The last few weeks, we have been experiencing a pesky critter (raccoon, opossum, squirrel) digging into the mulch, making large, deep gaping holes in the ground, and stirring up the soil in which we have been direct-sowing seeds. This has caused the plants to die before they ever really had a chance to sprout. It is also wasteful for the seeds that were sowed. We did some research, and it appears raccoons are most likely to dig to get at grubs deep in the earth. We put up fencing on half the food forest, as the other part is being covered by cardboard to smother out crabgrass and blackberry canes. It appears our plan A of putting up the fence, created a problem of its own, and we now know we have to have plan B and plan C and even possibly plan D to grow new plants in our garden from seed rather than buying expensive plants. We learned that creatures do not like to jump into things for fear of not being able to get out. Therefore, they are less likely to jump into a garden bed than in a field or row of crops. So plan B would be to grow more in planters. Plan C is to sow seeds in a seed tray and transplant seedlings into the ground once they are already established.
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