DEAR JOAN: For the first time, gophers are destroying our vegetable garden.
A trapper killed five gophers but has been unable to get one – or more – continuing the destruction. He can’t find tunnels in our tilled garden area, because the soil collapses on any probe holes we try to dig.
The trapper suggests we give up and install raised beds with gopher wire underneath and move remaining plants to safety there.
What would be your advice?
— Denis Cuff, Danville
DEAR DENIS: There’s no shame in giving up. You might surrender the battle, but in the end, you win the war.
Gophers are wily and notoriously difficult to trap. If you’re intent upon trapping, watch for new mounds, then probe a couple of feet beyond the mound to find the tunnel. When you do, set two traps facing opposite directions.
Since the summer vegetable garden season is almost over, you might want to dig up your beds and install hardware cloth or gopher wire beneath the soil, extending it up the edges of the perimeter.
Gophers apparently don’t like the smell of coffee, so creating a barrier around beds or plants with coffee grounds can work. You also can try peppermint oil. For large areas, soak cloth in the peppermint and scatter them around your plants.
During the winter, you can try starving the gopher out by growing a cover crop of grains. They don’t provide enough nutrition to keep a gopher alive. Despite the five gophers your trapper caught, you likely just have one remaining. Except for breeding season, gophers are lone wolves.
Hunting a gopher can quickly become an unrewarding obsession, so I’d just bite the bullet, save your sanity, and install raised beds, making sure you line the bottom with the wire mesh.
International Dog Day
If you have a dog, today is the day to celebrate them. If you don’t have a dog, then Bailey, my Chihuahua, wants to know why you don’t.
You’ll have to forgive Bailey. He’s a little full of himself today. Not only is Friday his Sweet 16th birthday (no, he’s not getting a car), but he just learned that Chihuahua’s ranked No. 1 in California as the most popular breed.
The San Francisco-based JustAnswer.com, which provides access to experts on a variety of subjects including pet care, reviewed more than 100,000 questions asked of vets in recent months and compiled its findings.
Although Labrador retrievers bumped Chihuahuas out of the top spot nationally, the mighty little dogs held onto the No. 1 spot here and in Texas.
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The website also identified the top 10 favorite names with Bella coming in at No. 1, followed by Luna and Charlie. Bailey was eighth nationally, but the name didn’t make the cut in California. Bailey is considering mounting a massive write-in vote, as soon as he learns to write.
Readers, let me know what your favorite dog breed is — and your favorite dog name. You don’t have to have a dog to offer your opinion, and it doesn’t have to be the name of a dog you have now, just a name you like. Email me at AskJoanMorris@gmail.com, put “favorite” in the subject line, and I’ll report the results here.
Animal Life runs on Mondays. Contact Joan Morris at AskJoanMorris@gmail.com.
