pick my green tomatoes

the ban of our existence gardening at our community garden here is two varmints
the gopher
the vole

the gopher is mainly kept out of the garden since we have fence wire buried deep around a 5 ft fence around the perimeter
they however sometimes sneak in anyway 
usually they can be eventually caught in our traps


wikepedia.com
the worse is the vole shown in the picture above
i say it looks like a beaver head stuck on a rat body

it digs tunnels around your garden deeper than a mole so you really cant see they are there like a mole tunnel except for when they open up holes in the ground

they will eat the roots but also will come up to the surface and eat the plants to the ground
eg they ate all my green beans plant beans and all to a small nub 
interestingly they never ate my billie beans or peruvan beans i planted
they will eat your lettuce swiss chard basil kale broccoli cabbage peppers tomatoes etc

i try to keep them at bay by filling their holes with cayenne pepper and scattering the cayenne around the perimeter of the garden where they seem to cross into my garden

i use an old fashion rat trap like you get at the hardware store
i put a piece of tomato on it
i gradually keep down their numbers that way
but
i think they multiply like rabbits

if i control them in my plot then they just go somewhere else since we have 20 other plots they can chose from

we do have an owl box at the edge of our garden hoping an owl will take up residency soon
we have hawks that live around here but the crows that live nearby keep the hawks run off

maybe we need a big ole tomcat to take up residency in the garden

any suggestions on their control will be appreciated

mr hudson update
his labs are all normal now
his new kidney is working great
he is back at home and is he happy

he is growing and his development is kicking in
he has a melt your heart smile

ms b update
she begins kindergarten today online
she was going to have to do online anyway for 6 months at the request of the kidney transplant doctors
now she gets to do it with all of he classmates together
her kindergarten teacher is the teache that i did volunteer gardening with for the last 3 years
i guess ill have to do the garden stuff with her at her house this year
she is excited today

the organicgreen doctor