Critter Capers in My Garden

All three of these critters frequent my neighborhood and occasionally, my backyard garden. Though our yard is fenced, they all can climb. The problem worsened when our dog, Lucy departed this world after thirteen years of protecting her territory.

A few weeks ago I suspected one of the three critters above had feasted on my carrots and beets. The days were rainy and I wasn’t in the garden for the usual daily inspection. When the weather improved I noticed yellowed carrot and beet tops. A closer look revealed they were detached and laying on the soil with bits of the vegetables scattered about.

After the cleanup, a large gap was evident in the swath of carrots planted in October. I estimated one third of the crop was taken and that much of the beets as well. They were just chewed down to the nub. Maybe it was a critter party.

I dug up a few carrots that remained. I’m favoring rats or a small opossum by the tiny bites. Raccoons tear up the garden beds and that wasn’t the case this time.

If I had an acre, I wouldn’t mind sharing some vegetables with the critters, but when I have a small urban garden—only 120 square feet to grow vegetables—I’m stingy. A few years ago raccoons devoured a half dozen ears of corn in an evening.

The remedies: rat traps around the vegetable garden and usual haunts; bird netting pinned to the ground and wire screening in case it was one of the larger animals. After this week’s rain I’ll spread some blood meal and stinky spices around the vegetables. And I’ll invite friends to visit with their dogs to sniff around and leave their scent.