Although higher-grown vegetable plants, flowers or herbs are usually more protected, many gardeners wonder what animal digs holes in the raised bed. In principle, wild animals such as moles or ground-dwelling creatures cannot reach such cultivation sites, although others are more difficult to keep away. This may also lead you to take preventative measures when creating garden beds to prevent unwanted visitors. In addition, you can save yourself a lot of time, effort and money by carefully planning such garden design. Here are some practical steps you can take to ensure your raised bed plants are better protected from digging intruders.
How to protect bedding plants from damage and which animal digs holes in raised beds?
Unlike other garden areas, burrowing animals in raised beds are easier to identify and can be kept away if you approach them strategically. Regardless of which animal is digging holes in the raised bed, you can, for example, remove potential sources of water and food against its presence. It often happens that food or food has fallen from bird feedersWater from garden hosesattract certain species of animals that are looking for food. Fruit from fruit trees and garden ponds rotting on the garden floor or fallen in beds also attract rodents such as squirrels and voles.
In addition, many wild animals that can fly or jump look for hiding places in various garden areas, including raised beds. Other unwanted guests that could sneak in includeSnakes in the gardenwho have to hide from birds of prey. You can build your beds high enough or use other deterrents such as garden fences to block access to burrowing animals. To achieve better results, it would first make sense to identify which animal is digging in the raised bed and what is keeping it away. In this way, you can prevent damaged plants in the long term and optimize the soil conditions in your beds.
What types of animals should you look out for in raised beds?
When it comes to knowing which animal is digging in raised beds, climbing rodents are usually the main suspects. The little critters therefore have no problem getting into the ground of such structures. Various species of squirrels, rats and voles or field mice are the most common of these, although rabbits can also be good jumpers.
This mostly happens at night when such visitors like to climb in unhindered to get to roots of cultivated plants. However, it is also possible for rodents to climb into the raised bed to bury the food they have accumulated for the winter. Should climbing and crawling animals as well as rodents have onePest in raised bedsrepresent, you can use defenses to solve the problem.
What materials to use to build a raised bed?
In addition to the measures described above, you can also use stones or metal mesh to create a physical barrier in the ground. This ensures that no matter which animal digs in the raised bed, it cannot break through it. Another effective step is to line the bottom of the plant bed using solid wood, brick or even concrete. This makes it even more effective to keep burrowing intruders away, and you can also use metal mesh on the bottom for more stability. It is best to also place a layer of stone on the bottom of the bed so that animals cannot dig through their tunnels.
In addition, it would make sense to use solid building materials when creating a raised bed. A popular and reliable option is natural wood, which can withstand different weather conditions or rot. This would also be a sustainable way to use unused wooden boardsReuse pallets to make raised bedsto build yourself. Otherwise, there are also ready-made kits made from other materials such as plastic that are just as suitable for this. However, avoid treated wooden materials or railroad ties as they contain copper arsenite or creosote, which are toxic to plants and animals.
It is easier to see how deep and which animal is digging in the raised bed
The base of your garden bed should also be deep enough so that burrowing animals such as moles cannot reach it from below. For this purpose, you should make the trench for the bed at least 45 cm deep and fasten the walls well into it. In addition, the height of your bed should be at least 60 cm to prevent access to small jumpers such as hares or rabbits. As for the upper area of the plant bed, you can also use protective nets such as bird netting to keep out reptiles such as snakes orto repel birds.
Robust panels or fleece would also be some options that could protect your bedding plants from climbing rodents. In general, you should find out which animal is digging in the raised bed and ensure that the plants in it are protected like in a greenhouse. This is especially true as the plants grow and become larger. It is therefore important to plan the size of your bed well in advance and take protective measures while the plants are still seedlings.
Choose defensive plant varieties against burrowing animals in the garden bed
With open raised beds without protection, it would also be possible to grow certain plants that are repellent to small graves. For example, garlic, spring onions or leeks in the garden bed are suitable for this, as they would keep squirrels away. You can also consider daffodils, geraniums, hyacinths, lily of the valley and peppermint. Plants such as sage, begonias, coneflowers, honeysuckle, lavender, marigolds and alyssum also have a repellent effect on rabbits. You can even use the marigolds as bait for grazing animals to distract them from your crops.
