No Dig and Moles

[PyreneesPlot]

I'd love your wise Grape thoughts on this -

I'm trying to practice no dig because it seems better, plus I have a bad back, joint problems and am just plain lazy However, I also have moles, well one mole, in my veg garden.

Today I went out to start planting leeks. Beneath the mulch the earth was gorgeous ... and riddled with runs. The first five dibber holes went straight into mole runs and I ended up forking through the lot anyway.

I know the mole will begin tunneling again; my plot is the only improved ground for about half a mile, and the land hereabouts is woodland or poor grazing on thin clay soil. There is probably no point trying to eradicate this mole as I imagine the waiting list for my plot is probably quite long!! The cats catch a mole from time to time and a new one seems to arrive (and start renovating ) usually within days.

Other than not starting out a plant's life in a mole run, the other reason for trying to limit the number of runs is the water simply drains away down them. We can have weeks of very hot, dry weather so I want to conserve as much of my water as possible.

So, carry on forking out the mole runs and therefore failing to No Dig or just leave them and work around?

[Glutton4...]

That's a difficult one, PP. I suppose you won't know until you try. Sorry I'm no help.

[snakeshack]

You could try planting "mole bulbs" these are supposed to deter them


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[Jeanied]

My mother used to put the end of the hosepipe into the run and leave the tap running, flooding them out. Took ages though, and she wasn't on a water meter!

[mothhawk]

As you say, no point trying to eradicate them as another will quickly take possession of the tunnels, which can extend over (or more correctly, under) an acre or more of ground per mole. But they are territorial, so while you've got one, hopefully you won't get any more in the same area.

What you need to do is lure them away from the veg beds to somewhere they will be less of a nuisance. What attracts them is easy soil and worms. There are a couple of good ideas on this page for tempting them out of the veg into an area of your choice.

[Scarlet]

Oh, that's interesting! I have moles though they don't touch my veg area or my garden, they stay in my orchard area where my manure is...

[roitelet]

You need to make the runs unpleasant for the moles then if one move out you won't get another in its place. Some thing smelly does the trick but it needs to be fairly long lasting or the electronic mole things work. Personally I use ferret poo, works a treat.

[Glutton4...]

Oh Bummocks, sorry, I had completely forgotten about the Mole repellent things you push into the ground. Two of my friends share one - whoever needs it buys the batteries. Works a treat!

[PyreneesPlot]

Thanks all :-)
I've tried the electronic noise thingies and tbh I can't stand the noise, either!
I suspect the moles won't be encouraged to another bit of the garden as elsewhere the soil is no more than a few mm deep and has few worms. Having said that, there is activity that has come through from our neighbour's orchard. Otherwise it is woodland or grazing.
I am tempted by ferrets . My late grandfather was a zookeeper so we could have had some interesting stuff to spread!!
Today I put in the last 70 leeks and decided to have a little experiment and not turn the ground first.
So dibbed ten holes, dropped in ten leeklings, added compost/manure mix and watered. At which point two leeks and their compost completely disappeared into a void So I dug over the rest ...