Growing Together: Open Forum

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  • 1.  Rats in the Garden

    Posted 01-01-2023 05:01:00 PM
    Every season it is a struggle to keep the rats out of our raised beds. It is a challenge that I seem to be failing at! Those rascals keep outsmarting me! I have placed hoops and netting and secured them with clamps, and they still manage to find their way in and ravage our crops.  I have resorted to placing bricks around the beds too.

    What does everyone do to keep them out? I will not kill them so please do not suggest traps.



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    Ziva Santop
    School Garden Specialist
    LVUSD
    Agoura Hills, CA
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  • 2.  RE: Rats in the Garden

    Posted 01-02-2023 11:37:00 AM
    This is the first winter I have had an issue with them. Not sure if it's rats or squirrels eating all my winter crops but I have been covering the exposed soil with straw and surrounding the soil around the plants with cayenne pepper and coffee grounds. I also heard that they don't like those spiky balls that fall off liquid amber trees. I get cayenne pepper at WINCO very cheap. It has been working so far. We've had a ton of rain last week and getting more this week so will have to reapply.
    Evelyn Margolin
    Sacramento, CA

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    Evelyn Margolin
    (916)501-1173
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Rats in the Garden

    Posted 01-03-2023 08:31:00 AM
    Hi Ziva,

    WOW! That's a new one.  We have to fight off deer! 
    The solution we use in the South to keep possums (kind of like rats) and foxes out of our chicken coops may help.  You might need to use mesh fencing.  We have to bury it in an "L" shape going out from the coop to discourage digging.   Another option is a vegetable prison, which I've done at home on my blueberry bushes to keep the mockingbirds out: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/3471851/raised-beds-invaded-by-rats-or-something

    There are also some plants rodents dislike that you can plant around either inside or outside the beds. 
    • Peppermint
    • Lavender
    • Bay (sprinkle bay leaves around the garden beds)
    • Catnip
    • Onion


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    Curator 
    Hickory Hill & the Tom Watson Birthplace
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    Thomson, GA  30824
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    Original Message


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