Garlic varmint?
 

I have been seeing the standard "drill holes" in my garlic beds. Something has dug straight into the straw and into the ground. I don't see any loose cloves laying around. I've always known squirrels dig in and around my garlic, sometimes removing a clove or two.

There seem to be more holes this year. When I opened the door this morning, I flushed two blue jays from one of my beds. I've never seen them in my garlic before. One year, I had an issue of dying and missing young onions. I couldn't figure out what was going on until one day I noticed a robin pulling them all up and flinging them.

Have you ever seen blue jays digging in your beds? Especially where you may have planted garlic or some kind of root?

I would guess it’s not the garlic they are after but some sort of grub or insect
KarenO

[QUOTE=ako1974;697320]I have been seeing the standard "drill holes" in my garlic beds. Something has dug straight into the straw and into the ground. I don't see any loose cloves laying around. I've always known squirrels dig in and around my garlic, sometimes removing a clove or two.

There seem to be more holes this year. When I opened the door this morning, I flushed two blue jays from one of my beds. I've never seen them in my garlic before. One year, I had an issue of dying and missing young onions. I couldn't figure out what was going on until one day I noticed a robin pulling them all up and flinging them.

Have you ever seen blue jays digging in your beds? Especially where you may have planted garlic or some kind of root?[/QUOTE]


Yes I have! I grow my garlic in pots. Why the jays pulled the tags from the edge of the pots I don't know but they did! I see them fly into the yard and kak up a mouthful of birdseed gleaned from the neighbour's feeder to bury in the lawn, or acorns from neighbourhood oaks.

Last year I had onion sets pulled out of pots by the many sparrows who are always scratching and looking for whatever in the yard. I wondered what was going on. :lol:

I figured, too, they were after straw for nesting. But they didn't have to make holes for that. Dang birds!

Karen - yeah, maybe they're going for insects or worms just below mulch level?

After one flew off the bed, it landed on my fence and started going at a zip tie I have on there. I guess it may be a mixture of foraging and curiosity.

I have a robin who studies my gardening closely. This year I put down leaves and compost. He digs little holes in both. He's looking for worms or other insects. He may pull up a plant or two by accident, but he's looking for meat. I feed him chopped raisins every day and he loves those to supplement his diet.

Nan

I had the same problem with ravens here, when I used leaves to mulch the garlic. They didn't damage the plants at all though, but they were tearing up the mulch to go after insects underneath. This year I pre-empted their frolics by removing the leaves myself. :)
I've seen the problem before with young transplants, that the birds would pick them out and fling em as they're looking for bugs or worms. I find it safer to cover the beds until transplants have rooted in, before letting them go about their buggy business.