It’s that time again. You ask, and I pretend to know things and answer your burning questions. It really is so much fun to open my inbox and see the wide variety of questions you guys have. Reminds me that my readers are so diverse and pretty dang awesome. So keep those questions coming and I’ll keep racking my brain for answers.
But first, if you are looking for the best sun hat on the planet, Mrs. HB and I both have Sloggers Wide Brimmed Sun Hats {SPF 50+} and use them all summer long.
Hi Mavis, Thank you so much for sharing your tips, ideas, and adventures – I love reading your site! I am very keen on starting a garden with my son, but I have many little dilemmas: gopher/vole dilemmas, to be precise. They seem to be everywhere here! Do you have any suggestions as to how to keep the critters from chewing up my garden without me having to spend a fortune?
~Stacie from Colorado
I can’t be of much help here because we’ve never had any issues with gophers. I found a little info on handy dandy WikiHow:
Trap them. Use the gopher traps and place it in the tunnels of an active gopher mound. Dig into the mound and place the trap crossways into the tunnel, then cover the area with a sheet of black plastic or burlap so that no light shines into the hole. It also helps to use latex gloves or rub the trap with fresh rosemary so that it doesn’t smell of human scent.
Poison them. Poison baits such as strychnine are very dangerous. Always read all labels and instructions. Be very careful when handling, keep away from children. Wash your hands very thoroughly after handling. This method is not recommended if there is a chance that another animal (such as a pet) could eat the gopher after it is poisoned. If your pet eats a poisoned gopher, it will be poisoned too.
Drown them. Use a garden hose to flood the gopher tunnel with water. Be ready to kill the gopher with a shovel if he quickly pops out of the ground to avoid drowning. This method works about half of the time, but always creates a muddy mess.
I have a question. I live in drought stricken Southern California (Los Angeles). We have stopped watering our front lawn and are letting it slowly die. And yes, it is slowly dying because we have a very mature evergreen tree in our front yard that puts most of the yard in shade, most of the day. Instead of brown grass, I was wondering if there are any drought tolerant perennials? Hopefully something that has a little bit of color. Thanks.
~Annie H.
So many perennials, so little time. Here are a few of my favorites: Golden Marguerite, Yucca, Purple Coneflower, Sunflower, Daylilies, Lavender, Globe Thistle, Orange Coneflower, Goldenrod and Thyme. Hopefully that helps bring a little life and prettiness to your drought stricken area.
Where did you get those weck canning jars? Can you do a post about where to get them and how to use them?
~Molly
Lucky for you, Molly, I recently did a post all about Weck Canning Jars and How to Use Them. I love them! Let me know if you give them a shot and how you like them.
Not a question but… Mavis thought you might find this article on Kale interesting.
Read it. Loved it. It just confirms what I’ve always known. Kale is for the birds {or maybe not even for them, cause they might get sick, too!}. Thanks for sharing!
Have an AWESOME weekend!
~Mavis
Danielle says
For the gophers/vole issue, do raised beds and staple landscape fabric to the bottom. When we lived in San Diego, that was the only thing that kept them out.
sandi says
One of my old neighbors used a have a heart cage very successfully except the neighbor diagonally from me raised them as though she thought they were an endangered species. None of the neighbors would talk to her anymore!
I used rabbit cage wire. I suppose chicken wire would work but that always rusts. I do small pieces of chicken wire when I plant my tulip bulbs. Good luck.
dana says
Please let’s not kill the groundhogs!
RE: Gopher issues
Raised beds work great. Dig a half foot into the ground, – Call before you dig for water/gas/phone lines -, and place thick cardboard on the bottom. Layer compost on top, then soil.
Also, plant some things across the street or away from the house to attract gophers, deer, etc., away from your garden.
Let’s try to always find humane solutions please.
Robin says
I agree. Try Googling “use essential oils to keep gophers from gardens.” Tips and recipes pop up, including other natural methods such as castor oil. We use peppermint to keep mice away from our car. I found a rabbit repellent recipe years ago – water, garlic, red pepper, etc. Seemed to work, just have to reapply after rain. I use cages around my veggies now, in raised beds. 🙂
Sydelle says
Try hair clippings in the holes. This is supposed to irritate their fur and encourage them to move on.
Jesse says
I had a huge vole problem in my entire yard. They pitted the front yard and ate the roots off of all my vegetables. I (and by “I” I mean my husband) dug a trench around the entire yard and we put 1/2″ hardware cloth into it about 18″ deep. It worked. It was a crazy amount of work and it took forever but it worked! Now only the bunnies, deer, squirrels, beetles and chickens are eating my vegetables.
Terri says
My parents had a dog that was good to track down and catch pesky critters in the ground ;-o
I agree about kale–highly over-rated as far as I’m concerned.
Chelsea says
To the reader in Los Angeles: I live in Northern CA, near Sacramento. I’ve removed my front lawn as well, and we’re currently dealing with 100+ weather. I have one plant in my front yard that I used for a ground cover, and it has gone absolutely crazy with minimal watering(I’m talking I haven’t watered it in a month or so). Some places it’s called Aptenia, some places it’s called Candy Apple Ice Plant. It spreads quickly, with a lot of pink/red flowers about the size of a quarter. It’s beautiful! One thing though, the bees LOVE it. There will be plenty of bees buzzing in them every day, if you choose this plant.
Rocki Horton says
Have you ever made the Zuppa Toscana Soup from Olive Garden? Great use for Kale! There are quite a few copycat recipes on the internet. I like to create a low carb version using cauliflower instead of the potatoes in the recipe; still just as delicious.
Gina Seaton says
YESSSSSSS!!!!! I just KNEW IT! Nasty , ol’ Kale!!!!! Glad it’s goin’ DOWN, son! lol!
sclindah says
For the voles, we had them (they get in raised beds too). I think it was because we grew peanuts. We are in South Carolina. Anyway, they also love grubs so if you have grubs in your garden or lawn that attracts voles. Use Milky spore on your ground and it will kill the grubs and voles will eat the sick grubs and get sick themselves and either die. Totally organic and nontoxic to people! It also helps keep the June Bugs down. It totally worked for me which was great after having voles eat all but one side of our beets while in the ground! Now, if anyone has any suggestions for beavers! Even with metal cloth around trees they are taking out peach trees and just came for my hazelnut starts! Ugh!
ann in E. oregon says
I have yet another question for you Mavis……….where did you get the hat you are wearing in the picture??? I LOVE it! 🙂
ann in E. oregon says
Never mind!! Just read the post!! Sorry. Was so excited, I just saw the hat and jumped right to comments! Have a great weekend.
Jennifer Meyer says
I don’t know how to submit an ask Mavis question so I’m just gonna ask it here and maybe some of you lovely people can help me out lol! I have tried growing garlic the last few years and every time I pull them out of the ground they aren’t that much bigger than the individual cloves I put in the ground. Any idea what I’m doing wrong? Not planting deep enough or maybe not watering them enough?