My garden keeps getting wiped out.

[HollyinNNV]

So....I live next to Bureau of Land Management land so I have wildlife to deal with. I've attached a picture from my backyard. I have my raised garden bordered by rocks I piled up. Then I put chicken wire around the rocks. The bottom of the wire is buried under the dirt. And I attached netting to the top of the chicken wire to "enclose" the garden. You can see the clips I am using to attach it. I circled my plants with blood meal. I sprinkled an animal repellant around. And I used a hot pepper spray directly on the plants.

As you can see, it hasn't worked. I have lost three gardens now.

I really am at my wits end. I have three pepper plants and 1 zucchini left...
My tomatoes are sitting on my kitchen windowsill just waiting.

I think that my problem is squirrel(s). I don't plan to shoot or catch these varmints. As you can see from the picture, there are probably millions out there. So, what else can I do?

Any suggestions are much appreciated.
A Depressed Gardener from NV

[Redbaron]

Could be mice. They can fit through the mesh. I recommend electric mesh fencing.

[Patihum]

I agree with Redbaron that it's more likely mice rather than squirrels. We have lots of squirrels and I've never had a problem with them eating the plants. They wait for the fruits! You could try setting a few mouse traps and see if you can catch one. By the way the rocks provide a perfect place for them to live and hide.

[PhilaGardener]

Yep, sounds like rodents of some, or perhaps multiple, kinds. You also need to keep them from jumping in - a squirrel right now would have no problem getting in there. As suggested, an electric fence might be your answer, but I don't know how well they work if your ground is really dry.

[Starlight]

You might put some light weight netting , like cheesecloth or tulle orver the top and down the sides. That will tell you whether it is animals reaching over the top or jumping in and munching or rodent type critters having lunch on you.

[ddsack]

To see if it is mice, try setting a few mouse traps baited with peanut butter within the enclosure, maybe one at each corner and one near the middle. If it is, keep putting the traps out until you don't catch anymore. A new mouse family may move in eventually, but if the seedlings can gain some time to get taller and thicker, they can outgrow their desirability to mice. Since you garden in a desert type area, maybe also try growing some cheap fast to grow grass or clover seed in a small patch well outside the garden as a throwaway crop in case they are coming in for the moisture of the seedlings. You could even do this in low sided disposable foil cake pans. If they filled up on newly sprouted grass blades, maybe they would leave your garden stuff alone? Have no idea if it will work.

[Worth1]

Your garden setup reminds me of the small gardens

(manavai)

they had on Easter Island.
The people also brought rats with them which ate all of the bird eggs and palm seeds.
Between war, rats and the constant cutting of the trees the place is a barren waste land now compared to what it used to be.
They stacked the stones around small garden plots to help protect the plants from the constant wind and to help hold heat for the nights.

Worth

[JLJ_]

Originally Posted by HollyinNNV

So....I live next to Bureau of Land Management land so I have wildlife to deal with. I've attached a picture from my backyard. I have my raised garden bordered by rocks I piled up. Then I put chicken wire around the rocks. The bottom of the wire is buried under the dirt. And I attached netting to the top of the chicken wire to "enclose" the garden. You can see the clips I am using to attach it. I circled my plants with blood meal. I sprinkled an animal repellant around. And I used a hot pepper spray directly on the plants.

As you can see, it hasn't worked. I have lost three gardens now.

I really am at my wits end. I have three pepper plants and 1 zucchini left...
My tomatoes are sitting on my kitchen windowsill just waiting.

I think that my problem is squirrel(s). I don't plan to shoot or catch these varmints. As you can see from the picture, there are probably millions out there. So, what else can I do?

Any suggestions are much appreciated.
A Depressed Gardener from NV

The semi-good news, I'd think, is that if the pictures you included are current, you may have more survivors among your garden plants than you think.

If it was my garden, the first thing I'd do is put something around each munched plant. I'd probably use 3 liter clear plastic water bottles with the bottoms cut out and the caps removed -- placed around the plant and pushed into the ground until they're somewhat firm, each topped with a gallon milk jug with the bottom cut out and cap removed, just sitting on top of the 3 liter bottles to provide partial shade and a little additional protection, while the plants try to recover.

Alternatively, if you have something like half inch hardware cloth, a cylinder of that around each plant would probably protect them.

Then you have to figure out what is raiding your garden. These days, if I had no idea, I might consider mounting a camera to see if I could definitely identify the invaders, before trying to fix the fence. But some thoughts, which may or may not be useful, about dealing with your varmint access problem . . .

If I understood correctly, you had put a netting "top" over your garden. If so, that should exclude most birds as uninvited munchers, and probably squirrels, also, if the top was remaining in place. If you have been finding the top removed, or battered down, the type of disturbance might give you a clue -- minor disturbances in the top would suggest some sort of squirrel/rodent, major disturbance and I'd suspect deer type visitors.

An electric fence type barrier may well be your best bet, if that is possible for you. If you sink a metal fencepost deep into the ground and run a wire attached to that near your charged wire(s), so that an animal trying to get in would touch both the grounded and the charged wire, it might well work, even in a dry area. But if you aren't accustomed to using electric fence, get someone to help you set it up so that you can ensure that it doesn't unexpectedly shock you when you're working on the garden. An electric fence charger isn't normally dangerous to humans health wise - but unexpected encounters with charged fence can certainly gain your attention.

