Gardening Update

After the warm spring weather we had earlier in the week, it turned back to winter. Yesterday was heavy rains followed by intense winds that actually scared me with the strength it was blowing. I went outside after the last downpour but got scared that a limb could come crashing down on me and decided to leave the gardening until later.

I went back out today to survey the voles damage and it is bad to say the least. I regret now not cleaning off the leaves off the beds but the workload of getting up leaves is heavy here due to the trees around the house. Plus the weather was cold and wet for most of the winter and I stayed holed up in my little office for the most part. While I have not gone digging for them, I am sure the tulips are all but gone that I planted in the back garden beds. The voles destroyed the rose garden, that will have to be replanted and rose bushes are not cheap. I also found out the voles have took out most of my Russian sage (Perovskia) and that is one of my favourite plants in the gardens. As I had reported earlier, the voles found some of my gladiolus and ate part of the cones and they all but destroyed Mum's October plant/Autumn Joy Sedum(. I have been digging up things and placing them in old nursery pots until I can get the beds clear of the voles.

The voles had invaded just about every bed in the garden. There is one bed in the front I have yet to check and that bed contains some lilies and tulips. I have been thinking of building some owl boxes to encourage owls to nest on the property. Voles are mostly nocturnal creatures and owls would be a perfect predator to take care of them. Black rat snakes also prey on voles and I do have them here. With all the baby black rats that I dig up in my gardens, I would think they could take care of the voles. Plus, there are some copperheads on the property as well; yes, they are poisonous but usually it is the bacterial infection that causes the most damage. My readers may recall me stepping barefooted on a copperhead one year.

This vole damage is going to be costly to me. I will be traveling down to the nursery when they are ready to start selling to replace the plants. I will need to keep the beds free of mulch to make it easier to check for the signs of voles which means more watering during the summer months. I was hoping to have the funds for mulching the beds this year but I guess that money will have to go to replanting. I will not be leaving the leaves on the beds next autumn.