You know I thought gardening was a fairly placid activity, I had no idea it could be fraught with such peril.

I've just recovered from the threat to my roses, which seem to be doing very well - fingers and toes crossed - and now the rest of the garden is in jeopardy.

On top of that, now I hear about Rick's night time activities, oy!

Our next door neighbour is going to borrow a humane trap from his father-in-law. The F-I-L catches raccoons and takes them out into the country where they will have happier lives and hopefully our groundhog will be welcomed.

In the meantime, does anyone knows of anything that will discourage these vegetarian rodents from making a meal out of my plants - are they put off by cayenne pepper or garlic? Would they like wine with their meal or would that offend them? Maybe they're vegans and I could spray the garden with milk? Time to go lie down, I think it's getting to me.

Thanks for your help

Duckboots