This was the 8th morning in a row that I’ve looked out the French doors to see this! Every day I replant the container, sometimes having to replace flowers that are too damaged to stay. Every night a raccoon digs it all out. Damage is not confined to just this planter, but the other 5 planters on the deck are also targets. 
They knocked over the smaller ceramic planter near the garage side door and now it’s cracked. 
And they are not content to just dig in containers. Saturday night raccoons dug out nearly all the things I’d planted earlier in that day in the potager …64 snapdragons, 96 calendulas, a dozen broccoli, several tomatoes and over 40 of the viola edging plants. That was the last straw! So, I set a live-trap, baiting it with popcorn, and caught a raccoon which was relocated far, far away. The next morning all the prior damage was repeated! They even began digging out the shallots that have been in the ground a month! 
The trap was re-set and baited with popcorn and peanut butter….and another raccoon was caught and taken for a joy-ride. But apparently his friends had another busy night. Look over all the photos again, because that is what I saw this morning, plus all the things I planted yesterday in the potager 
were lying on the ground. Flats were tipped over. 
And, they dumped most of the containers that were by the patio doors as well. I’ve borrowed a second trap from my neighbors. This is WAR!
On the plus side…did you see how beautifully green the grass is? And the fact that it is warm enough to even plant the containers is wonderful. See, I’m trying to be positive!
herbalblessingsblog 
Aw, so frustrating & disappointing!
LikeLike
We’ve battled armadillos and rabbits in the past. (Though I’m pretty tolerant of the bunnies!) Good luck with the traps. Surely you’ll be able to evict the whole clan sooner or later!
LikeLiked by 2 people
You are way more positive than I would have been. But good news that you are catching them. I hope they are being relocated several states away.
LikeLike
No, we can only move them within our county, according to state law, in order to prevent disease spread. Unfortunately, our county is one of the smallest in the state. I suspect we get lots of “relocated” coons since we have woods on two sides of our property and across the road, too.
LikeLike
Oh I hate it when critters eat and damage our hard work in the garden. My culprits tend to be the rabbits and deer, but I do occassional see racoons that dig up my garden too. It is war! and I wish you much succes!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
WOW that is awful. yes the grass is nice and green ,but…..I had one dig up a complete fairy garden one night , and TAKE some of the decorations with him……I imagine Mr Raccoon at home nicely decorating with gnomes and tiny birdhouse……it sounds as if you have a whole family.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hmmm. Guess I should be glad I have the destructive kind rather than the thieving variety! Yours has good taste. I guess I wouldn’t be so upset if they actually ate what they dug up, but they just dump and dig, searching for my beneficial earthworms as well as grubs. I must eliminate them before the strawberries begin to form. Last year was a huge battle over who got the berries, and even with netting, they got most!
LikeLike
I relocated 2 raccoons earlier this year that had lived in my crawl space all winter. They pulled down all the insulation that now needs to be replaced. They are frustrating creatures, but they have never dug up my plants. They just wait until everything is ripe and then eat it. Unfortunately we have a never ending supply of raccoons, squirrels, possums, rabbits, deer, and skunks, so a battle is almost always on with one of them, and I live in the city.
LikeLike
We have all the wildlife you have as well, but raccoons do the most damage. And, after cleaning out the trap after the first catch, I found a tick on my arm. Not a brown, shiny wood tick, but a deer tick that can be a carrier of Lyme disease.
LikeLike
Wow! I didn’t know they did that. Guess we have been really lucky! So sorry they are destroying your garden and containers.
LikeLike
Heart breaking.
LikeLike
I admire your good attitude. What rude and disappointing visitors those raccoons are!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I would suggest only potting up one container and holding all your other items in a safe place for a week or ten days – as long as it takes to catch & release. Then proceed to bait & catch the rest of the raccoon group. Expect anywhere from 5 to 15 raccoons.
They will eat anything. I don’t know how effective repellents are, some people have had success with mothballs. You can inquire with your extension service or your local AGRI marketplace for a deterrent.
