Rodent wars

I have been having trouble in my vegetable garden with what I suspected were possums - there is at least one family of possums living somewhere in my street - but what I now think might be a rodent of some kind.  I suspect it's a rodent because I have a net around my garden and I haven't seen any evidence of a possum break-and-enter. It IS possible for a possum to get in under the net in a couple of spots but it's not possible for it to get in and leave the net undisturbed, which is what's happening.  Also, things are being nibbled very neatly, whereas possums tend to lean on things and knock them over, and to rip off all the tomatoes and leave the ones they don't want.  My vegetable thief is much neater and more fastidious than that... so I'm thinking rodent. Ugh.

I was given a possum-deterrent tip which should also work for other creatures.  The tip is to smear Dencorub or Vaporub (something very smelly and unpleasant) around the edges of the garden and, in my case, the edges of the pots.  It needs to go anywhere their paws might land - they don't like it on their paws at all; and eventually they will identify that garden as the one with the nasty, smelly stuff that gets all over your paws, and leave it alone.

So yesterday afternoon I went out to my garden armed with a pot of Home Brand Chest Rub (I'm not buying the name brand stuff for a rodent) and a pair of disposable gloves, because I am a princess when it comes to dirty hands.  I applied the goo liberally over the edges of all the pots, parts of the trellis and the edges of the garden.  I won't know for a while if it's working because the culprit hasn't been coming every day.

I'll tell you what, though... every time I go near the garden my sinuses clear almost immediately.
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