After that first devastating spring, I was determined.
I bought wire mesh. Lined every bulb hole before planting. Spent 11 hours doing it.
Spring came. The mesh had been pushed aside. Bulbs gone.
Year two I tried repellent sprays. Castor oil granules. Predator urine.
Smelled terrible. Neighbors complained.
Voles didn't care.
Year three I called a pest control company. They came out, looked around, and offered me a monthly treatment plan.
"How long until they're gone completely?" I asked.
The guy scratched his head.
"With voles, gone completely isn't really how it works."
"What does that mean?"
"It means we can reduce the population. But they'll keep coming back. That's just vole behavior."
I paid him for one visit. Never called again.
That night I sat at my kitchen table staring at my empty garden journal.
Three years of planting. Three springs of nothing.
$340 spent on solutions that didn't solve anything.
I needed to understand why. Not just what to do next.