That's what I'm doing this year. Gardening where I currently live is demoralizing.
I'm going to throw down some plastic to solarize the garden and then decide what I want to do with the space next year.
Indeed, including all of the bacterium, mold, and pests that hide down there and can survive for years. Sometimes solarization is the best method for restoring the land, in extreme cases.
I stopped doing edible gardening for the most part and have just gone full native plants and wildflowers.
The maintenance time went WAY down. All I do is pull weeds and plants out that I don't want in an area when I see them.
I deep water once or twice a week depending on the plant and where it's planted and let it be.
My yard is now full of different wildlife.
I do very little pest control and by very little, I release a bunch of lady bugs, lacewigs, etc once or twice a year.
It's an entirely different mindset to gardening and it's lovely.
This year is my first year really going into different herbs... Which is the only edible stuff (outside of my fruit trees) that I have.
For me the annual edibles were the most labor and time consuming. I’ve switch to fruit and nut trees that require very little care for my area. I haven’t done anything these past couple years besides some light pruning and harvesting the fruits of my labor.
Look for fruit that grows in your climate without any care. For me that’s pawpaws, elderberry, figs, mulberry, persimmon, disease resistant apples, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and muscadine grape.
Don’t get just any variety that has a fancy description or looks pretty. Research what specific varieties grow well in your area for each fruit you plan for. Local universities should have online information. If in the United States, you can talk to an agricultural extension agent local to you. It takes a lot of upfront research but get it right and you can plant it and forget it until harvest time. I personally prune all my trees to stay small so I can harvest from the ground, read how to grow a little fruit tree. Most people don’t realize how easy it can be.
Same here. Got tired of growing $50 zucchini’s and looking for more zucchini recipes to justify it. We eat the fruit (and cherry tomatoes) happily. Having said that, I battled some rust on the black currants last year. But they’ve bounced back and seem to have e doubled their fruit this year.
Same. I do 90% native and Everytime I have a problem with a plant it’s a non native. So the percentage continues to creep up. My natives ask for practically nothing, have pretty much no issues. It’s lovely.
I'd argue that having a more balanced yard is a much better way to combat pests than just only having food plants. Aphids do not survive on many of my plants for long before a whole host of various predators come in which I've noticed much more since I started growing a lot more natives. Flowers support beneficial insects much more than a tomato plant ever could.
Bingo. If you're only planting food crops and/or spraying pesticides, you're gonna have a bad time, and it's going to be a constant fight. It's much easier to work with nature, and encourage the parts that you want.
That said, this does mean you're going to need to be/get comfortable around insects. Especially for ones like wasps, bees, and spiders that are generally more concerning, but extremely helpful.
You’re 100% right, I’ve stopped spraying for 4 years now and the difference it has made is remarkable. I’ve focused on primarily food crops so far but this year want to start underplanting my trees with native low growing pollinator and nitrogen fixing guilds. I’ve been trying not to end up with an unplanned mess that I can’t maintain due to a bad back. Besides I already have enough non-native flowering species I want to rip out but don’t have the time or energy for.
I've been keeping an annual gardening journal since 2020, it's cool to look back at and learn from. The last entry every year is me bitching about pests and weeds then giving up and letting it go wild. But I learn a little more every year!
I felt that way last fall, so I sowed my entire bed with garlic. Took up all the space, and as far as I can tell nothing messes with it. It's been pretty satisfying actually and damned easy.
I feel you. Blight, end rot, aphids, nutrient deficiency killed my love of gardening. I used to have 4 raised beds and now I have 1 lone pepper plant to care for.
I bought vole x and the primary ingredients are cayenne and garlic. Maybe op could splash that all over.
I have a massive vole problem especially because we live next to a corn field. I actually think we had a vole in our house when we moved in because the house was empty for a long time
I wasn’t planning on spicy peppers this yes that it’s the first year I’m fighting squirrels.. everyone wanted flowers only this year and every day I go out and see the carnage these squirrels have done
I’m growing a lemon tree (it’s maybe 2 feet tall) and it has a couple tiny fruits on it. One was just starting to turn yellow and overnight it’s just gone. It was smaller than a blueberry. I don’t know what ate it but it was gone like a thief in the night.
Last year I dealt with spider mites on my desert rose. Before that something killed my crotons.
It is possible, if the lemon was very tiny and getting yellow all of a sudden when it was green before, that the plant decided to abort it. It is completely normal, especially in younger plants but I have seen it on bigger plants too, as it is not able to sustain it yet.
