Question: Can you give me some tips on discouraging animals from my newly formed vegetable garden in my backyard? Raccoons, I believe, ate all my tomatoes last summer and something has been digging holes in my compost-enriched soil where I was about to plant winter vegetable seeds. I would love any suggestions but do not want to use poison.
Genie
Newport Beach
Answer: If it is indeed raccoons, I have had the best success by draping the area with thin-black-plastic-fruit-tree netting. Raccoons won’t go near it. I also wrote a column on organic critter control last year. You can retrieve it from the websites of The Daily Pilot ( www.dailypilot.com) or Roger’s Gardens ( www.rogersgardens.com). The publication date was May 16, 2008.
ASK RON your toughest gardening questions, and the expert nursery staff at Roger’s Gardens will come up with an answer. Please include your name, phone number and city, and limit queries to 30 words or fewer. E-mail stumpthegardener@rogersgardens.com, or write to Plant Talk at Roger’s Gardens, 2301 San Joaquin Hills Road, Corona del Mar, CA 92625.
