(That title only really works if you say it as if you're the Papa Bear from Goldilocks)
This morning I noticed some digging in one of my new banana plant pots. I assumed it was just raccoons so put the soil back into place and watered the plant. Raccoons have curious hands, and they often mess up the soil of potted plants, pull smooth rocks out of pots, and other tactile things. So I wasn't concerned. Then I noticed another pot that had been dug in, and thought "that's a raccoon that sure loves to dig".
Then I went to the back of the yard to check on the bamboo division I dug and potted up yesterday -- I have to check it for leaf curl a few times a day -- and about half of the soil was missing!
That's a big pot too, so there was a lot of soil removed. This couldn't be the work of a raccoon, could it?
Looking around, here's a bamboo that's in the ground right next to the pot that was dug up:
As you can see, there's evidence of some fairly substantial digging here too. (I can also see that this plant hasn't really spread much yet, even though it's been in the ground since last fall.)
Doing a quick check of the rest of the yard...
Hey, didn't I just plant that purple fountain grass yesterday? I'm pretty sure I remembered to actually put it into the ground as part of the planting process.
The colocasia (elephant ear) next to it shows substantial digging too:
This one wasn't pulled out of the ground, but there is some root damage. Yikes.
What the heck was loose in my yard last night? A badger? (We don't have badgers around here.) A skunk? Maybe it's just a big dog, but would a dog be able to dig out the bamboo pot?
Maybe it is just raccoons. I have a feeling it (or they) smelled the Milorganite I use as fertilizer, and were trying to get at the source of the odor.
I've got two options to try and prevent this from happening again. The first is to stay awake in the yard all night and catch the culprit in the act. I'm not really good at staying awake all night, so that's out. What's the second option?
The second option is to mulch. I've mulched the pots and beds with Pinebark mulch. Besides hiding the soil visually, I'm hoping that its strong (but nice) aroma will discourage digging. We'll see.
I do not want to stay out there all night.
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