WAR!!!!

If you read this post, you'll remember that something caused a couple of my precious plants to *poof* into thin air and I couldn't figure out what.

(I also need to note: in that post I mention it taking me all afternoon and evening to get the garden planted. I took lots of drink, bathroom and "I need to rest a minute" breaks. It was the cold and all, of course.)

Yesterday I took a trek out to the garden, not really wanting to in case my whole garden had vanished somehow. It hadn't. Everything was still there minus the two original MIA pepper plants.

But, I spied something new! New evidence! Time to call in the CSI (Crime Scene Investigators). I spied MOLE TRACKS. Dirty buggers. I couldn't find where they tracked in to the garden (usually it's easy to find their tracks), but I def. found a couple feet of mole track in the garden... and you betcha, it was tracking right up to the one vanished pepper place. It wasn't a super obvious track, so I poked around a bit with my fingers, being careful to not cave the tunnel in, and lo and behold I found the tunnel.

I high-tailed it down to the shed (as if my speed 2+ days later than the occurrence of the crime was going to make a difference...) and grabbed my big jug of Mole Out. I've never used the stuff before, but I've had it waiting for such a time as this.

I mean, this is serious business!! If they can't leave my plants alone from DAY ONE, it is time to pull out the big guns. Since I couldn't find any more of the track, I just put one "dose" of the crummies in the section of tunnel that I did find. I'm not exactly sure how it's supposed to work either, it says it's "mole repellent". So I don't know if it's poison, some kind of stinky something that they don't like the smell so they stay away or what. But it's anti-mole, so that's at least a start.

On the flip side... it's possible that it could be a vole, too. Voles use mole tunnels to get around. I wonder if Mole Out works for voles?

Anyway, I plan to search around and find a couple more (hopefully) sure-fire ways of keeping these boogers out of my garden and away from MY vegetation. They can eat grubs, I can't won't. I'll eat my green beans and peppers and tomatoes and corn and whatnot instead and leave the fat, juicy, underground crawlies to them. I mean, what critter wouldn't prefer grubs over vegetables, c'mon!

Plan A: acquire some pinwheel thingies and put plenty of them around the garden. I'm guessing hoping that with it being Memorial Day weekend that I'll be able to find some at Walmart or something.

Plan B: (and this is my more long-term, hopefully really works "as seen on TV" thing) Get some of those little green disc thingies that you poke into the ground and they vibrate and the moles and voles don't like the vibration so they stay away. I used to see them all the time as a kid in the Carol Wright type magazines, so I hope I won't have too much trouble hunting some down.

If you have any great remedies, ideas, know what works, anything, I'll be most glad to listen! Last year after my 1st round of green beans came in, the m/voles went down each of my bean rows and ate the roots off almost every plant.

I WILL NOT SURRENDER THIS YEAR!!!!