[JayG]

For about a week now I have noticed that every day several of my asparagus shoots have been broken cleanly off and left on the soil. This was a bit puzzling, and I was wondering if it could be slugs (sometimes have a nibble and make them grow wonky) mice, squirrels, or even a young Siamese cat which might have mistaken it for grass.
Annoying, but not too much of a problem because the shoots were still edible, albeit not how I would pick them!

Slug bait made no difference, so I netted them, using wire hoops, but the asparagus is still getting broken off and there are clear signs of flattening of the wire hoops.

My enviromesh tunnel over the carrots has been pulled out of the pegs at one end for 3 nights on the trot despite trying increasingly robust ways to secure it.

Finally, one particular shallot has been partially uprooted 3 days on the trot leaving a small hole underneath it, although this morning there are several uprooted in different places, and some of them apparently chewed off, but most surprisingly of all I found a half-buried gardening glove (not one of mine) in the hole next to one of the shallots! 

My garden is completely open to any animal which chooses to wander through, and has a nice "secret" little escape run at the top end, and up to now I've been fairly happy to just let them get on with it (it's mainly cats.)

I don't think this is the work of cats, I know that some new near-neighbours have a dog, and foxes have certainly been around for all the 14 years I have lived here.

I have no reason to think that the dog is left free to roam around at night, but has anyone experienced a fox actually burying something (inedible) in their garden or allotment?

(In any case I will be researching gates and fencing shortly - getting fed up with this now!)

[maxibo]

How strange!  It doesn't sound like the work of cats - chewing off veggies and burying stuff  :blink: More doggy/fox sort of thing.  I've seen foxes out when I'm out early hours of the morning (with work - not because I LIKE being out at 3am!) which are CARRYING strange things - boxes, bags and a shoe are a couple of things that spring to mind. Especially on recycling bin nights.  What about a muntjac?  I know they will cause havoc on a veggie plot but burying a glove?
We had the skull of what we think was a cat left in the porch of one of the blocks of flats I visit with work.  No flesh or anything on it - we assume a fox had dug it up (maybe a buried family pet) and then left it to frighten the bejasus out of the elderly residents in the morning. What a happy day that was........

Hope you find the culprit!

[fatcat1955]

If there were traces on bonemeal or bfb on the glove then it in my opinion a fox. My father used these fertiliser's in the planting hole of every plant he planted. Next morning the plant would be in the middle of the lawn. We stayed up one night and watched a fox dig the plant up and have a good look / smell around the area. Only thing we could think was that the fox thought some dead animal was there.

[allotmentann]

What a strange thing to happen. I often get things sliced off at the plot (broad beans at the minute ), but I have not had things buried. I hope you find out what is doing the damage.

[crh75]

Foxes often bring dog toys into our garden, and I once found a shoe! So yes, I can believe foxes would burry a glove.

[Ema]

I think you need a small night vision camera set up there about £60 from ebay

[maxibo]

Ooooh yes I forgot about BFB/Bonemeal - my dog goes nuts for it so I'm sure a fox would too.

[Flowertot]

When I planted my shallot sets in March I covered them with a fleece tunnel to stop the pigeons pulling them up.  The problem was that foxes kept pulling out the thin metal hoops, biting huge holes in the fleece and digging up some of the shallots!    I know it was foxes from the muddy paw prints all over the fleece.  I am not sure whether they were just playing (they didn't eat the shallots) - perhaps the fleece billowed in the breeze - but they stopped when I replaced the tunnel with a simple flat layer of fleece.  I don't know if your problem is caused by foxes but I can well believe it could be.

[pigguns]

I found a buried pigeon egg once in a pile of soil, could have been a Magpie says my bird watching friend, but I think our squirrels bury and dig up loads of things.

[JayG]

Thanks all - a wide range of suggestions from forensic examination of the glove through to electronic surveillance! 

Not sure Heath Robinson would have been proud or ashamed of my efforts this afternoon to rig up a chicken-wire barrier across my drive leading to the garden - I've replanted the shallots, repaired the enviromesh tent and will be having mini-asparagus shoots for tea! 

My site inspection tomorrow morning will have more than my usual level of interest - long term I have to start looking at fences and gates to cut down on the animal traffic, although I agree with those who think that a fox is the most likely culprit. 

(I'm also preparing myself to be voted the most unpopular person on the street by at least half a dozen local cats for denying them their habitual right of access to my garden!)

[grendel]

buy a cheap webcam and remove the infra red filter and though the colours will be a bit strange it will spot night prowlers.
Grendel

[Dave Mack]

Wooooo i love a good mystery 
I think it was Professor plum in the greenhouse with the Secateurs 
Hope you find out whats happening Mr G 

[Salmo]

It sounds to me that you have a family of fox cubs somewhere near that come out at night for a romp. Play with flapping fleece, bury an old glove, jump around play fighting.

[Paul Plots]

Definitely sounds like foxes and most probably (as someone has said) fox cubs.

They:

• took delight prancing through finely prepared sees beds
• dumping other peoples gardening shoes and the odd glove on my plot
• ripping into envro-mesh tunnels to look inside
• unearthing my potatoes as fast as I could earth them up
• trampling through and breaking chrysanthemums and gladioli
• leaving behid the odd very smelly pile of mess

Oh don''t you just love nature. 

The warden and committee were not particularly concerned... until one of them had foxes take a shine to their plot then it was all out war!! 

It was nice to come across a healthy looking sleeping fox in the raspberry bed (not sure who was most surprised him or me) and to have a massive reduction in both pigeon and rat populations but... I don't miss the fluffy red things that much! 

JayG... if barricades solve your problem I will be very surprised as they climb everso well and can clear quite high fences. Best of luck!

[carlotta]

I think I have the same problem 

My cabbage bed was growing really well under nets no slugs or pigeons. Then two days ago I arrived at the plot to find the cabbage bed still with netting flattened. The cabbages snapped 

I raised the nets and saved what I could, and I thought made it good.

 However whenI went to the plot today yes you guessed all flatened again.

So I decided to make sure all gaps in the fence were filled as I only had a partial fence.  I know have I hope Fort Knox. Well I hope it dosen't become Fort Fox!!!

While I was busy fencing a rat came in and died on a newly dug bed!! I dont know why my plot has become the place to be!!!