I have something that is eating my seedlings at their base and I am not sure what it is. I am thinking it is a compound rodent and cutworm problem, but please read my evidence log of clues and help this newbie decide what to do.

First garden-attempt ever this late spring/early summer in zone 9b:

I sowed a variety of seedlings in small peat pots and planted them out into a not very-well amended gravely-clayey soil garden area. Tomatoes grew terrifically, still growing in fact. Lettuce grew well. Corn made it to the end, but aphids attacked in last weeks. Pole beans had aphid problems on and off, but produced well overall. The clay would not let more than three radished grow, which I served proudly to my husband in a nice salad. Peas suffered from the heat (but could be clue #1), cilantro bolted, and cucumbers got leafy mildew problems (but could also be clue #2 because the plants never grew much either.)

What was my "understood" clue at the time was my missing watermelon plants. I had just given away the remaining seedlings that had sprouted to each of my neighbors, two plants apiece, and the very next morning I went out to my garden to find the three hardiest seedlings I had kept to myself and planted, and which were about 2 - 3 1/2 feet long already, were stolen from my garden in the dark of night. I cried. (I am a newbie, and had babied all my seedlings from germination to the garden.) I did bounced back, however, and got out the small peat pots again and began anew.

Then I did some reading on possible culprits. I even read one article where someone claimed a racoon literally carried away a large 8-10 lb watermelon, carrying it in his front paws and walking away on his two back feet, in the twilight hours as he watched amazed. I started forming the idea at this time that it could be a rat because there is a burned out house two doors down from ours that the owner, despite neighborhood complaints, has not attended to and it was said a rat was seen running across the street from this location (real clue #2). Reading online again, I was terrified learning the rate at which these ghastly beedy-eyed night-crawlers spawn their next generation, and at how quickly the next generation is ready and eager to copulate.

So I bought Mint plants. Ha! After all, if it's in black and white, it must be true....or a police car. Needless to say, the second round of watermelon seedlings did not make it either. And the nearby pumpkin plants were not growing too well now and had some gnawed off pieces (clue #3)...and the cukes were not really growing either, but no signs of feeding upon them was apparent.

I started round three with watermelons; zone 9b gets hot and cold watermelon just seemed so appealing to me. I covered the seedling this time with chicken wire to keep mice or rats out of reach.

Maybe it was birds feeding in the early hours? So I got a bobble-headed owl to sit on my garden fence. (This tactic only seemed to upset my young but protective German Shepherd; she barked non-stop at the unusually stiff and calm owl with the broken neck and big eyes while the birds continued to peck at the ground, protected from the scary barking dog by the fence line. I got a great video I plan to put on YouTube at some point!) The seedlings never disappeared, but neither did they grow (clue #4). All summer they stayed dwarfy-little caricatures of the hardy plants that had been ripped away so callously a month and half back, root and all. (I planted them in the same spot each time, but with amended soil conditions each time as I learned more about gardening. I mention this because being planted in the same spot may also be a clue for the well-informed. But never did I see any tunnels or any mounds inside the garden area. The planting area was approximately 1 - 1 1/2 feet away from a long, low-growing hedge that I cleaned up and under, cutting away about a three inch distance from lowest branches to ground, to minimize any protective cover for a rodent.)

At this time I also received three surprise clematis plants in the mail. They were a bit odd, coming in a frozen-like state, but I planted them along that same fence line hoping to eventually cover the shrubbery with something more aesthetically appealing. (Those three plants have not grown either, although a ton of work was done on the soil I planted them in.)

My Cukes, the pumpkin plants and every installation of watermelon seedlings failed. Ok, I got two edible cucumbers from three plants that survived long enough to produce two small but tastey fruits. The peas I ended up unearthing early on because I thought they had some type of powdery mildew that could infect other plants. It was while uprooting the pea plants, when I found my first Cut Worm (clue #5). I have looked diligently for them ever since and have only found two others all summer into this fall season.

Then in what I euphamistically call the "music room," a still incomplete addition to the house but still closed off from the house bedroom, I noticed that one of my drum sticks was gnawed on (clue # 6). This really freaked me out. Rats! And I am still terrified from the movie Willard when I was 9! Out came the traps. All we ever caught were a few small mice.

It was almost the end of summer by now, and I was preparing two areas in front of my house for flower beds. It was back breaking work with the clay soil. I dug and I dug, and I even put in a version of a french drain in each area. But at the foundation line of the house near a vent that goes under the raised foundation, I hit upon a HUGE sinkhole-type hole (clue #7). It scared me. Going back to the internet, I found conflicting stories surrounding the direness of the finding, everywhere from people dying from falling in in some manner to rodents don't create any foundation issues. I imagine the truth is somewhere in the middle. I filled it up the best I could and continued with the amendments, and continuing to find some tunnels.

Around the end of the summer season, as I was cutting down the sunflowers, I finally saw my first and only dirt mound, located at the base of one of the Mammoth Sunlfower stalks (clue #8). I wish I had scrutinized it more closely, as I recently learned that the shape and size can indicate what rodent I am dealing with. There was only one mound at the base of a long-rooted and solidly-rooted plant; can't recall the shape specifically, however it was covered up on top at the entrance and rather circular. I would guess the overall diameter of the entire mound to be about 6 - 8 inches??)

In addition, my sunflowers had something eating huge holes in their leaves almost all summer long. (clue # 9...I did find small white poops on the leaves a few times. I sprayed and powdered with Diatomaceous Earth several times.) Despite some missing anatomy, they still looked rather beautiful. Twelve huge flower heads are still drying out upside down in my garage at the time of this writing.

Now well into the fall here in northern California, another huge sinkhole has appeared at the side of our newly layed concrete driveway. I finally called an exterminator. He said the hole has cob webs and that he doesn't think it was caused by an animal. But my soil in not alkaline, or gypsum sodden (something I actually imported to break down my nasty red clay but was practically useless as I learned later that gypsum breaks down the sodium in the soil, not the clay itself) or created from limestone...all of which are the big sinkhole culprits. And surging rushing water is not the cause as northern California has seen little rain and the entire state has been in a severe drought for several years.

And now just after planting out my winter seedlings, I found that all my brussel sprouts were sawed off at the soil line in the same manner as my watermelon plants. And the tomatoe plants, prolific as they have been, are now having their leaves munched on too. OH! I neglected to mention all the popsicle sticks I used to label my planting areas are all missing too. Very odd happenings out there in the dark.

Sinkholes, missing plants, and dwarfed seedlings that won't produce.
What should I be doing? I'm too new to know the significance of all my findings. The two sinkholes make me nervous for the structural integrity of the house. But my husband says we will fill them with a sandy-slurry and all will be well. I have only found one mound of dirt a while back but have never seen a mole, a vole, a ground squirrel or rat anywhere on my property. The three cutworms I found playing dead in their protective circle formation at the base of two cucumber plants snuck out of the plastic baggie I stored them in so I could not show my husband, who I believe is beginning to worry about my garden obsession and late night forays onto the internet, and I have not found any more since then. I don't know what left very small white excrement on my ravaged sunflower leaves. (Nothing like spending an evening scouring the internet for pictures of insects and their feces to give you a sound night sleep!)

Heretofore it has been upsetting; but I planted those Brussel Sprouts specifically for my husband. They are his favorite vegetable. Please advise me of what to do now. I'lll be so upset if another season goes "to the birds" or "to the rats" or to whatever lurking monster lies in wait for the sun to go down in my humble little garden.