Homebodies - The battle for the lawn
- Details
- Published on Sunday, September 20, 2015
By Rita Friesen
The Neepawa Banner
It has been an ongoing battle, the moles and I. They have been winning. Please note the past tense!
This summer’s battle has been long and fiercely waged. The two solar powered mole repellers work well, for the garden. The soft chirring sound emitted every few seconds leads a mole to believe that someone else has claimed this space, and they are correct. I claimed it for the production of food. Before I found this handy invention I lost rows of lilies, countless potatoes and even some above ground produce. The problem is, this device only protects a thirty-foot radius. ( Before that I tried stuffing moth balls down their tunnels, only to have them scattered all over the garden and a danger to my dogs. That backfired!) And I have a large yard. This summer the yard has been groomed with a nifty mower. Front mount, forty- two inch deck, zero turn radius – beautiful. The hiccup is the that the machine is not mine and so I have carefully raked flat the myriad of mole hills dotting the yard before mowing. And there are many.I do have a live trap for the critters, but I do not have the heart to set, or empty, said trap. I was sharing my frustration with my sister and she shared with me – the answer. “The Giant Destroyer”. I rushed home to our local hardware store and the obliging staff searched and found and ordered the sulphur bombs for me. Multiple packages! So this is how it works. And it does work. It looks like a mini stick of dynamite. There is a wooden fuse that must be inserted and lit before tucking the smoking bomb down the tunnel and carefully pushing the dirt back to seal the fumes inside. “The Giant Destroyer. The effective gas killer. Quickly kills: rats, moles, gophers, skunks and ground squirrels in their homes, tunnels and burrows.” I think what steeled my determination in the fight was the morning I stepped out the south door and was astounded by the heap of fresh earth on my front lawn. The battle line had been drawn and I was fully engaged. So now, with dawn’s early light I walk the yard, noting fresh mounds. And then, starting closest to the yard I begin the process. Locate the tunnel opening, light the fuse, drop and cover. I am winning.I take no great pleasure in the task. I wonder if the network of tunnels throughout my acres implies that a mini army is busy destroying dandelion and thistle roots. I wonder if all that aeration contributes to the lushness of the grass growth. I wonder how ground squirrels can inhabit the back yard and never betray their presence with a speck of above ground soil. I just know, that for me, for now, they gotta go.
