Who ate the cabbage?

Two days ago, as I stooped in my garden weeding and transplanting seedlings, I thought to myself, 'I should take some pictures for the blog.' In general, the garden has been growing wonderfully- the weather seems to be just a perfect blend of warmth and sun with rain showers peppered in every so many days. Predation from insects and slugs have been at a minimum. One crop I've been particularly proud of has been my red cabbage... sooo beautiful and pest free... or so it was.

Yesterday- I found this.

Chewed up carrot (foreground).

Today I found this.

Snipped up kale.

And this!

Some animal has been getting in my garden!

Most horribly to me, and I take this all too personally, was my red cabbage. I only grow a small amount via transplants, so its not like I have a lot to share with nature. Yet the beautiful red cabbage which was doing so so well was the FIRST targeted vegetable by this mystery marauder. The victims that followed the initial attack were... not surprisingly more cabbage family vegetables: kale, Brussels, broccoli... and carrots (not related of course).

Upon doing a border patrol I found a few small scratchings in the dirt at the base of the fence- on the inside of the garden. Then I found an area where there was soil disturbance on either side of the fence... but the opening was so small I couldn't really understand if an animal was really fitting through it.

I set up a trap by the entry point to catch the thief.

This morning I walked out to check what might have been caught... but nothing. But thankfully no new damage to the vegetables to note of. I had a few pretty perfect red cabbages left and was relieved that they were OK.

This afternoon I returned to the garden for some routine weeding and puttering... the first thing I saw... was my poor cabbage! Now all my cabbage has been chewed on and the varmint even moved onto the other plants.

This is where I start freaking out.

I summoned Simon.

Did a full sweep of the garden with enlisted help from my boyfriend to ensure an animal was NOT trapped in the garden (as most of the scratches in the soil on the GARDEN SIDE of the fence seemed to lead me to believe as a possibility).

The weakest link- cross view of garden fence showing below ground reinforcements.

My fence was supposed to be impenetrable. My Alcatraz. Consisting of 2"x4" welded wire fencing dug into the ground, covered with a 2' high layer of 1" chicken wire and then an additional 12" of chicken wire attached to the bottom and dug into the ground and bent outwards (to deter woodchucks).

Whatever is getting in- is small. It found a weak spot in the attachment of the two different chicken wires and squeezed through the welded wire fence. I've ruled out the woodchuck- damage is pretty modest compared to last years massacre of plants. I've ruled out deer- mostly because I cannot fathom how one could jump over my 8'+ fence without ripping the netting. I'm even skeptical of a rabbit BUT as I've read so far it could quite possibly be one. No fence, theoretically is rabbit proof, because they are good at two things: burrowing and squeezing. I've read on other fellow garden blogs of stories where rabbits were able to squeeze through small openings in a fence as small as 1.75"! I've always underestimated the rodents ability to squeeze through small spaces. Think of a house mouse being able to run under what seems to be an impossibly tight gap under a door. If its head can fit through- everything else can- don't be fooled by the fuzziness.

So my boyfriend repaired the weakest sections where gaps occurred in between the separate attachments of above and below ground chicken wire. Afterwards I hilled up the soil to make it a bit more discouraging and time consuming for a skittish rodent to be attempting to burrow under.

We purposely left the biggest weak point untouched, trap still in place, but beefed up to make it inescapable.

But until I can catch anything I cannot be sure what sort of animal is really the culprit. Even smaller and more capable of penetrating my Eden is one of the gazillion local chipmunks- who apparently, amongst other things, will eat cabbage.

So the mystery remains...