I have a backyard greenhouse. Last fall I burried our kitchen waste over the entire area. Then laid down landscaping cloth over which I laid black plastic. I have done this in the past and our garbage has been totally converted to worm castings. A squirrel has dug his way in and has virtually consumed all of my worms atotal mess ! Any ideas ?
Are you sure that it was a squirrel? They are usually vegetarians but will eat meat occasionally; I suspect that a skunk is more likely. I live in Burnaby and notice signs (mostly smell) of skunk fairly often. Regardless of the culprit, one way of preventing digging is to cover the area that potentially could be dug up with some type of wire mesh. Chicken wire is what I use because it's cheap and readily available. I bury kitchen scraps in the garden, and they sometimes attract raccoons. For the greenhouse, I assume that the animal dug under a wall to gain access to the inside. This could be prevented by bending wire mesh into an "L" shape so that part of the mesh covers the lower side of the greenhouse wall and the rest covers the adjacent ground for a foot or two. This should be applied all around the greenhouse, including the door, and should be pinned to the ground with rocks, bricks, or stakes of some kind. The vertical part of the wire mesh probably does not need to be fastened to anything, but stakes long enough to brace it could be hammered into the ground beside it.
Unless you have actually seen squirrels coming and going under your greenhouse, I would suspect rats. Whether we like to admit it or not, they are a constant presence. I lived near Deer Lake in Burnaby for over 50 years and, like my neighbours, had to deal with them on an ongoing basis. Skunks are another possibility - never seen (or smelled) until perhaps the 1990s. Before we finally moved away, I often smelled skunk in the middle of the night but, as it turned out, the cause was marijuana grow ops airing out their facilities. You could set rat traps I suppose and find out that way if it is rats or not. My advice would be to remove the source of temptation for whatever critter is wreaking havoc by composting vegetable waste in an animal-proof composter and putting meat, bones, etc. in the food waste disposal bin for garbage collection.
too small for a skunk although we do have them in the area. Too big for a rat and in any case I am good at ratting. We have had problems at the house with a squirrel. The netting idea would be very difficult. When it first started I baited rat traps with peanut butter but it would set the trap off and eat the bait. When I was young [in the forties ] we caught squirrels with leghold traps. Not exactly humane nor I believe legal anymore. In any case he or she is a challenge ! Thanks for your replies.