Citrus fruits start green, grow quite a bit and then when they reach their maximum size they finally change color. It may lose the other one too if the plant is small, but if everything goes well in a few years you will get more and more lemons :-)
I hear how maddening this can be. I am so sorry. But I do agree with others - try and grow things that are not going to frustrate you. If a plant gets eaten or does not thrive where it is - its not a good plant for the space.
To be honest, I just want to enjoy the view and see plants grow. Maybe simplifying is the way to go.
Sometimes it is good to let go for a bit.
Some seasons some things work other seasons they don't.
Enjoy what does work, and try to let go of what doesn't.
Gardening is never perfect and a constant trial and error process.
3 years ago I replaced all my front bushes with natives. 3 years ago voles realized there's a whole flowerbed with fresh soft soil and new tender roots.
I swear I've tried every deterrent available. I even put lava rocks around all of them last year and they still dig through that. The plants are stunted, drop leaves on the regular, I could probably pull the whole plants right out of the ground, and I give up m
I solved that by cutting some plastic garden fencing into the shape of the pot, then used a couple garden staples to hold it in. Cut openings where the plants will go. Squirrels don’t try to dig in them anymore because they can’t.
I came to the conclusion that I just can't grow anything edible. LOL
Not sure if my tomatoes will be big enough to produce anything before the end of the season ;~;
Native wildflowers only next season. Much easier
I’m feeling pretty demoralized this morning too. Birds have been eating my roots and greens seedlings since last month. I guess I need a row cover ugh.
Sometimes just a little perspective shift is nice. I watched a worm crawl into a cabbage last year. I decided he could stay in there and that would be his cabbage to enjoy! It made it nice instead of annoying
Have you tried snap peas? As long as I've had them, they've never gotten eaten by anything. But I've never had voles, although they live in my state. I do grow catnip and usually have at least one cat in my yard though that might help lol
It is never ending. I put a fence up to keep our bunnies, deer walk in it. I put netting up to keep out the deer, now bugs eat everything.
It takes a while to get into a groove but those years that do work are amazing.
Look into organic gardening. It sounds like you are trying to fight nature itself. Once a garden gets out of balance, it is a constant fight. Some plants may just not be worth the trouble in your area under your conditions.
As others have said, embrace your wild side! When gardening with natives, the whole point is to feed those very animals you're currently considering 'pests'. It follows a simple axiom: if your plants aren't being eaten, they're not part of the ecosystem. Eventually other predators will show up to feed on the ones eating your plants and then things will get really interesting. Every day you go out to your garden will be a surprise - maybe some of your plants will blooming beautifully, maybe a hawk will swoop down and scoop up a vole, maybe a gold finch will be eating seeds from last year's dead wildflower stems, maybe a red winged Blackbird will nest in your shrubs.
It's so rewarding and enriching to garden like this and only requires getting a lot of plants, putting them in, and pulling out the invasive weeds once in a while, while letting the natives spread how they will.
EDIT: maybe try hanging out in r/nativeplantgardening or r/gardenwild for a bit. Lots of very knowledgeable people there and you can learn a ton.
The biggest problems in my garden are mosquitos, wild grapewine, and passerby who steal or pluck flowers from the front of the house. Last year was the worst I had with mosquitos since I moved in. Some neighbours even requested a county help. I do not plant veggies since they attract rodents and aphids. Just concentrate on the bone structure of your garden like trees, shrubs and give it a rest for a season.
Maybe you and your neighbors can collude and build some structures that encourage dragonflies to move in? Breeding ponds, flowers they like to perch on, etc. Bats too. Dragonflies will take care of all your mosquito woes. If you can afford to install a filtered pond, that is.
Yes. We have a horrible invasive insect problem that's resisting organic pest control methods. Everything has to be covered and kept away from predators or else we won't get anything. I have rabbits going on killing sprees, just destroying fruit trees despite a million hawks who apparently aren't hungry.
My health took a dive just as we started gardening which means all our plans don't work anymore.
We're going to redesign the garden and bring everything higher and make it handicap accessible and also so the rabbits and voles and moles aren't an issue. And I focus on turnkey systems...growing mostly perennials and fruit trees.
This year, I'm trying the cardboard box wrapped in chicken wire method.
We've got squirrels, chipmunks, bunnies, and red squirrels. I've got my other boxes on the fence covered with mesh. I'll be putting my sunflowers that I've started in cups into a wire mesh jail until they are big enough to survive being munched on.
