Dirt "Tunnels" in Your Lawn?

A Ryan Lawn & Tree turf manager points out vole damage in Kansas City.

We have gotten quite a few calls from homeowners in the area who have bare "tunnels" in their lawns.

Most likely, this is vole damage. Voles, closely related to field mice, cause more damage in winters where there is snow on the ground a lot of the time (we've discussed the snow that never seemed to end this year).

During these chilly, wet winters, the voles create meandering tunnels in the snow, on top of the lawn. Because it takes a lot of energy to build these snow tunnels, the voles run the same path over, and over, and over. As a result, they wear a path in the lawn and kill the grass.

Take a look around the hard surfaces in your landscape - next to a sidewalk or driveway. Voles will make their nest beneath these surfaces. If you want to rid yourself of these pests, stick a bait station under your driveway in the vole nest (if you can find it). (Be careful, these bait stations can be harmful to pets.)

If you have some bluegrass in your lawn, the bare areas should fill in this April or May. You can also seed this bare spots sometime in the next few weeks.

*The difference between mole and vole damage? Moles actually tunnel beneath the grass creating raised mounds. Voles travel on top of the grass, creating worn paths.

Bunnies 1, Tara 0

I have been trying to plant a lot of new things this season: Ranunculus, Anemones, Sweet Peas

So far, none of these experiments is going particularly well. I was so excited when I noticed my first sweet peas (pictured above) starting to germinate. Then I started to worry why none of the other sweet peas had begun to poke their heads through...

I am sorry to say, I think the rabbits got most of my crop.

Easter is over. The Bunny is no longer welcome in my yard!

Beaver Damage

This weekend I was with my family at Shawnee Mission Park in Lenexa, KS. We enjoy biking and hiking at this park when we can. We came across this beaver damage on two hackberry trees near a stream and river that run through the park. I thought it was neat. The beaver used its large teeth around the circumference of the trunk of the tree. When there was not enough wood left to support the tree, it fell over. You can see where the inner bark was stretched and beginning to tear.

I do not know much about beavers, so I googled it. I found it interesting that beavers are the second largest rodent in the world. They are active mainly at night and slap their tail on the water surface to signal danger to other beavers. Their homes (lodges) are constructed out of sticks, twigs and mud in lakes and streams and they build dams using deciduous wood.