!@#$% Voles in a !@#$% Raised Bed!

Fall cleanup has begun, and today I was working out front, in the large raised bed by the street. Full disclosure - I hadn't done any weeding or cleanup since early August, as most of that month and all of September were bone-dry, and the ground rapidly became like poured cement. Imagine my shock and dismay, then, when I came to the area around my 'Sungold' buddleia and discovered massive amounts of dirt pushed around. Worse still, I went to yank some deqd iris foliage off of a rhizome and found myself holding the entire rhizome itself! Upon clearing the remaining leaves, I found multiple holes all around the area - voles had gotten in and set up serious housekeeping, I thought. Oh, joy. As I moved over slightly to the right of the buddleia to begin eliminating the out-of-control comfrey that was providing the voles safety, heads began popping out of some of the holes, then popping back in again. Definitely voles; no question about it. By now, I was really honked off - getting every last bit of comfrey out of that bed put me light years behind with everything else that needs to be done. Once I finished that obnoxious chore, I decided that half-measures just wouldn't do - I got my last container of Shake-Away granules and dumped a goodly amount down the largest two holes, filled them in with the excavated dirt, stamped around noisily, then scattered the rest of the granules around the area. All I can say is, this bloody well better work. I don't dare mulch this bed now until the ground starts freezing in earnest and that could mean that I'll be doing it in a snowstorm! Meantime, maybe I'd better buy stock in the Shake-Away company.......