Newbie from Eastern North Dakota

wbayer 7/26/2011, 11:30 am

I just started my first square foot garden this year. ND can make it a little difficult to grow a garden with the clay soil. I have 2 4x12 gardens. They are growing great! I am so glad I bought the book and used this method. I am still new to gardening all together, but I have learned a lot. I am struggling with voles in my garden, but I am working on getting rid of them. Any suggestions would be great! We also have a ton of rabbits in our area.

Wendy

BackyardBirdGardner 7/26/2011, 2:25 pm

Voles are tough. They generally don't climb, though. If you use some hardware cloth as a small fence around the perimeter, that may deter them. Staple it to the wood border and make it about 2 feet high with either rebar or some form of staking. It may work. I've never had a problem with voles, but I imagine that would be my first attempt.

Glad to see you bought the book and built your beds accordingly. MM (Mel's Mix) is wonderful stuff to play around in. You'll never go back.

Welcome aboard. Hope you stick around the forums during your long winters and keep participating!

**Kelejan** 7/26/2011, 3:06 pm

wbayer to the Forums, a great place to visit and learn all sorts of stuff.

I made the mistake of not laying down hardware cloth and instead only used weed barrier.

I lost my runner beans from one bed when the little b......s tunneled along eating all the vines when they were already nearly three feet high. Now I can really see what the damage is as I look at the same planting in the next bed and see the mass of flowers and baby beans that are there. These beans are going to be my highest yielding plants this year. Newbie from Eastern North Dakota 615992

**Furbalsmom** 7/26/2011, 6:08 pm

Wendy

So glad you joined us. MM is great stuff.

As far as voles, most members who have had to deal with them agree with Kelejan, first you need hardware cloth under your bed to prevent them tunneling into your garden.

Rabbits need a fence around the garden bed to keep them out. BackyardBirdGardener's suggestion could be adapted for rabbits, but I do not know how high the fence would need to be. I use deer netting to keep out the deer that love my vegetable smorgasboard, but it seems to keep the rabbits out too.

Please keep us updated on your garden's progress, and share pictures if you will.

Again, Welcome!

quiltbea 7/26/2011, 6:29 pm

Another gardener from a cold state.

Welcome to the forum and enjoy the veggies. They will be awesome.

Goosegirl 7/26/2011, 9:54 pm

Welcome from farther down I-29! There are a few of us in NE SD fighting the clay and snow along with you. (and rabbits, and hail, and right now the tornado watch/warning) Look forward to hearing more from you when you get out of the basement!

GG

unmadecastle 7/26/2011, 11:08 pm

Welcome!

Another one from NE South Dakota here. We just dodged another storm here and the electricity is back on so we are good to go! I hope the storm missed you!

I can't help you with the vole problem. I have never even seen one, but I did put chicken wire under my garden beds just in case a gopher decided on a late night snack, although now that I think about it gophers can climb (I have a gopher that gets on my deck, and he is a fat little bugger). Smile

Hmmmm..... I wonder if that is where my little cucumbers are going?

Dunkinjean 7/27/2011, 1:57 pm

Welcome to our Forum! Newbie from Eastern North Dakota 582897

Hello from Central NJ.....

Dunkinjean

AprilakaCCIL 7/27/2011, 2:53 pm

Welcome Wendy flower

wbayer 7/27/2011, 4:32 pm

I did put the chicken wire under my boxes. However, they must have crawled through the top. Now I have a 3 foot chicken wire fence around my garden to help with the rabbits. Unfortunatly, the voles are in the boxes and I'm having a hard time getting rid of them. I have plugged the holes I see with fabric softner and I put a mole repelent around the garden. They are just really bad in my area. Any advice would be great!

**camprn** 7/28/2011, 10:19 am

Table top garden boxes may be in order for next year. Good luck battling these pests. Hang in there.

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Newbie from Eastern North Dakota

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Voles....

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