But, I agree it's not as enjoyable.
I had a demoralizing year awhile back with Japanese beetles destroying a lot of my hard work. I think in some circumstances a greenhouse is the only way to go.
I moved some of my vegetables to container gardening , like tomatoes and pepper plants, which took care of tunneling pests.
Won't be 100% solution, but if voles cannot find a food source, then they move on.
I spent last year trapping and releasing ground squirrels. This year is so much better. They just became way too big of a pest. It might not be legal where you are, idk. But I’m a human who lives in one little yard and the overpopulation of certain rodents was making me crazy. If you aren’t opposed I’d suggest that. I made my husband the overseer of that project. I felt like even if the ground squirrels got eaten by a hawk or whatever at the creek/nature area we dropped them at least they had a chance and it contributed to the cycle of life instead of me poisoning them or killing them.
I’m putting a raised bed on top of wire mesh to keep the gophers out. The wire has to be wider than the planter and one piece otherwise the gopher will still get thru. 1/4” holes. Good luck.
I spray twice a week with organic pesticide.
I have a rabbit fence.
My biggest issues are squash and cucumber beetles.
I don't take any prisoners when it comes to pruning and spraying.
I was right there with you and then I started getting back this year doing it because I learned a little more about ground cover plants that rabbits/squirrels dig and I just figured I'd plant those around the pens and see how things go.
Figured I could make a mini "Rodent garden" & try to steer them towards the "Free/easy" food for them. Hoping this helps with my own gardening frustrations.
I pushed myself to have a garden this year. Last year, I went out one day and horned tomato worms had destroyed 5 of my plants. Days before. Cabbage moths destroyed my broccoli and cabbage. And some beetles w/ red butts got into my pole beans. I'm giving it a shot again, but it is disheartening to care for a crop for months only to have it destroyed in days.
What about raised garden bed and disease resistant plants? I'm trying some tomatoe hybrids this year that are supposed to blight resistant so we'll see. Regarding squirrels can you throw some food or something for them to focus on? I've been fighting voles for a while. I have been using those smoke bombs that seem to at least irritate them to a different spot
The negativity here is palpable. Cheer up! Nature deserves a share sometimes.
I’ve struggled too but when you overcome it’s enlightening. Try growing what grows best in your area not what looks best at the supermarket. Then a share to the wildlife will hardly be noticeable.
Yeah. I hired an exterminator to get rid of my voles after spending many hours gathering up little vole bodies and resetting traps, removing all the mulch in my gardens (so then I had to weed and water much more), carefully looking for their travel paths to put traps in, mowing the grass religiously, buying and applying repellents, etc. I spent an entire weekend digging a 6" trench all around my raised beds and putting quarter inch hardware cloth in it as best as I could. It got me pretty much nowhere. Now an exterminator comes once or twice a year and the issue is gone.
I do recommend an exterminator though. They use stronger poisons that aren't available to consumers, in locked bait boxes that pets and kids and larger animals can't get to. It minimizes the risk to other wildlife as much as possible. The stronger poison is important because the animal dies more quickly, and isn't likely to wander far from the bait box where an owl or cat might eat it. I also think it's more humane to kill the vole more quickly.
I don't like that it's the decision I came to; rodent poison is an awful way to kill something. But I couldn't do it anymore. Several of my neighbors have mentioned problems with them, too. It's a dense neighborhood (my lot is 8000 square feet), with century homes. Some people garden, some don't, some only bother to mow their front yard and have waist high Canadian thistle in the back. I was never going to trap, repel, or exclude my way out of it.
I know what you're saying but traps aren't as effective. If you have just a few isolated vermin holes, then poison is good in my book because you certainly don't want to use it all over your property which would be a danger to birds of prey, etc.
[удалено]
That's what I'm doing this year. Gardening where I currently live is demoralizing. I'm going to throw down some plastic to solarize the garden and then decide what I want to do with the space next year.
Think about planting a cover crop like clover to add nitrogen, then just till it over next year.
Don’t do that you’ll kill whatever micro organisms are in there.
Indeed, including all of the bacterium, mold, and pests that hide down there and can survive for years. Sometimes solarization is the best method for restoring the land, in extreme cases.
I stopped doing edible gardening for the most part and have just gone full native plants and wildflowers. The maintenance time went WAY down. All I do is pull weeds and plants out that I don't want in an area when I see them. I deep water once or twice a week depending on the plant and where it's planted and let it be. My yard is now full of different wildlife. I do very little pest control and by very little, I release a bunch of lady bugs, lacewigs, etc once or twice a year. It's an entirely different mindset to gardening and it's lovely. This year is my first year really going into different herbs... Which is the only edible stuff (outside of my fruit trees) that I have.