As to areas that might need attention, for things like squirrels, including some ground squirrel type critters, mice, and some other rodents, that wooden retaining wall that backs your garden would be a comfortable roadway. I'd inspect the base *very* carefully for signs of digging, and tamp the earth along its base down firmly, so signs of digging would show up, and then think what I could do to interfere with its use as an access route. It might be possible to attach fencing to it, reaching up at least a couple of feet above the top. Chicken wire would work if your problem is squirrels, but if, as seems likely, it's a mouse-family muncher, a fence would need to be something more like hardware cloth.

Also, those rocks seem to be inside the fence, so not probably a route for initial access -- but once inside, mouse and vole type critters would happily build homes among them and sit there inside the fence, chuckling while you work on strengthening your fence.

All this sounds more complicated than it may need to be -- the essence is protect the plants you have right quick, then figure out what is coming in and make that access more difficult. There are lots of ways to do that besides the above -- and probably none that will work perfectly -- but perhaps some of these thoughts will help.

I've spent a lot of hours/days/weeks of my life working to enclose or exclude critters -- and often after much work it turns out that there was just a small spot providing unauthorized entrance or exit. But finding it can be a challenge.

Good luck!

[HollyinNNV]

RedBaron,
You are the first of several to suggest mice in this thread. They would fit through all of my chicken wire pretty easily. Darn!

I'm looking at electrified fencing, but it is a little intimidating.
Holly

[HollyinNNV]

Originally Posted by Patihum

I agree with Redbaron that it's more likely mice rather than squirrels. We have lots of squirrels and I've never had a problem with them eating the plants. They wait for the fruits! You could try setting a few mouse traps and see if you can catch one. By the way the rocks provide a perfect place for them to live and hide.

Oh boy. So I created a nice warm house for the mice. I don't have any building skills, so I thought the rocks would be something I could actually do myself-plus cheaper than wood. How ironic.
Holly

[HollyinNNV]

Originally Posted by PhilaGardener

Yep, sounds like rodents of some, or perhaps multiple, kinds. You also need to keep them from jumping in - a squirrel right now would have no problem getting in there. As suggested, an electric fence might be your answer, but I don't know how well they work if your ground is really dry.

It's really hard to see, but there is a mesh covering the entire thing. That's what the binder clips are holding. But, I think a tiny mouse could even make it through the mesh.

I wonder if the electric fence would be ok inside the chicken wire where the garden soil is moist?
Holly

[HollyinNNV]

Originally Posted by Starlight

You might put some light weight netting , like cheesecloth or tulle orver the top and down the sides. That will tell you whether it is animals reaching over the top or jumping in and munching or rodent type critters having lunch on you.

It is almost invisible in the picture but there is a mesh there. One morning I found a tiny rock on top in the middle of the mesh so I know something was on top of it so I was guessing a squirrel. I can't imagine a mouse was carrying a rock. But, I don't know for a fact that the squirrel actually made it in the garden.

[HollyinNNV]

Originally Posted by ddsack

To see if it is mice, try setting a few mouse traps baited with peanut butter within the enclosure, maybe one at each corner and one near the middle. If it is, keep putting the traps out until you don't catch anymore. A new mouse family may move in eventually, but if the seedlings can gain some time to get taller and thicker, they can outgrow their desirability to mice. Since you garden in a desert type area, maybe also try growing some cheap fast to grow grass or clover seed in a small patch well outside the garden as a throwaway crop in case they are coming in for the moisture of the seedlings. You could even do this in low sided disposable foil cake pans. If they filled up on newly sprouted grass blades, maybe they would leave your garden stuff alone? Have no idea if it will work.

I am absolutely going to get mouse traps! I am encouraged that mice eventually aren't interested in bigger plants.

I am still unsure about providing an alternate food source. I have read about providing sunflower seeds or bird feed but I'm afraid I'd just attract more vermin to my house than I already have. KWIM?

[HollyinNNV]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Your garden setup reminds me of the small gardens

(manavai)

they had on Easter Island.
The people also brought rats with them which ate all of the bird eggs and palm seeds.
Between war, rats and the constant cutting of the trees the place is a barren waste land now compared to what it used to be.
They stacked the stones around small garden plots to help protect the plants from the constant wind and to help hold heat for the nights.

Worth

Worth,
That is very interesting. I googled "Easter Island Manavai" and found pictures of the gardens you mention. Apparently they still garden that way. They grow the yaro (or was it taro, I can't remember) plant. The stones look like volcanic stones to me-very dark rock.
Thanks for the fascinating fact!
Holly

[Worth1]

The people of Easter island never had a chance for many reasons.
No volcanic activity to replenish the soil.
Rats they brought with them killing off many of the birds by eating the eggs.
They cut the trees down to move the huge statues.
No shallow lagoons to fish from.
Constant waring and fighting amongst themselves over resources and other crazy stuff.
When the trees were all cut down erosion took place.

There is a book called Collapse that discusses Easter Island The Maya, another Polynesian group Japan Montana and Rwanda Greenland, Australia, Pitcairn Island and so on.
You might like it if you like to read.
You might learn how to have a great garden where you live and not make the same mistakes.
The book has helped me stop making the mistakes I made by conservation.
Worth
It is about how societies choose to fail or succeed and how it happens.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...92885102,d.b2w