Raised beds allow back-friendly gardening and early sowing. Raised beds are also easier to protect against pests such as voles. Find out here how to prevent a vole infestation in the raised bed and what to do if you have a vole in the raised bed.
A vole grid reliably protects the raised bed from vole attacks
Protect raised bed against voles
If you think about protecting it from voles when you create the raised bed - great! A vole grid is placed on the ground under the raised bed. Make sure that the grid protrudes over the raised bed on all sides so that the mice have no chance of squeezing into the raised bed between the grid and the raised bed border.
tips
Vole screens should not exceed a mesh size of 1.5 cm. Voles are very small and can fit through tiny openings.
Drive voles out of the raised bed
Even if you didn't think about protecting it from voles when you built the raised bed and now have to witness gnawed roots and dead plants, all is not lost. Voles can be easily driven away with an effective home remedy - especially from such a closed space as a raised bed. If the mouse cannot be driven away, you can catch it with a live trap and resettle it.
Home remedies for voles
Voles have a very sensitive nose - they tear up in horror at "smelly" things. If you have a vole in the raised bed, stuff the vole's holes with strong-smelling things like:
- fish heads
- buttermilk
- castor oil
- animal hair
Plants against voles
Another option to get rid of the vole in the raised bed is to plant it with vole-phobic plants. These include, among other things:
- garlic
- leek
- basil
- thyme
- Cruciferous Spurge
- sweet clover
tips
Combine different means and repeat the measures regularly to drive away the vole permanently. The more you bother the vole, the more likely it is that it will look for another location.