2024 The year of the pest

I started out the year having gopher invade all of my unprotected veggie raised beds.  I made them into hugel beets, And put hardwire cloth down at ground level.
After that everything was growing well, producing like crazy. All was good. About mid summer I noticed a hole in one of my older raised beds. At first I thought gopher. How??? But no plants died, nothing disappeared. Ground squirrel, or rat.  I'm not 100% sure it's rats, but I hear something moving around at night. I have tried flooding the hole. Cord ammonia down the hole.  Sprinkled  cyan pepper all over the garden bed. Sprayed ammonia around the perimeter of all the garden beds. The only thing I managed to do was make it move from one bed to another.
My next step is to buy rat traps and put them around the hole, so it will be trapped when it comes out. I hate this opinion because sometimes they don't die, and then I will have to kill it, and I hate that!
I live between an almond orchard and a walnut orchard. There's no getting rid of rats. I can even deal with sharing some of what I grow. But I don't want them living in the raised beds. I have managed to grow several watermelon, and something I assume rats has sampled everyone.  I have a couple small watermelon I'm going to put in a cage in hope of getting one we can eat.
If anyone has an idea to eradicate the rats from the garden, I would love to hear it.  Thanks

What if rather than having a rat problem, you have a cat shortage?  I mean that isn't a sollution for everyone, but I'm trying to think about something that would either make the rats go away, or make it less hospitable for rats in the first place.

Unfortunately the barn cat we had disappeared. It was the sweetest thing, and amazing at catching critters. The only cat I ever saw catch a gopher.  
I have thought about getting a cat or two, but then I have to at the very least get it/them fixed. More money, and more to take care of.  The barn cat came fixed, and I only fed it when it seemed to need a little extra food.  
It's a thought, but not all cats are good at catching critters, I could end up with more pets.
Thanks

I'm still having critter problems. I think it was squirrels that eat my peas, and some other seedlings I tried to start.  I hope the third time is the charm because I would really like peas this year.
I built a cage for my seed starting table.  I put a chicken wire tent over the peas in the garden. I also used a spare piece of hardwire cloth bent it in a u shape, and put a spare piece of wood held in place with a stake.  I have a hardwire cloth basket I made to plant  in to protect the plants from gophers, that  I haven't used yet. I turned it upside down over a squash I'm trying.  
I trimmed my little lime tree and it has long nasty thorns. I put them all around the rat hole in the garden bed.  This seemed to work for a little while, but now they have a new hole away from the lime branches.  Tonight I put a couple of traps in the entrance of the hole.  I think I might trim more of my citrus, and put more branches around the beds.  Maybe if I make it a miserable place to live there will go somewhere else. I can only hope.
I live between an almond orchard, and a walnut orchard,  I will never get rid of rats, mice, or squirrels. I would just like them not to live in my garden beds.
Every other year spraying the perimeter with ammonia, and occasionally sprinkling cayenne pepper in a bed being munched on did the trick. I have never had critters living in my raised beds. Until this year.   I will not give up, but to be honest it does take some of the joy out of my garden.

Stopped at the dollar store and bought a few wire baskets. (I wanted the wire trash can, but they were out) Until I get the critters under control, I will cover as much as I can. The baskets are small, so will have to be removed pretty quickly, but I hope it gives the veggie a chance to get established, and maybe less tempting.

My cages work.  I'm thrilled and bummed at the same time.  Thrilled because I have lots of peas to plant. Bummed because now I have to figure out a way to protect them w once they are planted.  I can't cage my entire garden.

Pea plants looking good! I feel your pain.

I had a complete wipe out of my annual root crops this year due to birds. I managed to save my peas from the voles by a cardboard fence. I kid you not! - it was only 6 inches high but did the trick against the voles. Not the mice though as they climb pretty well, but I did manage a reasonable harvest in the end.

A hardware fence may be effective against rats if not squirrels though. Sometimes you just need to make it hard enough that something else is easier for them.

I'm going to divide and conquer, I hope.  I really don't want to cage all my raised beds. Having to open, or remove a panel every time I want to interact with my garden is very unappealing. That being said I saw a guy on YouTube make a pretty one that added beauty to the garden. I think I will build a couple of them. Maybe as insurance. If everything else gets attacked, maybe the things growing in the enclosure will survive.
Next I need to put more wood chips in my garden paths. I will use the wood chips I have, and buy cedar wood chips for the top layer.
I have lots of mint. I'm going to make a mint spray and spray the soil in the beds.
I'm going to spray the outside of the beds with ammonia.
I'm going to build a bucket trap.
Once in a while I will sprinkle the soil with cayenne pepper.  This has worked in the past, the problem is it can get expensive, because I have to reapply it every time I water, or it rains.
I'm hoping filling the garden with smells that rodents are supposed to hate, that it will make it a place they don't want to live.
Will it work? I don't know, but I hope so. I really don't want to have to enclose all my beds. My only other option if it doesn't work is an electric fence. That doesn't appeal to me, but it's an option.

Question: one of my raised beds definitely had rat holes in it. It's one of my main beds. I have peas in it now, but the rest is bare.  I planned to remove the soil to make sure there are no rats, no nests with babies. But I  covered the holes, and haven't seen new holes for 2 or 3 months now. So my question is am I safe to assume the rate gave up and found a different place to live?(I have done my best to make my beds a miserable place to live, like cayenne pepper, and putting sticker branches all over the top of the soil. Traps, putting out baking soda mixed with peanut powder. Any organic way to get rid of the rodents I could find.)
I really don't want to mess with the soil I have tried so hard to build. I also don't want to eat veggies that are growing in rodent feces.
This bed is a hugle beet. It has hardwire cloth at ground level and the raised part is 2 cement blocks high.
So what do you think. Can I feel safe using this bed, or should I dig it out???

I was feeling pretty positive about the garden this year.  Everything is doing well, seedlings are coming up and not immediately disappearing. No critter hole.
A couple days ago I see a hole. In a bed that never had a hole before. Carrots were tops only. It's almost like a gopher. But... The bottom has 1/2 " hardware cloth, and the bed is 16" tall, so while probably not impossible, it's not likely. Plus things are not continuing to  disappear. Do rats eat carrots?  I put an entire bottle of cayenne pepper in the hole. So far I don't see any activity.  
Let's hope this is an isolated incident. I did get some cats. Unfortunately they are kittens and a mom, so it will be a while before they can help control the rodents. Not to mention having to fix 3 cats. Hopefully they eventually balance the population.