LikeLiked by 2 people
That’s exactly what I have done. Only one container is freshly planted for this year. The others had perennials left from last year, but all the new plants are still in the greenhouse or hardening off. My friend caught 33 last year, my next-door neighbor caught 17…..
LikeLike
Sounds like you’ve got quite a battle on your hands, Carole. Thank goodness this isn’t something we have to deal with in Britain. Anyway, I hope you get it sorted.
LikeLike
Goodness, that sounds a dreadful problem for a gardener. The worst I am battling is slugs and snails that have loved the wet weather this spring. Do raccoons have a homing instinct? Snails do!
LikeLike
I’m not sure about a homing instinct, but probably. I wonder about all the city folks who trap raccoons and drop them off here in the country, and then we capture them and move them to a distant wooded area (although it must be within our county, for that is the law to prevent disease spread) where they meander around until they find someone else to hassle and provoke. We have woods on two sides, so maybe others are dropping off their deportees for me!
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a pain! Hope your trapping is successful.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not surprised your frustrated. Here in England the worst I have to battle with is squirrels and slugs. Hope you find a solution.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Poor you. After all your hard work. Hope you win the war!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh No! That is awful and must be SO frustrating. I hope those buggers know they are in for it!!! Good luck in your battle!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ugh! I feel your pain. I believe it’s raccoons digging up my gardens too. I netted my gardens so they can’t dig them up anymore. Thankfully they have left my containers alone.
LikeLike
So sorry to hear this, Carolee. The raccoons took our entire second crop of sweet corn last year. When we raised chickens, it was a constant battle. (Plenty of woods nearby.) The varmints would would break into the chicken house and kill the chickens, not even eating them! We caught about 16 one summer. And be very cautious when you are releasing them; some are quite vicious and may turn on you. They certainly are not the cute little bandits commercials would have you believe.
LikeLike
How frustrating! We have deer that eat everything to ground level sporadically. Hope that you find a solution.
LikeLike
The deer really pruned the berries this year! I’m hoping I still get some, but it looks a little bleak now.
LikeLike
Oh my gosh! So frustrating. And how kind you are to live-trap them. Hope you catch them all.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is terrible! And so upsetting. I do hope you can find a solution soon 🙁
LikeLike
Me, too!
LikeLike
Oh, my! You have my sympathy. We once had raccoons making us crazy at our lake house. I planted 150 spring bulbs along the lakeside border of our property and the following morning every single one of those bulbs was dug up and eaten. I hope those rascally raccoons got tummy aches from that feast. One night my hubby went down to the dock to do a little night fishing and a raccoon was so bold that he was snatching the fish out of hubby’s creel as fast as he could catch them. Installing motion detection lights on the deck and dock helped somewhat…at least reduced the frequency of destruction.
You might find some of the suggestions on this blog post helpful: https://www.homeremedyhacks.com/17-simple-home-remedies-to-get-rid-of-raccoons/
LikeLike
Thank you for the suggestions. I’ve had raccoons in the past, but never this bad.
LikeLike
Every sympathy!! My current problem is mice digging up and eating pea and bean seed. At least I have never had to battle with raccoon.
LikeLike
Heartbreaking. My sister lost all her first sowing of peas and beans in her greenhouse to mice. That’s easily solved with sheets of wire mesh under and on top of the containers, but racoons—? I’m so glad we don’t get them in England. Hope you can find a way to deter them.
LikeLike
How rotten. I had one a few years back that took one bite out of each tomato, but that was nothing compared to this wanton damage.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We don’t have raccoon problems, but rather squirrels that like to dig up my containers. I have started attaching chicken wire over the tops of my planters and now they leave them alone. Good luck with the raccoons; they are pesky.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We’re having similar problems with raccoons on our patio/outdoor room in Hicksville, OH. The coons even got into the tall dog food container where I keep bird seed and scattered that all over so we had a feeding frenzy all day and into the night with the birds! Now we have the bird seed container wedged under a table…raccoons are soooo destructive. We used to camp and they would drag away coolers on rollers so they could tip them over and have their way down the street….
LikeLike
Coons are sneaky, and apparently can do almost anything a 3 yr. old human can do except talk!
LikeLike