The trouble with growing your own veg....

[Hippychick]

.... is that everyone else seems to want to eat it aswell!!  

Not only am I snail and slug catching, rabbit chasing, pigeon scaring and cat deterring I'm also having to fight off a queue of friends and family eargerly awaiting this years produce and all the jams, chutneys and pickles that will hopefully result from that harvest.  (although the  human queue isn't so bad as some have offered the odd bottle of red wine in return!!) ;D

So for anyone having the same problem, keep your chin up and your netting down!!  For anyone interested I have found a slug and snail killer, that is organic and friendly to children, pets and wildlife, but is a little slow working and they do have a nibble before slithering off to die.

Also if anyone has problems with pigeons, my husband shoots them ( not on the allotment obviously, it might damage the veg!!) and has devised a deterrent that allows your brassicas etc to grow however tall they wish whilst keeping the birds off.  Make a cage, without a top around the stuff you want to protect a little smaller that a pigeons wing span, about as wide as one row of purple sprouting broccoli.  It needs to be a little higher than the plants and is best made from netting as they cannot land ontop of it to feed.  There are arguments that a wire around the top will have the same effects, but we have to protect the bottom of our plants from hungry bunnies!

Sorry if either of my solutions are already in mass use, but I  thought any ideas are worth posting, even if it only saves a couple of our lovely veg plants!

[Hippychick]

[MrsKP]

i quite like your hubbie's method of dealing with the pigeons.   ;D

[suzylou]

Please tell me about the slug killer, they have to go!! :P

[TEL]

Any chance of a pic of your ideas please ;)

[valmarg]

There is the other end of the spectrum - the pleasures of growing your own fruit and veg!!

All right you are in competition with all the yukkie grubs, bugs, slugs, snails, etc, but they don't get all the crop.

The day you go out into your garden and pull your first carrots, pick your first french/runner beans, courgettes, peas, tomatoes, strawberries.  I could go on, and on  (like a ten bob watch), but  that's what makes growing your own all worthwhile, not to mention the joy of eating them.

They irritate, the bugs etc, but, despite their best efforts, we do end up with a reasonable crop, don't we?

valmarg

[Spookyville]

For anyone interested I have found a slug and snail killer, that is organic and friendly to children, pets and wildlife, but is a little slow working and they do have a nibble before slithering off to die.

yes please - what is the secret ??  :)

[MollyBloom]

Wild pests you just have to deal with however you can. The two-legged "gimme-summa-dat" pests can be dealt with VERY easily - the word is "no" (the full sentence is "if you want home-grown fruit & veg, I'll tell you how to grow it, or I'll sell you my surplus"). Sorry, I'll probably upset loads of people with this, but I just can't stomach the sunnink-fer-nuffink brigade!

[Hippychick]

Valmarg - I couldn't agree more.  Even though the rabbits ate a good third of our baby carrots the other 2 thirds tasted far better than anything available in the shops.  I'm a great believer in putting maximum effort in for maximum taste. ;D

Molly - I guess I'm just a push over.  Although when i was a teenager my Mum said my favourite word was no.  I must practice more!! :-\

Sorry am unable to provide any photos at this moment in time as have not advanced to a digital camera yet!!  Any photos I have on my pc have been taken by Grandma!!  Hopefully soon technology will reach me!

The slug killer comes in the form of granuals and is called Slug Stoppa.  Its available from The Organic Gardening Catalogue at www.OrganicCatalogue.com

http://www.organiccatalog.com/catalog/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=slug%20stoppa&search_in_description=0&sort=1a&page=2

You have to reapply it after heavy rain, but so far so good.  Also I'm a great supporter of these people as they do alot of work with the HDRHA

Good luck with the slimy critters!!(and the feathered, furred and many legged ones too if it comes to that)!

Hippychick

[saddad]

You can pick it up at B+Q and presumably other supermarket chains like Homebase.. the active ingredient is something like Ferric Sulphate not Metha what ever it was!
;D