Yesterday I spent the afternoon putting in a bunch of new shade plants I bought at the Plant Delights Open House - some more ferns, pulmonaria, a new Farfugium (sp?), brunnera macrophylla, a new aspidistra, and others. I planted everything using my hopefully vole-proof planting methods - rocks in the bottom of the hole, chicken wire cages around the inside of the hole, etc. It takes a couple years for most of these shade perennials to look nice, so I decided to step up my plant acquisitions this year so I can enjoy all the plants sooner. I also estimate that I lose maybe 1 out of 3 plants I buy to voles and in the past dog urine. I'm resolved to be more dedicated to my vole-proof cages - even though I do believe I've had some of my cages infiltrated by voles in the past. Some of my ferns that are NOT in cages are absolutely gorgeous now and I'll be so sad if they are killed by voles.
Anyhow, I finally applied some castor oil to the perimeter of my planting area and I drenched the vole holes per the instructions on the bottle. I sure hope it works! When I have a chance to get back out there (it rained today) I will try covering all the many, many vole holes w/ compost and then see if any of them reappear as a means of monitoring vole activity. Strange thing about voles is that you never really see them - so I'm blindly assuming that's what I have. I could try the apple shingle trick and see if the apple gets eaten - that's supposed to be the definitive vole test. We shall see!
Still haven't finished my mulch application! Hurry up! The weeds are a comin!
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