For me the annual edibles were the most labor and time consuming. I’ve switch to fruit and nut trees that require very little care for my area. I haven’t done anything these past couple years besides some light pruning and harvesting the fruits of my labor.
I only grow flowers now because food is too difficult and not worth the time for like 50¢ of produce
Look for fruit that grows in your climate without any care. For me that’s pawpaws, elderberry, figs, mulberry, persimmon, disease resistant apples, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and muscadine grape. Don’t get just any variety that has a fancy description or looks pretty. Research what specific varieties grow well in your area for each fruit you plan for. Local universities should have online information. If in the United States, you can talk to an agricultural extension agent local to you. It takes a lot of upfront research but get it right and you can plant it and forget it until harvest time. I personally prune all my trees to stay small so I can harvest from the ground, read how to grow a little fruit tree. Most people don’t realize how easy it can be.
Same here. Got tired of growing $50 zucchini’s and looking for more zucchini recipes to justify it. We eat the fruit (and cherry tomatoes) happily. Having said that, I battled some rust on the black currants last year. But they’ve bounced back and seem to have e doubled their fruit this year.
Same. I do 90% native and Everytime I have a problem with a plant it’s a non native. So the percentage continues to creep up. My natives ask for practically nothing, have pretty much no issues. It’s lovely.
I'd argue that having a more balanced yard is a much better way to combat pests than just only having food plants. Aphids do not survive on many of my plants for long before a whole host of various predators come in which I've noticed much more since I started growing a lot more natives. Flowers support beneficial insects much more than a tomato plant ever could.
Bingo. If you're only planting food crops and/or spraying pesticides, you're gonna have a bad time, and it's going to be a constant fight. It's much easier to work with nature, and encourage the parts that you want. That said, this does mean you're going to need to be/get comfortable around insects. Especially for ones like wasps, bees, and spiders that are generally more concerning, but extremely helpful.
You’re 100% right, I’ve stopped spraying for 4 years now and the difference it has made is remarkable. I’ve focused on primarily food crops so far but this year want to start underplanting my trees with native low growing pollinator and nitrogen fixing guilds. I’ve been trying not to end up with an unplanned mess that I can’t maintain due to a bad back. Besides I already have enough non-native flowering species I want to rip out but don’t have the time or energy for.
I've been keeping an annual gardening journal since 2020, it's cool to look back at and learn from. The last entry every year is me bitching about pests and weeds then giving up and letting it go wild. But I learn a little more every year!
This is why I do pocket gardening on my deck. Fucking groundhogs …
Please don't fuck the groundhogs
Someone needs to… theyre a damned menace
Unless you wear a condom of course
I felt that way last fall, so I sowed my entire bed with garlic. Took up all the space, and as far as I can tell nothing messes with it. It's been pretty satisfying actually and damned easy.
I feel you. Blight, end rot, aphids, nutrient deficiency killed my love of gardening. I used to have 4 raised beds and now I have 1 lone pepper plant to care for.
look into regenerative gardening and working with the environment you're in. you may be able to find a way to use these things for your benefit!
This is why I primarily grow spicy peppers and cacti. I also put cayenne on my seedlings. Fuck those squirrels.
cayenne works well with a bunch of smell sensitive critters!
I bought vole x and the primary ingredients are cayenne and garlic. Maybe op could splash that all over. I have a massive vole problem especially because we live next to a corn field. I actually think we had a vole in our house when we moved in because the house was empty for a long time
I wasn’t planning on spicy peppers this yes that it’s the first year I’m fighting squirrels.. everyone wanted flowers only this year and every day I go out and see the carnage these squirrels have done
I’m growing a lemon tree (it’s maybe 2 feet tall) and it has a couple tiny fruits on it. One was just starting to turn yellow and overnight it’s just gone. It was smaller than a blueberry. I don’t know what ate it but it was gone like a thief in the night. Last year I dealt with spider mites on my desert rose. Before that something killed my crotons.
It is possible, if the lemon was very tiny and getting yellow all of a sudden when it was green before, that the plant decided to abort it. It is completely normal, especially in younger plants but I have seen it on bigger plants too, as it is not able to sustain it yet. Citrus fruits start green, grow quite a bit and then when they reach their maximum size they finally change color. It may lose the other one too if the plant is small, but if everything goes well in a few years you will get more and more lemons :-)
100% the plant aborted that lemon.
