GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post - Help solve our garden mystery and win.....

07-07-2005, 02:53 PM

wrote:
....our everlasting thanks.

(Sorry about that but I really wanted to get your attention)

Something is rooting around in our mulch and digging in our beds and,
in the process, uprooting new plantings and those with shallow roots
and we *really* want to stop it.
(snip)
It's not deers. We live in a wooded lot in North Carolina and we have
had more experience with deers than we want to remember.

We also live on a wooded lot in North Carolina and have had the same
problem. The main culprits were raccoons, with perhaps a little help
from gray foxes. They only seem to dig in new plantings and fresh
mulch; I assume they are looking for grubs in the recently turned soil.
Scattering red pepper around keeps them away for a few days. After
the first good rain, they seem to ignore the new plantings, perhaps
because it no longer smells new.

Several people mentioned skunks, but skunks don't seem to be very
common in NC. I've lived hear for six years and have smelled perhaps
one the entire time. Previously, I lived in two places that compete
for skunk capital of the world (eastern PA and southern MI), so I am
very familiar with their odor and habits.