Visiting

18 years ago

When we lived in Maine we learned so much from an 'old timer' who knew the ways of country living. We were way up on a mountain in the woods and dealt with everything from a mountain lion to deer, to moose and racoons. After all these years, it made me nostalgic and amused to find that I still want to share two of his greatest tips to keep animals out of the garden.. a 2-3' high chicken wire fence.. laid flat on the ground will keep most animals out.. they are afraid of getting tangled in the wire.. or rotting onions from local store.. in bulk.. also laid on their side around the gardens. Appears they smell as bad to the animals as to us. Chicken manure on top of newspapers in the corn rows helps deter the racoons if you haven't tried the chicken wire. As for the beetles and borers, etc.. dry bran sifted over the plants is a pretty effective help. It sticks to their slightly damp bodies, dries and... umm..conquers them.

Linda

Comments (4)

aprilwhirlwind
18 years ago
You reminded me of the Great Strawberry Fiasco.
I planted strawberries, lovely tasty things they were. I found one day that some had been nibbled upon, so I went and bought some bird netting to lay over the plants. No good....so, I pounded in stakes and secured the netting so that it was several inches above the plants and well attached at the bottom so whatever it was couldn't scurry or hop in underneath. I still kept finding chomped strawberries! I was getting irate! I resecured the netting, did anything else I could think of deter the pests and protect my crop, but to no avail.
One day I glanced out my kitchen window and saw a squirrel bouncing about in my little strawberry patch. It would take a bite, then bounce to another side, take a bite and bounce to another....
I never good find a way to keep that squirrel out of my berries. DH offered to build a cage over the whole thing, but I felt that was just another pain in the neck.
I have no strawberries now. Nothing has bothered the raspberries so far. XXXX (fingers crossed)
maineman
18 years ago
Kennebunker,

"I never found a good way to keep that squirrel out of my berries. DH offered to build a cage over the whole thing, but I felt that was just another pain in the neck."

The cage could be a very good thing, if it were tall enough to stand up in without stooping or getting your hat knocked off. And it would also keep the birds at bay. Birds also like strawberries, along with chipmunks, ground squirrels, and regular squirrels. I may try building a cage, and make it big enough to grow some corn, too.

For the time being I am using a good air rifle and HavaHart traps. They are working rather well for me, and this year we got to enjoy a good strawberry crop for the first time. We used little windmills to scare the birds off.

I am doing my best to make this property a "rodent-free" zone, although I haven't found a solution for the vole population yet.

MM
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Zonetrap
18 years ago
"I am doing my best to make this property a "rodent-free" zone, although I haven't found a solution for the vole population yet."

I have heard chewed chewing gum placed in their holes will kill them. Not sure if its true or not.
aprilwhirlwind
18 years ago
I heard that too, about the chewing gum.
We had a mole problem crop up a few weeks back. I bought some castor oil based granules and spread them on my lawn, it's supposed to chase gophers and moles, etc. away. I don't think we have any new tunnels, maybe it worked.

I found a link to a discussion about the pesky critters on the garden web.

Here is a link that might be useful: moles/voles