Animal digging in raised garden?

7 years ago

My neighbor has raised garden boxes in her backyard with holes dug from one end to the other. No dogs, so what animal would you suspect? Better yet, what can she do to keep it from happening again? What will repel wild guys?

Featured Answer

Okiedawn OK Zone 7

7 years ago

Harriet, If it is skunks, often you'll detect a slightly skunky smell in the early morning air....not that the skunks necessarily sprayed, but just that they seem to leave a little stinkiness in their wake.

Most animal repellents are of very limited effectiveness in the Spring when there is a lot of rain and dew, and must be applied often, often more often than the label indicates. A good homemade repellent for varmints in general is hot pepper---you can get large containers of hot pepper powder or flakes at Asian food markets, or even at Sam's Club. Just sprinkle it on the ground and hope it repels them. I wouldn't sprinkle it on the ground in an area where children, dogs or cats play. There are animal repellents you can buy like Critter Ritter or whatever.

We are rural and always have varmints digging holes in the yard, but the edible garden is fenced off to keep them out of it. We had a lot of trouble with digging animals crawling/squeezing under the fence and digging up/plowing up our garden in our first year or two here before the garden fence was as sturdy as it is now. For us, fencing is all that ever has worked. It is not terribly unusual to walk out into the yard at night and to see coons, possums, skunks, armadillos and rabbits all doing their thing in the yard, but at least we are able to keep them out of the garden. That's the downside of living surrounded by wildlife and one of the reasons we have sturdy garden fences now. Animals just don't respect boundaries, so we have to put up boundaries they cannot breach.

Dawn

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Comments (10)

dbarron
7 years ago
First thing would be to determine what the animal is. Barring killing or trapping, there is no blanket solution for every type of animal. So..given that, I suspect the determination of species should be done by observation (like the owner watch) or perhaps by trap cameras.
Harriett Wahler thanked dbarron
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Colwynn Garden Design
7 years ago
How big are the holes? I have had issues with Raccoons creating small holes with their snout as they hunt for grubs in newly planted areas.
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Okiedawn OK Zone 7
7 years ago
It would be easier to figure out what might repel it if we first figured out what it is. If the holes are conical in shape, might be a skunk. If similar but more rounded, perhaps coons or armadillos. At this time of the year, both armadillos and skunks are digging up insects. Possums also dig at times. So do lots of other things. If it looks like the entrance to an underground tunnel or something similar, consider moles, voles or gophers.
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dbarron
7 years ago
Or if large, ground hogs or prairie dogs (lol).
einportlandor
7 years ago
Squirrels dig holes in my garden.
Macmex
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
In a lawn, if one observes many small pock mark type holes, it's usually a skunk, digging for grubs. A groundhog will only dig a hole for its den, can't miss that, it's BIG!

Squirrels are really frequent offenders. They, too, dig smaller holes, about 3" deep. (Looking for that acorn they buried last October... "I know I put it somewhere around here!"
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mars_in_tulsa
7 years ago
I live in Tulsa and have a lot of problems with animals digging in my raised beds. I have seen cats doing their business and squirrels digging, and assume possums are digging in there at night because I know they are around. Until my plants get big enough and take up most of the raised bed (which seems to end the digging), I use a combination of sticks stuck in the ground, sticks laying on the surface, bricks/rocks, metal baskets (the ones that I use to hang plants in the summer), and plastic mesh to keep them out. My native soil is horrible clay/mudstone so I have not had problems with moles/voles yet.
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Harriett Wahler
Original Author
7 years ago
I have the holes in my backyard now! The holes are conical in shape, with the dirt that was dug out laying to the side. So I guess it’s skunks, huh? I have a big back yard so I’m not sure about spraying the whole thing with a pepper spray. Maybe just the area around where the holes are. Any other suggestions.?

thank you for all previous responses.
farmgardener
7 years ago
I go to Dollar Tree and buy several packages of clear plastic forks. Stick the handles into the dirt with the tines about 2” above ground. Just place them in several areas in the bed, they don’t need to be thickly placed. This worked for coons, cats, dogs, and sometimes squirrels. Buy cheap bottles of cayenne pepper same place and powder around plants. This has worked for me and is much better alternative to trapping or losing plants.
Harriett Wahler thanked farmgardener