Watermelons! I never would have thought they could bother those. I am surprised they aren't eating your wife's tomatoes. Maybe the hot peppers being next to the tomatoes is deterring them. I did try making a garlic and hot pepper solution that I sprayed on the onions and soil. I think it worked for a day or two, but after that the voles were back at the onions. They are eating my onions, potatoes, and asparagus. I expect they will get into the sweet potatoes too. I never expected anything to want to eat the onions, that one surprised me!

I'd like to clarify one point - the enemies here are the voles, which are herbivores; moles are carniverous and do not eat rose roots or roots of any other plant, they feed on grubs and insects. They do make unsightly tunnels and tear up the lawn, which is obviously why golf courses hate them. Castor oil may be effective against moles - but I can tell you I have tried it without success in controlling the voles. I have tried every known solution: poison, mothballs, vibrating stakes, castor oil, molemax and have found that the only reasonable solution is to plant everything in holes lined with wire mesh (thank you, Kaye). However, even that is not foolproof, as witnessed by the rose I lost last weekend which was planted this way. George

DH got rid of raccoons in my parents' chimney with ammonia. My mother kept hearing crying sounds from the chimney and people thought she was losing it. It turned out to be a litter of raccoons. DH set up cinder blocks/bricks to a spot as close as possible to the inside entrance of the chimney. On top of that, he placed a pie plate full of ammonia. They changed the ammonia every other day to keep the smell very strong. Sure enough, Mamma Raccoon removed her babies one by one. Then my parents had a chimney cap put on or something to keep them from returning. Of course, outdoors is different. But placing shallow containers of ammonia among the hostas would be worth a try. And has anyone tried Liquid Fence? It has worked very well for me and a lot of friends for deer, on hostas and shrubs. Of course, that is applied to foliage, not the roots voles eat.

Up, up and not away!