THERE ARE HILLS in my front yard. Some even resemble mountains. They weren’t there one day, but they were there the next. I hadn’t seen them out there before, but now they are hard to miss.
Moles.
I have never had much of a problem with moles before. I looked on as friends and neighbors fought with the animals, trying to get them out of their yards, but I can only imagine one instance where we had a mole in the back yard, and some quick assistance from my neighbor got that little fella out of my hair.
But now it seems to be a bigger problem. What used to be grass is now big mounds of dirt. I walked over one the other day and was surprised that it was fairly high – as mole hills go.
Having never battled these guys before, I have been searching out ways to ridding my yard of them without causing a nuclear meltdown with chemicals that will destroy all of the vegetation in my yard; and I also don’t want to simply “scare” them into my neighbor’s yards – that’s not very neighborly.
So I’ve been asking for advice, and I’ve gotten plenty.
The most popular is dropping “Juicy Fruit” chewing gum down into the holes. Apparently a mole can’t resist a good stick of gum, but eating it rather than chewing it leads to gummed up insides – and his demise.
I’ve had people suggest getting those big, plastic, twirling lawn flowers. You know the ones, the big petals rotate in the wind. That spinning apparently moves down the metal stick that the flower is mounted on, and that vibrates and agitates the surrounding ground, and causes such distress that the moles pack up and leave.
One helpful fellow told me that I could borrow his dog, who is a “mole killin’ machine”. He tells me that if a mole starts moving while Rover is on duty, the canine will dig up the area and kill the mole.
Sounds good, except I’ve also seen the trail of destruction that Rover leaves as he digs for the moles.
Another helpful hint was the use of a shotgun at close range.
“You see him moving, just put the barrel of that shotgun right down there by the dirt and pull the trigger,” I was told. “Boom! No more mole.”
Depending on the hardness of the ground, I may also say good-bye to a foot – and I’m sure the neighborhood isn’t going to like my blasting away at the yard at all hours of the day.
So I’m here to get your help, Switzerland County.
Do you have any suggestions? Can you help me – and others?
Long before pesticides and fancy gadgets, people used various remedies to get rid of pests, and that’s what I’m looking for. Is there something that you’ve tried when you’ve had a mole problem? (Before anybody gets cute: I’m interested in moles in my yard, not on my body…)
Maybe you have “old time” cures for other things. How do you keep rabbits out of the garden? Are there flowers that animals won’t eat the tops of? Got a natural cure for a sunburn?
I’m looking for all kinds of stuff like that.
Drop off your “cures” at the Vevay Newspaper office -I’d really like to see them.
I’d also like to share them with other readers, particularly as it pertains to ridding my yard of moles.
If your method works, I’ll be eternally grateful, and you’ll become a local hero to every reader who shares my pain. (Translation: there is no cash reward, just the satisfaction of sharing your knowledge.)
So let me know how you handle those things. Send them in and share your remedies.
Meanwhile I’ll be in the front yard assessing the possible fallout from some earlier suggestions.
Maybe just one shotgun blast….