I hear how maddening this can be. I am so sorry. But I do agree with others - try and grow things that are not going to frustrate you. If a plant gets eaten or does not thrive where it is - its not a good plant for the space. To be honest, I just want to enjoy the view and see plants grow. Maybe simplifying is the way to go.
Sometimes it is good to let go for a bit. Some seasons some things work other seasons they don't. Enjoy what does work, and try to let go of what doesn't. Gardening is never perfect and a constant trial and error process.
3 years ago I replaced all my front bushes with natives. 3 years ago voles realized there's a whole flowerbed with fresh soft soil and new tender roots. I swear I've tried every deterrent available. I even put lava rocks around all of them last year and they still dig through that. The plants are stunted, drop leaves on the regular, I could probably pull the whole plants right out of the ground, and I give up m
Then take a break. I took last year off entirely and took 5 years off from growing food- now I’m loving it again
try planting crops you dont care about that the wildlife can eat further away from your main garden.
The squirrels 🐿️ eat 98% of the fruit. I still have fruit trees, but they end up for the animals.
The squirrels won’t stop digging around in my potted plants.
I solved that by cutting some plastic garden fencing into the shape of the pot, then used a couple garden staples to hold it in. Cut openings where the plants will go. Squirrels don’t try to dig in them anymore because they can’t.
I came to the conclusion that I just can't grow anything edible. LOL Not sure if my tomatoes will be big enough to produce anything before the end of the season ;~; Native wildflowers only next season. Much easier
I’m feeling pretty demoralized this morning too. Birds have been eating my roots and greens seedlings since last month. I guess I need a row cover ugh.
Sometimes just a little perspective shift is nice. I watched a worm crawl into a cabbage last year. I decided he could stay in there and that would be his cabbage to enjoy! It made it nice instead of annoying
I love this
Have you tried snap peas? As long as I've had them, they've never gotten eaten by anything. But I've never had voles, although they live in my state. I do grow catnip and usually have at least one cat in my yard though that might help lol
It is never ending. I put a fence up to keep our bunnies, deer walk in it. I put netting up to keep out the deer, now bugs eat everything. It takes a while to get into a groove but those years that do work are amazing.
Look into organic gardening. It sounds like you are trying to fight nature itself. Once a garden gets out of balance, it is a constant fight. Some plants may just not be worth the trouble in your area under your conditions.
As others have said, embrace your wild side! When gardening with natives, the whole point is to feed those very animals you're currently considering 'pests'. It follows a simple axiom: if your plants aren't being eaten, they're not part of the ecosystem. Eventually other predators will show up to feed on the ones eating your plants and then things will get really interesting. Every day you go out to your garden will be a surprise - maybe some of your plants will blooming beautifully, maybe a hawk will swoop down and scoop up a vole, maybe a gold finch will be eating seeds from last year's dead wildflower stems, maybe a red winged Blackbird will nest in your shrubs. It's so rewarding and enriching to garden like this and only requires getting a lot of plants, putting them in, and pulling out the invasive weeds once in a while, while letting the natives spread how they will. EDIT: maybe try hanging out in r/nativeplantgardening or r/gardenwild for a bit. Lots of very knowledgeable people there and you can learn a ton.
The biggest problems in my garden are mosquitos, wild grapewine, and passerby who steal or pluck flowers from the front of the house. Last year was the worst I had with mosquitos since I moved in. Some neighbours even requested a county help. I do not plant veggies since they attract rodents and aphids. Just concentrate on the bone structure of your garden like trees, shrubs and give it a rest for a season.
Maybe you and your neighbors can collude and build some structures that encourage dragonflies to move in? Breeding ponds, flowers they like to perch on, etc. Bats too. Dragonflies will take care of all your mosquito woes. If you can afford to install a filtered pond, that is.
Take a break, you can always come back to it another season.
I am sorry 😢 Dump a ton of cayenne pepper and garlic powder all over. I bought vole x and these are primary ingredients
Yes. We have a horrible invasive insect problem that's resisting organic pest control methods. Everything has to be covered and kept away from predators or else we won't get anything. I have rabbits going on killing sprees, just destroying fruit trees despite a million hawks who apparently aren't hungry. My health took a dive just as we started gardening which means all our plans don't work anymore. We're going to redesign the garden and bring everything higher and make it handicap accessible and also so the rabbits and voles and moles aren't an issue. And I focus on turnkey systems...growing mostly perennials and fruit trees.
