Question: I would like to know if you can plant clover as a ground cover between rows of pole beans and tomatoes as a weed suppressant. If so, will it affect the plants by taking too much nutrients out of the soil? Thanks! – Jim G., OH

Answer: Hi Jim,

Great question! So here’s the thing: you can use clover to plant in between to suppress the weeds, but there are a few things to consider.

First, there are many types of clover and some grow pretty tall. That might shade out some of the sunlight your plants need. Therefore, I would choose a clover with a shorter growth habit.

Second, pole beans and clovers are both nitrogen fixers. These plants take nitrogen from the air and put it into the soil. Generally this is a good thing. However, when your tomatoes are trying to fruit, if there is too much nitrogen in the ground, the tomatoes will opt for the nitrogen and continue producing leaf material. To mitigate this, you might do something like plant a row of lettuces or other leaf crop in between the tomatoes and the clover to help pull up some of the nitrogen.

—————————————————————————————

Question: How do I get rid of voles/moles – with no pesticides or other things that will hurt people. – Kathryn P.

Answer: Hi Kathryn,

Great question!

Just in case anyone reading this doesn’t know, moles are actually a beneficial in almost all cases. Usually when we see ground damage we blame moles, but usually it’s voles or other burrowing animals.

Moles usually live individually, so you’ll almost always just see one. It is rare to find a gathering of more than one or two moles.

Moles are insectivores, so they don’t damage plants. Occasionally a plant will be toppled by accident, but the benefit they provide can be worth the few plants that get toppled, as moles eat grubs and other pests that burrow deeper into the soil than we can get to.

Voles are a different story. Not only do they eat plant matter, but they also carry human diseases, so we definitely don’t want them around our food.

For smaller, more burrowing rodents like voles and mice, you’ll need barriers below and above ground where the holes in the fence are no bigger than dime size. Anything bigger than that and they can squeeze through.

There are many different strategies for this type of fencing. The one that seems to work the best is to get quarter-inch hardware cloth. You want the hardware cloth 2 feet down and 1 foot horizontally. So, if you make an L shape where the bottom of the L heads into the garden, that’s ideal.