the beets were in my community garden, and I was assuming it was voles, but it very well could have been a woodchuck. There is a fence around the perimeter, but I'm sure woodchucks get in by digging under. I planted the second sowing of beets in my own garden, which Is definitely a vole problem. I've seen 1, and they are eating my tomatoes now. I was hoping for some beets, not just greens, but I may just get greens, I guess. Well, it's worth a shot, I've got tons of extra seeds, and plenty of space in my 2 new raised beds. I think the carrots I planted are an even bigger long shot! Fall gardening is new to me. I've tried the last 2 yrs and gotten nothing. Every year I try to start earlier, but am always seeking more space. So this year I decided to put in the 2 new raised beds, but of course that took time so once again, I'm late.

LOL freezengirl. I'd take the bear poop over piles of moose poop. Hummm...which would do more damage to a garden? Bears at least don't tend to care about the garden itself. They sure like the compost and trash though. My cat does a good job of keeping rodents down for me. I just wish he didn't feel the need to bring the bodies back inside as a present. Although the bodies are better then when he brings them inside alive. He does this pretty often. I think he just likes playing with them...what is better than a toy the moves and squeaks on it's own? He does usually catch and eventually kill it but I've seen him carrying around mice alive just to drop them and then chase after them. He usually does this in the middle of the night and in our bedroom for some reason. When we're woken up by the cat pouncing and running like crazy or trying to fit his whole body under our dresser it usually means he found himself a live toy. As for vole damage and trees. Get some small mesh hardware cloth and wrap it around the trunks of the trees. It'll keep the voles (and bunnies) from girdling them. Although they usually only do this in the winter, they tunnel under the snow and eat the bark as a winter food source. Once the grass and other plants greens up they prefer that. They likely won't bother the shrubs and trees again until next winter.

Cats can definitely help -- but two caveats: (1) not all cats know how to catch mice (we had two cats during the period of our mini home invasion and only one knew what a mouse or a bird even was -- the other caught primarily naps, preferably on newly dry-cleaned angora sweaters :) (2) even the best mouser can't catch the ones in the walls or ceiling (though a pro is willing to spend hours staring at said walls and ceilings, head cocked (or craned), eyes narrowed, every muscle set just in case, so at least you know they're on the job if one SHOULD dart across your floor. But I will say that I found many a dead (and not of natural causes) mouse on my lawn and patio, especially in the spring and summer. So I'm sure she was at work -- she just couldn't GET to the ones in the attic. I also never, EVER saw one in the main living areas of the house, including the kitchen. I don't know if it was the cats or what, but they STAYED in the attic and walls and never, to my knowledge, ventured into the cats' turf. So while the attic scrabbling was annoying, at least I never worried if I came into the kitchen in the dark and flipped on the light that I'd see a mouse on the counter. Our house was an old one and I'm sure the mice had lived there a lot longer than we had, so I was okay with letting them hang out there in the cold months -- as long as I never had to SEE them.

Well, I replanted and have perfect germination again. I've only trapped one mouse in the past two months, and I have traps underneath the light table to protect my seedlings. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. In addition to the coleus, I also planted some sedums and sempervivums which have had excellent germination, too. Martha