Hugelkultur - sort of....
I've had a lot of luck stopping the gophers, when I see that suddenly they've come close to really doing some damage, by putting a pee-soaked stick into their tunnels.
They just about took out two of my mature apricot
trees, and I couldn't wait any longer while I caught them. Their tunnels are big
enough for me to slide a hand in, so I got some sticks about 2 fingers wide, as long as my hand or a bit longer (because the tunnel turns often enough that anything longer won't fit,) and soaked them overnight in a tall
milk carton full of
pee, and shoved one into each tunnel, it filled up maybe 2/3 of the tunnel. If you are a real gopher whisperer then finding a stick that makes that turn works, too.
I also poured pee down into the tunnel, several cups full. They hate anything in their tunnels, and they know anything that could put out that much pee is a real danger to them. I haven't found just putting pee into a tunnel works for very long, and putting the stick there takes it off my list of things to keep track of. They didn't even try to go around. The trees are fine and that was 3 years ago.
It's almost like a mini hugel trench. It's a long-term piece of
wood that will rot and improve the soil, encourage fungi and critters.
Is this one of those things where
Permaculture says The Problem Is The Solution? Ha!
An important distinction: Permaculture is not the same kind of gardening as organic gardening.
Mediterranean climate hugel trenches, fabuluous clay soil high in nutrients, self-watering containers with hugel layers, keyhole composting with low hugel raised beds, thick Back to Eden Wood chips mulch (distinguished from Bark chips), using as many native plants as possible....all drought tolerant.