Hi Kathleen, I like your idea of mesh. Last year with adding another 6' x20' planting area we lined it with 1/4" mesh to keep the moles/voles from digging up underneath the bed has worked like a charm. I have considered doing lids but the lining has decreased it so much. I got the idea from some professional flower farmers that routines line their ditches for tulips with steel mesh before back filling and planting bulbs densely. A 10FT fence and the neighbors lush garden keeps the deer away. LOL Happy Planting, Marianne Culver. On Fri, Mar 30, 2018 at 3:39 PM, Kathleen Sayce <kathleen.sayce@gmail.com> wrote: > My spouse is building me a large wire-covered enclosure for seed pots in > my ongoing struggle with voles, etc. Actually, he is building two mesh > covers, one for an existing area that is now occupied by 3 stand-alone mesh > sections over pots (4x4 ft), and a new area (3.5 x 8 ft) with a large > cover. I can’t wait. And after this week, I really can’t wait. > > In preparation, the protective black deer-deterring mesh was taken down > over pots in another area, and all pots and planters were lifted to > break/cut tree roots that have grown up through the pavers into them. I’ve > learned the hard way to do this by late winter or face much larger roots > growing into pots in spring. I have no illusions about the tree root > problem—it will continue in the new mesh areas, where all pots will have to > be lifted annually so roots can be removed. > > While this mesh was down, some larger animal nibbled the side of a > stem—not the top—and left the buds to die, on a pot of Fritillaria > camschatcensis. Annoyed does not begin to describe how I feel about this. > First buds to form, ever, on the pot. Highly likely to be deer from the > delicate nibble on one leaf plus just enough stem to kill the top. > > Kathleen > PNW coast, where we have had 3 rounds of false spring/pre-spring/almost > spring, and then back into strafing rain/hail/near snow/snow in March, or > as a friend says, ‘March comes in like a lion here, and leaves like a lion > too.' > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…