Your GARDENING FORTNIGHT
Ruth’s mole is back and housebuilding under her lawns
As I was settling myself down to write my pages for this issue I glanced out of the window into the back garden and was astonished, and not a little outraged, to see a mound of freshly dug soil increasing in size on the lawn. Yes, the mole is back after several months’ absence, and what are we going to do about it?
Late winter and early spring is the key season for mole activity in our gardens because this is when they are making their tunnels, mating and breeding. While the molehills they create are something of an eyesore, they have wider implications for the garden and for gardeners. The subterranean channels dug by the moles can disturb bulbs and also plant roots. We have also found that tunnels running under the lawn can be a safety hazard, and have caused a couple of sprained ankles when we’ve gone ‘a-cropper’ on an unexpected undulation. So we also use molehill soil to even out dips under the grass.
However, moles are all part and parcel of a healthy garden’s biodiversity and so we have been loath to call in a professional trapper - and it is never recommended you try and catch them yourselves. Moles are delicate creatures and can die of fright and starvation if the traps are not checked regularly, and I wouldn’t know where to start when it came to re-releasing one into the wild. So we are continuing with our tri
