4 Tips to Keep Moles Out of Your Garden

Moles can be a veritable nuisance, even for the most lax of property owners. Not only will they dig up your entire backyard, leaving it covered in little mounds of dirt, but you can also say goodbye to any chance of growing a nice, full garden patch. While moles actually prefer to feed on grubs, larvae, and other ground-dwellers, their underground tunnels will make it impossible for you to plant anything from a daisy to a vegetable patch.

Now, the trouble with moles is that they are actually really difficult to get rid of, once they’ve taken over your yard. Thanks to their complex tunnels, it’s not enough to just eliminate one, since they probably have ten others up and running. This is why, if you’re struggling with a mole infestation, the best thing to do is probably to call a wildlife removal professional like First Choice Wildlife Services.

However, you may also want to implement some preventive measures, which is why we’re writing this article. While with other wildlife, we’d be telling you to consider what attracted them to your yard in the first place, and trying to eliminate that, it doesn’t work with moles. Since moles are mostly carnivores feasting on grubs, worms, and the like, pretty much any garden with fairly fertile soil will appeal to them, so it’s not like you can actually remove that, not without causing even more damage to your crops, and lawn. So what can you do?

1. Try coffee grounds

Coffee grounds are a well-known DIY wildlife repellent, thanks to their strong scent, and grainy, unpleasant feeling. You could try scattering coffee grounds around the mole’s mounds, or even pouring some directly inside. The strong scent will mark your garden as undesirable to the mole, and convince it to look for a home elsewhere. Not only that, but using coffee grounds isn’t just an excellent mole-repellent, but actually works in keeping other nuisance wildlife at bay, as well. Better yet, the coffee grounds will dissolve into the earth, which actually makes for lovely fertilizer. So not only are you protecting your garden from moles, but actively enriching the soil, so that good things can grow. Neat, right?

2. DIY repellents may work

Because yes, some mole repellents can actually work, though obviously, they will never be as successful as hiring a professional to handle the mole situation for you. Because moles are nocturnal, they have phenomenally poor eyesight. And because they’ve got poor eyesight, that means they’ve had to sharpen their other senses, to make up for this lack. Which makes them really sensitive to pungent smells. Aside from ground coffee, another really popular DIY mole repellent is ammonia, or alternatively, moth balls. Some people also like to mix up cayenne pepper with castor oil, to create a sticky, burning substance that is certain to put the moles off. However, bear in mind that any DIY repellents will need to be replaced regularly, to maintain their potency.

3. Try killing grubs

Although, as we said, trick is trickier than with other wildlife, it’s not impossible. Some people may have success reducing mole population by killing off their main feeding source – underground grubs. The way to efficiently kill off these critters would be by using nematodes, insecticide (though this may impact your crops, and soil), or milky spore. While not foolproof, it stands to reason that moles will be less attracted to a yard with few feeding opportunities, and may leave it on their own, to look for richer properties, so to speak.

4. Dig trenches

This is probably the best way to get rid of moles, though it is time-consuming. Since moles are digging their way into your yard underground, you need to cut off their access. One way to do that is by digging a trench around your garden (or any area you wish to protect). Now, make sure the trench is at least two feet deep, and roughly 6-8 inches wide. To cut off the mole’s access, you want to fill the trench with gravel, or even with a layer of wire mesh. This will prevent the mole from digging through, without harming it or exposing your crops to dangerous insecticides.