Ask Gardenerd: What’s Eating My Seeds?

A great question came into Ask Gardenerd this week about plant protection:

“It seems that every time I start seeds or plant out transplants in my raised bed, they get eaten overnight. It’s so frustrating. Help!”

Home made cloches work wonders for protecting seedlings.

I have had the same problem over the years and I have found a few solutions that can help. The primary defense against nocturnal foragers is a physical barrier. Let’s look at the options:

Cloches – if you only have a few seedlings to protect, homemade cloches are the way to go. They prevent crawling and scampering predators alike.

Floating Row Cover – this lightweight fabric allows sunlight and water to penetrate, but keeps bugs, birds and other predators away from your precious seeds and seedlings. See it in action in this Pea Protection post.

Bird netting – a nylon mesh netting that keeps birds from hunting in your beds. We cover our strawberries and fruit trees with it to keep squirrels and rats from investigating our future harvest. Use U-pins to keep the netting in place.

Diligence – keep your plants and seeds covered until they are big enough and have a strong enough root system to withstand the elements on their own. Check regularly under whatever cover you decide to use for damage (then you’ll know if you have a breach somewhere).

Try these and report back your finding. Good luck!

Hey fellow gardenerds – if you  have any other suggestions, post your ideas here.

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