Moleplant
Moleplant
Euphorbia lathyrus
This groovy biennial is also called Gopher Spurge as it puts a volatile oil in the soil that ground animals avoid. We plant these throughout the vegetable garden to discourage the critters. This is not a perfect fix but it is an excellent contribution to Integrated Pest Management, working along with other solutions.
Grow it as a Biennial in lower elevations, but up high you will have to grow it as an annual. We plant it with the vegetables outside and then let a few bloom in the greenhouses. They produce a green flower with green seed pods that ripen to brown.
Easy to grow - no pre-treatment necessary. I start them in plug trays and plant the plugs right in. Vigorous growers. In the greenhouse, they can reach 12'! Outside, more like 12-18". Non-invasive.