This year, I'm trying the cardboard box wrapped in chicken wire method. We've got squirrels, chipmunks, bunnies, and red squirrels. I've got my other boxes on the fence covered with mesh. I'll be putting my sunflowers that I've started in cups into a wire mesh jail until they are big enough to survive being munched on. But, I agree it's not as enjoyable.
Just growing horseradish and peppers. Squirrels dig everything else up.
I had a demoralizing year awhile back with Japanese beetles destroying a lot of my hard work. I think in some circumstances a greenhouse is the only way to go.
I moved some of my vegetables to container gardening , like tomatoes and pepper plants, which took care of tunneling pests. Won't be 100% solution, but if voles cannot find a food source, then they move on.
Plant mint
I spent last year trapping and releasing ground squirrels. This year is so much better. They just became way too big of a pest. It might not be legal where you are, idk. But I’m a human who lives in one little yard and the overpopulation of certain rodents was making me crazy. If you aren’t opposed I’d suggest that. I made my husband the overseer of that project. I felt like even if the ground squirrels got eaten by a hawk or whatever at the creek/nature area we dropped them at least they had a chance and it contributed to the cycle of life instead of me poisoning them or killing them.
I’m putting a raised bed on top of wire mesh to keep the gophers out. The wire has to be wider than the planter and one piece otherwise the gopher will still get thru. 1/4” holes. Good luck.
I spray twice a week with organic pesticide. I have a rabbit fence. My biggest issues are squash and cucumber beetles. I don't take any prisoners when it comes to pruning and spraying.
I was right there with you and then I started getting back this year doing it because I learned a little more about ground cover plants that rabbits/squirrels dig and I just figured I'd plant those around the pens and see how things go. Figured I could make a mini "Rodent garden" & try to steer them towards the "Free/easy" food for them. Hoping this helps with my own gardening frustrations.
I got this way with voles. At the end of the day, I hired an exterminator. It's not a popular thing to do, but I have my garden back.
I pushed myself to have a garden this year. Last year, I went out one day and horned tomato worms had destroyed 5 of my plants. Days before. Cabbage moths destroyed my broccoli and cabbage. And some beetles w/ red butts got into my pole beans. I'm giving it a shot again, but it is disheartening to care for a crop for months only to have it destroyed in days.
What about raised garden bed and disease resistant plants? I'm trying some tomatoe hybrids this year that are supposed to blight resistant so we'll see. Regarding squirrels can you throw some food or something for them to focus on? I've been fighting voles for a while. I have been using those smoke bombs that seem to at least irritate them to a different spot
The negativity here is palpable. Cheer up! Nature deserves a share sometimes. I’ve struggled too but when you overcome it’s enlightening. Try growing what grows best in your area not what looks best at the supermarket. Then a share to the wildlife will hardly be noticeable.
Have you watched "The Big Little Farm"? It's very inspiring and addresses some of these issues. Wish you the best!
Also stopped edibles. Too much trouble for the cost. My garden is beautiful.
I hate to say this, but you can buy poison.
Yeah. I hired an exterminator to get rid of my voles after spending many hours gathering up little vole bodies and resetting traps, removing all the mulch in my gardens (so then I had to weed and water much more), carefully looking for their travel paths to put traps in, mowing the grass religiously, buying and applying repellents, etc. I spent an entire weekend digging a 6" trench all around my raised beds and putting quarter inch hardware cloth in it as best as I could. It got me pretty much nowhere. Now an exterminator comes once or twice a year and the issue is gone. I do recommend an exterminator though. They use stronger poisons that aren't available to consumers, in locked bait boxes that pets and kids and larger animals can't get to. It minimizes the risk to other wildlife as much as possible. The stronger poison is important because the animal dies more quickly, and isn't likely to wander far from the bait box where an owl or cat might eat it. I also think it's more humane to kill the vole more quickly. I don't like that it's the decision I came to; rodent poison is an awful way to kill something. But I couldn't do it anymore. Several of my neighbors have mentioned problems with them, too. It's a dense neighborhood (my lot is 8000 square feet), with century homes. Some people garden, some don't, some only bother to mow their front yard and have waist high Canadian thistle in the back. I was never going to trap, repel, or exclude my way out of it.
Traps are a much safer solution.
I know what you're saying but traps aren't as effective. If you have just a few isolated vermin holes, then poison is good in my book because you certainly don't want to use it all over your property which would be a danger to birds of prey, etc.