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!)