By George! - A Blog!

By now you will have planted the winter crops you are interested in eating:

If you sowed seeds, you may be wondering why you haven’t seen any seedlings yet.  If you planted small plants, you may be wondering why all of the leaves are gone.  Both disappointments are caused by the same culprits.  We had a very poor monsoon this year and many of the birds and animals are hungry and your newly planted gardens are too tempting to pass up.  In most cases around our city, the damage will have been caused by birds.  You need to evaluate your area to determine what type of critter has eaten or is likely to eat your crops.  Are you going to have trouble with javalina, domestic cats, pack rats, deer, birds, rock squirrels, gophers, ground squirrels, rabbits or humans?  Each varmint requires a different strategy.   

Cats might like to use your garden as a litter box.  The easiest solution to discourage them is to place chicken wire or hardware cloth on any exposed soil.  If you have sown seeds, you need to prop up the mesh so that the plants can grow without becoming distorted.  The cats can’t dig because of the mesh and they will find someplace else to do their business.

Birds are the biggest problem right now.  One option is to make an arch or a teepee out of chicken wire or hardware cloth.  Plastic bird netting can protect your seedlings but it also tends to snare lizards.  The best choice is a floating row cover.  This is a cheesecloth-like fabric that lets air and sunlight and moisture through but keeps out birds and insects.  It has an advantage over other materials in that it generally does not kill any creatures.  In addition, floating row covers provide some protection from frost.  The lightest covers provide about 3°F protection.  The heaviest covers provide about 12°F protection.

Rabbits can damage both your plants and your irrigation.  A low vertical fence of chicken wire or hardware cloth will keep them out.  Chain link fencing is not a rabbit-proof barrier because many rabbits can squeeze through the chain link openings.  Rabbits will sometimes dig under a fence and this is more of a problem once they figure out that it is possible, so it is best to keep them from learning how.  Try lining the bottom edge of the fencing with rocks or boards, burying the bottom edge slightly below the surface or folding the bottom edge out about 6 inches.

The jury is still out on the best methods to exclude ground squirrels and gophers but the proposed method is to bury fencing at least 18 inches deep.  Again, chain link won’t work.  It has to be fencing with smaller openings.  Since it is a bit of work to bury fencing so deep, you may want to use fencing made of heavy gauge wire so that it won’t rust through too quickly.  In extreme cases, it could be necessary to completely line the planting bed with hardware cloth.  Leave some of the fencing above the ground so that you have a place to securely attach more fencing to cover the planting bed.  Since squirrels climb, it is necessary to either completely cover the planting bed with fencing shaped in an arch or you can try a vertical fence, about 24 inches high, with a band 8-12 inches wide around the bottom made of a slick material so the squirrel can’t get a grip.

Excluding varmints from your garden requires vigilance.  Be observant as you approach and work in your garden and you may see which critters are getting to your plants and how they are getting in.  When you know which critter is eating your plants, you can tailor a solution.  Remember, once your plants get big enough, they will be able to sustain a little damage and still provide you with a great harvest.

(Written by Gene)