Unwanted Visitors

[craiglockley]

Lately I've been noticing some of my container plants, notably garlic and radishes, are being dug up and something roots around my soil. I put this down to one of three things and hoped for some guidance on how to stop it.

One, I seem to have a mouse/mice in my compost bin. I have started soaking it daily to drive them out, but these could be the culprits?

Two, a few squirrels often hang about my garden.

Three, a number of pigeons seem to hang about.

Any suggestions?

[FionaH]

Iwould guess squirrels

[Eyren]

Probably squirrels - pigeons might pull up the garlic by its shoots and nibble the radish leaves, but they wouldn't dig (unlike chickens!!). I would fasten some mesh over each container and let the plants grow through it - wire mesh of about 1" gauge would be ideal, as it will (hopefully) be too strong for a squirrel to bite through but with big enough holes not to inconvenience the plants too much. Not pretty, but better than no crops at all!

[Nicos]

Blackbirds can make an awful mes of potted up tubs.

[hamsterqueen]

LAst year i had foxes diggin up my beds to bury stuff. You can usually smell when they have been around though.

[craiglockley]

I'm definately going with squirrel. Today I found my new strawberry plants in hanging baskets have disappeard and there's compost everywhere. :-(

[seasprout]

My dad is having the same problem, but saw a Blackbird in the act.!