Garden crash!

[minz]

I put in the garden this year same as since ’96 and this year I got back from vacation to find a solid 3” field of weeds. I had multiple sections I could not find a single vegetable. 
In my raised beds the only part of the cucumbers that I could find was a stem with no leaves.  The peas were actually eaten  to the ground.  I got out about a pound of slug bait, two rabbit traps and replanted.  Same results.  I went as far as to hit the raised beds with Seven (so much for being organic). Still not a single cucumber or even a zucchini.  The zucchini generally grow where you drop the seeds in the driveway. 
I need to determine what it is that is decimating my garden so that I can destroy it!
I also got back from vacation to find a mole came into the yard and made the biggest mounds I have ever seen.  It took me almost two days to kill that SOB, but identification is the key.
Ideas?

[riverbee]

"I went as far as to hit the raised beds with Seven"

minz sevin?  sevin kills honey bees....

[LazyBkpr]

Are the weeds just over running the garden or is something eating your shoots when they start?

   I had deer after my garden and my apple trees..   It took dropping one by the apple trees and one in the garden to convince them it was not a good place to forage..
   My Rabbit problem has gone down quite a bit since we got a couple outside cats, but I still give them lead poisoning when I see them..

   In an effort to have "some" edible vegies and sweet corn I have run the gamut of natural deterrents. Powdered lime, smelly sprays etc, etc..
   I have reverted to using insecticides, though not seven..   I spray it on at night and when there are no blossoms to draw the bees.  I have not had a problem yet, but suppose it comes down to making sure I rotate the comb often to keep the bad stuff from building up.
   I also make sure to thoroughly till my garden. Once in the fall, once EARLY in the spring, then again before I plant.  I still get a lot of weeds that have to be pulled, but also try to plant my rows far enough apart that I can run the tiller between the rows to save some backache..

[mamapoppybee]

What are the grasshoppers in you area like this year? they can devastate crops. If you don't see them i would start looking towards deer. Free ranging chickens are great on grasshoppers. For deer i have herd every thing from aluminum pie pans with some washers and nuts tied to them so they make noise and reflect light to a bar of Irish spring in pantyhose tied in your garden to create a human scent deturant. Or if you have an old man getting him to go and water round the edges with his natural hose. I did not have good success with the pie pan thing. Deer were a big reason for me moving my veggies this year. Ate okra near down to the ground cheeky buggers.

[mamapoppybee]

for your moles you need some wind mills they put vibrations into the ground that the lil critters dont like. We have some great cats that leave me a mole head on the porch if the buggers wander into our yard.

[brooksbeefarm]

My brothers and i would stand over a mole run with a hoe late in the evening and wait till we seen the mound move, then dig him out quick (back before TV and I pods ). I now wait with a 20 GA. sitting in a lawn chair and have blown them out of the ground . Coons i trap out of the sweet corn and put up a 4 wire elect. fence. Deer i hide in the corn field early mourn. and late in evening with a shot gun, you only have to burn there Butts once or twice and they are fast learners. Yep, i'm a red neck. Jack

[riverbee]

deer, woodchuck, rabbits.

most likely deer ate your peas to the ground, and the woodchuck got the zucchini and cucumber. deer don't like the leafy greens off these plants.

minz, still blown away that you used sevin, read the label on it.

[Jen]

Hi Mama! "a bar of Irish spring in pantyhose tied in your garden to create a human scent deturant. Or if you have an old man getting him to go and water round the edges with his natural hose.

If nothing else that would be entertaining as all get out. Always enjoy your posts

[Jen]

Brook- "I now wait with a 20 GA. sitting in a lawn chair and have blown them out of the ground   ~~~ "Deer i hide in the corn field early mourn. and late in evening with a shot gun, you only have to burn there Butts once or twice and they are fast learners. Yep, i'm a red neck. Jack

Either sound like good idea just for the sport of it 

[minz]

It was nothing but clean dirt and I watered in the Sevin.  To be honest I had used it before and it even killed all the worms so I swore I would not use it again.  The only thing in bloom even close is the tomato’s
The ground is so soft that I can see where the cat walked across the raised beds.  I was thinking slugs but the slug bait usually kills them pretty quick on bare ground (nothing else to eat).
I think I have a root maggot or root weavel. The peas all bear the notched leaves and they have decimated full sized rhodies.  I still think that the atomic bomb I put to them should have knocked them down.  I am thinking though that they are breeding heavy off of the rhodies and spreading to my garden.
(Ed Hume is a big name in gardening and he mentions them in his site and in his books).

[minz]

As for the Mole I use Cinch Traps.  I got him in about a day.