"ker_01" wrote in
:

Just moved to a new house, and now have room for a garden. Bad
news is that there is a huge mole problem, so I was thinking
about trenching around the garden area and burying hardware
cloth (metal screen with holes too small for the moles to get
through). However, I'm worried about how fast it will rust out-
I can't afford to re-trench every year or two. Soil condition is
very moist.

is it constantly very moist, because that may mean the soil
doesn't drain well? if so, you could plant your garden in raised
bed boxes & put the hardware cloth on the bottoms of the boxes.
easier than trenching.

Does anyone have experience with burying hardware cloth, and how
long it takes before it starts rusting away?

a year or two. also, moles can tunnel up to 15' deep, so that's
going to be some project.
why don't you spend a couple years getting rid of the moles? if
you have a large population, that means there is a good food
supply. moles eat grubs. grubs eat the roots off your plants. get
rid of the grubs & you've solved two problems. i suggest you apply
either Milky Spore or BT for grubs.
http://www.beyondpesticides.org/alte...eets/Grubs.pdf

Depending on what widths are available, I'd bury it as deep as
possible to still leave about 9-12 inches above ground to keep
them from just coming up and going over the top.

a way to control moles above ground is to get a cat. some dogs
will hunt moles. my Great Pyranees/Border Collie digs moles out of
their tunnels & my barn cats catch a few moles every week.
lee