Vole War II

Last year I planted some gorgeous, tall, Asiatic lilies.  At least I think they would have been gorgeous,  but they were completely consumed by evil voles.  Don't have voles? Consider yourself lucky. Have an enemy? Curse them with voles.  These voles not only ate my lily bulbs, but they had dessert of the roots of my tea camellia.  I went out one day and saw the camellia looked dry. I touched it and it toppled over, no more roots. I've asked around and the horticulturalists I've spoken to say they have never heard of voles eating camellia roots.

What are voles?  These are small rodents that resemble mice and are even called "meadow mice."  They live underground, eating roots and tubers.  I even once saw a hosta moving in still air, being eaten from below by a vole.  I pulled the hosta leaves up, it had no roots and the telltale vole tunnel was there. (For a photo of a vole versus a mole: http://www.evergreenofjohnsoncity.com/Moles%20&%20Voles%20Info.htm   )

I reordered the lilies this summer and bought another tea camellia. This year, I have a plan.  As you can see by the above photos, I planted both in hardware cloth cages, surrounded by daffodil bulbs (voles hate daffodils) and sprinkled with a good heaping of mole and vole repellent.  I topped the bulb cage with a wider mesh hardware cloth, so the lily stems could easily get through (shown in the middle photo before I fixed it to the bottom of the cage with wire), though the camellia cage is not topped to allow the trunk to widen.  An third repellent I did not use is small, sharp gravel, but if I had some today.....

Happy gardening!  (By the way, this is late because I have been sick, but I am on the mend!)

The Great Potato Bin Experiment!

The Great Potato Bin Experiment to Defeat Voles!
[photo caption: “Da bin” so far]

When I lived in Indiana, I had great fun growing potatoes. I planted yellow and purple varieties and was rewarded with “buried beauties” when I dug them up. I found the taste of freshly dug potatoes to be superior to ones I bought in the store. In addition, you cannot get true “new” potatoes at the grocery- new potatoes are ones with such a thin skin that it easily rubs off, and they are not good shippers (new potatoes are not just little potatoes).

In Virginia (where the state motto should be “Land of the Voles”) I have trouble growing root crops. Voles ate my sweet potatoes-I had beautiful vines, but when I dug them, all I found were sweet potato shells, the voles having eaten them from beneath- and I think they would eat white potatoes too. Hence, the Great Potato Bin Experiment.

I first covered the top if the soil with small-gauge garden cloth (garden fencing with small squares). I anchored it down, and I built a garden cloth bin around it. If it ever stops raining, I intend to fill the bin with soil, compost and peat moss, having first covered the sides with used landscape fabric to hold in the soil…and plant seed potatoes in it! Voila!

I will be taking next week off from blogging (except maybe a brief report or some photos) to celebrate my 50th birthday with several friends!