Looks like voles to me. This year in my garden they have eaten leeks, onions, and potatoes as well as a range of ornamentals. Ugh!!! Firm the soil in the area to collapse tunnels.

I also read a tip to push thorny branches down the holes. I have had them tunnel into my high tunnel and do a lot of damage. Last year I saw my beets and carrots looking wilty. I pulled some and all the bottoms had been eaten. My beds are surrounded by lawn and there was a hole a few feet away. It's hard to imagine they tunnel so much and so far. This spring I saw at least two running around. When I turned over a small section of bed, I noticed a ball of grass. Didn't think anything of it but later I thought that maybe the voles had started a nest there.

Thanks, NHBabs and defrost. Right now I feel like my brain is exploding regarding voles. I'm reading Ken Druse's book about shade gardening, which is fantastic and has me sooooo excited about my shade areas now. But, he talks about how earthworms are actually bad when they are numerous, only serving a good purpose if you have awful soil. Once the soil is decent they only consume organic material. He says voles eat earthworms, which is why it's good to have some in the garden. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! That was a big whine. Just as soon as I think I understand something...

Confusion.

Moles eat earthworms, grubs and other insects and tunnel underground. Voles eat plants, especially the roots, but will also pull plant matter down to their level. Meadow voles live in shallow tunnels through soil, and make runways through the bases of tall plants just on the surface of the soil. Pine voles AKA woodland voles tend to be a bit smaller and only use underground tunnels.

He must have said moles. I'm sure between the two of us I am more likely to remember it incorrectly! That being said, the vole is certainly less attractive now, for sure.

That earthworm thing had me smacking my forhead. I know there's a lot of "conventional wisdom" that ain't worth a dern, but I also know that there's a lot of scientific information that answers specific and narrow questions, and is yet in appropriately extrapolated to very broad and general circumstances. It makes it very hard when you don't have lots of your own personal experience.

Crazy snake worms (Amynthas agrestis) are a very aggressive earthworm that can strip forests and gardens of all soil vegetation (leaves and mulch). I had (have ) them in my yard and I can tell you they can turn my garden to sand in one season. Read about it here. By the way, worms consume nutrients the plants need. Read about this invader.

http://blog.uvm.edu/jgorres/amynthas/

If he said *moles* eat earthworms, then he is totally correct.

Do you have a large rabbit population, Deanna? I just ask because holes to rabbit burrows look similar to what you have. I doubt it, because rabbits probably wouldn't be creating burrows for their young at this time of the year, but it's just a thought. Either way, it's not good for your garden plants. I'll keep a good thought for moles. Moles would be your plants' best bet!

Crazy snake worms!!?? I just read the article you linked, SusanZone5. I have no words for this, except maybe bizarre and terrible. I hadn't heard of these invasive species. On the map, they are too close for comfort, just to my east. Thank you for this info, even if it is unwelcome.