Something is digging up my square beds

Hello,

A few weeks ago, I set up two square garden beds on my terrace. As a way to build fertility in them, I buried some finished bokashi in them, which included a variety of kitchen scrap, including chicken leftover.

As the manual suggested burying the bokashi remain, and didn't mention that it could attract any animals.

One of the bed was seeded with mustard to try and have some kind of ground cover to protect it from the cold, and I also added shredded straw on top of it. It very quickly become obvious that something was digging, so I added some grating to try to protect it, but I didn't have a big piece to add and it didn't stop damages from happening, as the mulch was still getting mixed with the earth below, and there was almost no mustard seedling that was left alone.

The other bed contain more acidic soil, also contain some bokashi, and I planted three blueberries plant in it. The same thing happen, and even more frustrating, the little s*$t that is digging in the bed also love digging up the plants, and since there is frost happening all the time, it means that the plants get their roots completely exposed to frost... if I'm lucky they won't die because of it, but I'm pretty sure it's damaging them...

I even tried recently to dilute some urine in water and use it on one of the bed, but as it was just dig up today (probably late in the evening), it didn't work as a deterrent.

The other day, I also noticed what looked like some medium sized rodent on my terrace: it was brown and seemed bigger than a rat.

Any idea of what I could do to stop it form digging up my beds ? It would be kind of fine if it was only digging up bare earth, but since it's also digging up my plants I just can't let it live like that.

Obviously next year I'll process the bokashi first, but right now I can't really dig up the beds and sort out the leftovers...

That sounds super frustrating. Getting a better idea who is doing the digging could inform your strategy. Sounds super similar to what I have experienced with raccoons destroying my paths. I suspect they're digging for worms, in my case.

One option would be to find a big enough piece of chicken wire or the like to cover the top of the bed and secure it down. Since it sounds like the soil in the one bed is already all mixed up, another option could be to put cardboard over and weight that down with lots of rocks, bricks, etc. With your blueberries, perhaps you could place some heavy logs or rocks all around them so that no digging can happen near their roots. Another strategy I have used is to cut lots of sticks to a length of about 8 inches to a foot. I make the ends super pointy and stick them in the bed at a spacing that doesn't allow any diggy creatures to have a place to stand and dig. This is nice cause it can be done in a way that doesn't really interfere with plants in the way that laying chicken wire over would. I have sometimes tried to fence off beds with mini chicken wire fences. This hasn't worked very well for me, as they can usually just push in the fencing or dig under it. Might work better with a sturdier fencing material, but if it's too solid, they can just climb over. Depending who they are, of course.

I know it's aggravating and the temptation is to remove the critter, but the likelihood is that more will just show up to the fill the void. If it were me, I would focus on protecting the beds. Or possibly making another area more attractive to the creature to go and dig.

Any footprints?

I once put some eggshells under the coffee grounds I was burying.

Something, I assume was a raccoon, dug up the eggshell and the coffee ground were all gone, too. It was a 5 gallon bucket of coffee grounds.

Heather Sharpe wrote:That sounds super frustrating. Getting a better idea who is doing the digging could inform your strategy. Sounds super similar to what I have experienced with raccoons destroying my paths. I suspect they're digging for worms, in my case.

One option would be to find a big enough piece of chicken wire or the like to cover the top of the bed and secure it down. Since it sounds like the soil in the one bed is already all mixed up, another option could be to put cardboard over and weight that down with lots of rocks, bricks, etc. With your blueberries, perhaps you could place some heavy logs or rocks all around them so that no digging can happen near their roots. Another strategy I have used is to cut lots of sticks to a length of about 8 inches to a foot. I make the ends super pointy and stick them in the bed at a spacing that doesn't allow any diggy creatures to have a place to stand and dig. This is nice cause it can be done in a way that doesn't really interfere with plants in the way that laying chicken wire over would. I have sometimes tried to fence off beds with mini chicken wire fences. This hasn't worked very well for me, as they can usually just push in the fencing or dig under it. Might work better with a sturdier fencing material, but if it's too solid, they can just climb over. Depending who they are, of course.

I know it's aggravating and the temptation is to remove the critter, but the likelihood is that more will just show up to the fill the void. If it were me, I would focus on protecting the beds. Or possibly making another area more attractive to the creature to go and dig.

I also have birds spreading straw mulch all around, but it didn't seem to happen much on these beds. Had a few problems with cats when trying no-dig beds (good luck explaining the concept to an animal that believe the world is his personal bathroom (no insult to cats intended, I like cats, just not when they eat my stuff)).

I had the idea with rocks, but I added one of your suggestion (see the pictures at the end of this post) to avoid the obvious "let's dig a bit further" issue. The pointy stick is a nice idea if I add more green manure on the bed, or even for this spring when I add the "real" plants. Chicken wire had the issue you describe; I thought it was a cat doing the digging when I set it up, but seeing that rodent and the continuing tilling just was a proof that at best it was protecting the rodent from a bird of prey when doing its digging.

One thought I had was to capture the critter and feed during the winter, then free it in the spring so at least he wouldn't eat my garden. Obviously I won't do it, I don't have the hardware to capture and feed it.

Anne Miller wrote:Any footprints?

I once put some eggshells under the coffee grounds I was burying.

Something, I assume was a raccoon, dug up the eggshell and the coffee ground were all gone, too. It was a 5 gallon bucket of coffee grounds.

Footprints would be a good thing to watch for, however the blueberries bed is mulched... with wood chips ! But it's definitely something to keep in mind for other incidents. Thanks for the idea.


So in the end, having heavy rocks around the blueberries with cardboard to block most digging. I don't have a lot of rocks, so I used what I had. I just hope that critter is not a powerlifter. The "rocks" used for the other bed should do the job !

Where do you live?  At least knowing this would limit the possibilities and make it easier to identify.   Then appropriate deterrents could be offered.

I'm in France, next to a big city, inside a smaller city.

Sorry, being from Canada,  I am not familiar with the animals in your area.

No harm done in trying to help.

One day I might put one of those cameras to have a peek at the wildlife coming in. That would be really interesting.

I’ve had good luck breaking a browsing habit by sprinkling heavy amounts of cayenne powder in and around plants. It stops mammals by teaching them that sniffing around in a certain area burns, but it doesn’t cause any real injury. You have to re-apply after a rain, but I’ve found it actually works rather quickly to disincentivize the creatures.

Here in the US, I can purchase large amounts of it easily and cheaply from supermarkets and restaurant-supply stores. I don’t know about bulk purchase of that sort of spice in France. If you are in an area with a sizable immigrant community, markets catering to those demographics might carry a wide variety.

-Daniel

We have squirrels annoyingly digging up pretty much all over our garden in the spring, looking for their stashes of acorns I assume. They don't necessarily eat anything in the ground but they outroot my seedings. (Later in the season they love my cucumbers and strawberries)

Chicken wire is the only effective deterrent I've found (and I have to attach it firmly to the ground. Chopsticks - the disposable kind that come in attached pairs - work well as stakes).