Allotments 4 All

Was it a rabbit?  We do have invading rabbits- is this something they would do?  I also found fox excrement.  Would a fox eat sweet corn ?(only the young leaves as yet!)

My bet would be the pigeons. XX Jeannine

Was anything else touched or was it fenced off i think it rather strange that a rabbit only touched your sweetcorn iff other veg was available normally its the leek tops and brassica first

The corn was in the same bed as sprouts, which weren't touched, but in the next bed the caulis and cabbages that went out just last week were decimated.  I was talking to another plotholder who told me the pigeons had been at his, so that's probably what happened- I guess it's going to have to be netting!

It is definitely pigeons. Cover them.  Nets are the easiest answer, at least until the plants are a bit bigger.

No need to totally cover, just make it so that the birds do not feel comfortable to take off and fly away if a predator is around.

It can be a bit fiddly to put in place and will take up time better spent on something else unfortunately.

Do I just roll out the netting and put pots underneath to support it? And weigh the edges down of course!

This my way;



OK my supports were not made for this bed but my other supports are in use but this is sufficient for the time being.

When the plants are about 9"-12" high I will take it off!

That looks good, but I'm not sure where to get the blue stuff from?  I aready have netting.

The blue pipe is standard 25mm mdpe normally used for waterpipes, it's available from any builders merchants or agricultural merchants.

This is the stuff but shop around & you should find it for about half the price.
http://www.wickes.co.uk/MDPE-Pipe/invt/425072?source=123_4

I was advising on an earlier thread that I would try strong black cotton along rows using 'split canes'.
The flying rats didn't touch a plant until I wasn't there for two days.
They stripped the brassicas in that time. Spent today netting the plants which should recover & shot 5 of the barstewards!
>:( >:(
The plants below the trees they 'shag in' were the worst affected. Lesson in there somewhere?

Badgers are a nuisance around here, they may have been scruffling (Is that a word??? who knows...I like the sound of it  ;D) around newly planted crops looking for worms etc.

Well, I put in some more sweet corn ,gave them a cane each, and ran some netting around loosely- three days later they're still there. :D