Re: Moles + wildlife and gardens in general

**"Marge Talt" m*@hort.net**

> From: Peter Loewer <thewildgardener@earthlink.net>
>  I give up! Rather than try and understand nature, moles, and
gardens, you
> people persist in finding repellents. Sometimes there are people
out there
----------

I am in accord with Peter here.  It appears to me that moles are a
very valid topic for garden writers.  Moles are certainly a topic
that comes up with great regularity on every gardening list I am on -
generally, with the idea of getting rid of the poor beasts and very
often in regard to an animal that is NOT a mole in the first place. 

I will also repeat what he has said twice now...moles are carnivores.
 They do NOT eat plants; they do not eat chewing gum; they do not eat
castor oil.  They eat worms, grubs and other soil dwelling insects. 
That is all they are interested in (besides moles of the opposite sex
at the appropriate time).  

If you have never actually seen or held a mole, you should try it one
time.  They have the softest fur on the planet - it's like velvet;
they are small, unassuming creatures with incredibly large front paws
and massive strength for their body size.  They ask nothing more than
to be left alone to get on with their lives.  They will die if you
dig too close to them, I think the shock waves in the soil cause some
kind of apoplexy...I found this out, to my horror, once and learned
not to do this again.

I think it behooves us, as garden writers, who are supposed to know a
thing or two, to actually learn about the wildlife that can share our
gardens in various regions and try to educate our readers concerning
wildlife in general and how to COPE with it...notice I did NOT say
how to KILL it.

It is an absolute, uncontradictable fact that if one creates a
habitat that is suitable for wildlife, wildlife will come to occupy
that habitat (given that it is possible for them to reach it).  If
one does not want wildlife and is not willing to learn how to live
with it, one needs to think concrete; not gardens.

If you kill the wildlife that is currently occupying the habitat you
have created, others of that same species or other species who also
need that specific type of habitat will move in.  Thus, to be
completely rid of wildlife, you need to determine that you are going
to spend your time systematically killing wildlife because that is
what it takes to remove it from your property.  It is not a one time
deal.  

Personally, I think wildlife enhance a garden.  Sure, they can do
some damage to our carefully thought out perfection, but the
enjoyment one can take in watching them go about their daily lives
PLUS the fact that a truly balanced environment needs all kinds of
living things in it to be balanced (at which point the gardener has a
lot less problems with all kinds of pest predation on plants) are
plusses that outweigh most damage caused.

Instead of thinking about killing or physically removing (which is
about the same thing) wildlife that is getting on our nerves, we need
to be creative and learn about those creatures so that we understand
them.  Understanding is half the battle, really.  Most wildlife are
creatures of habit and routine.  They do not damage gardens on
purpose, they are only trying to survive (not an easy task).  They
can be redirected or discouraged from doing what we do not want them
to do.  They will take the easiest path to a food source and once
they find a source of food, those who form a pattern of visiting food
sites (most wildlife) will put that location on their rounds and
visit it regularly until they are convinced there is nothing left for
them there.

But, the main point is that humans need to learn to live with the
other creatures on this planet, no matter how many legs they have. 
And, IMO, it is part of our job to help educate our readers to do
this.  

I do not mean that I make no effort to redirect wildlife activities
if they cause a level of damage I cannot live with - after all, I
spent 2 years of hard labor putting up a deer fence.  I do think,
however, that we need to reassess what we consider an intolerable
level of damage.  Gardens are living entities, not magazine quality
photo ops 100% of the time.  Perfection is unobtainable in gardens as
in all other aspects of life.  We need to let our readers know this -
there's too much "House Beautiful" and "Martha Stewart" around these
days; gives people the wrong impression of what is possible and what
is not in real life.

And, personally, I agree with those who have voiced the opinion that
some non-writing gardening subjects are appropriate for this list. 
Those topics are the same ones our readers are concerned about and
which we need to learn about from each other in order to write
intelligently.

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@hort.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
-----------------------------------------------
Current Article: Wild, Wonderful Aroids: Part One - Elephant Ears -
Caladiums
http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/shade_gardening
------------------------------------------------
Complete Index of Articles by Category and Date
http://mtalt.hort.net/article-index.html
------------------------------------------------
All Suite101.com garden topics :
http://www.suite101.com/topics.cfm/635

_______________________________________________
gardenwriters mailing list
gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/gardenwriters

GWL has searchable archives at:
http://www.hort.net/lists/gardenwriters

If you have photos for GWL, send them to gwlphotos@hort.net and they will
show up at: http://www.hort.net/lists/gwlphotos