Battling the Critters

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This year my battle with the neighborhood critters escalated to full blown war. Squirrels are thankfully a mild nuisance in my garden. They might pull up some of my bulbs. But my neighbors must have much better squirrel food because I never catch them eating any of my vegetables.

My big problem are mice. Deer mice to be exact. At first I thought I had rats due to size of these guys. I also thought I might have voles because of the way they dig under the fences. But after closer inspection it appears that I have very well fed, large deer mice.

Last summer, I was able to repel them with a mixture of mint branches and cayenne pepper spray. But over the winter they developed a tolerance to these smells. They could even handle the smell of coyote urine. I surprised that you can purchase coyote urine at just about any hardware store.

They were particularly annoying when I was waiting for my first tomatoes to ripen. I would go out to my tomatoes and see a bright shiny one and only to find the entire back half was missing. I was like Captain Kirk in the Old Star Trek movies yelling at Kahn. Seriously, I yelled out to the mice who ate my tomatoes.

I eventually had to bring out the big guns and trap a few. The numbers have dwindled a little. I still see evidence of them hanging around but they eating my entire bounty.


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3 responses to “Battling the Critters”

  1. Katie Avatar

    Man, if it’s not one critter, it’s always another! Best of luck with your winter garden.

  2. Julie Avatar

    Darn little critters! But so cute!!! LOL!

  3. nkristis Avatar

    Katie: So true! You too, I’m looking forward to reading about it.

    Julie: Thanks, I think they are cute too, when they stick to nuts and not my garden.

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