Grow Your Own Needs Your Help!

[Emma Ward]

With tender shoots poking their way through the soil, now is an exciting time for fruit and veg growers. After all your hard work so far, the last thing you need is an unwanted visitor munching through your patch! There are lots of well-known tips to keep slugs, snails and other small pests away - so this month we would like you to tell us how you manage larger plot invaders.

Has your patch become the favourite eatery for a badger? Are pigeons ruining your ripe fruits? Do rabbits make quick work of your lettuces?

We want to know what steps you can take to keep these larger nuisances from ruining your harvest. The more creative (and hopefully non-violent) the better!

Your responses may be published in the May issue of Grow Your Own.

Thanks
Emma

[HeyWayne]

Chicken mesh is your friend.

One of my adjoining plots was a mass of bramble - a haven for rabbits and there was evidence of them everywhere.

A rabbit proof fence was required. I made mine of old pallet 'bearers', chicken mesh, bull wire and plenty of staples (the hammer in type, not the stationery type!).

Dug a ditch 1ft deep by 1ft wide all the way round the plot - and placed posts every couple of metres. Rolled the chicken wire out and made a 90 degree 'fold' so that the chicken mesh ran along the bottom of the ditch to the outer side of the fence. This stops rabbits digging down and under the mesh. Tacked it all into place, back filled the ditch and then strung the bull wire along the top edge of the fence 3ft (minimum) from the ground.

One area that oft gets neglected is the gate. I hung the gate as close to the ground as reasonable, and then dug out a 'doormat' underneath. I then laid chicken mesh on the mat and back filled it in with the earth/sod.

Haven't found a rabbit dropping on the plot since.

I also have chicken wire wrapped around the trunk of my apple tree (outside the fenced area) to stop deer from munching the bark.

[vicky]

Another vote for chicken wire!
We have done the entire garden in 6ft wire to keep pests in (the children!) and also enclosed the veggie gardens in fine mesh chicken wire that's buried in the soil. So (hopefully) the rabbits and chickens can't get in to destroy it all....
Tommy the cat is also a good rabbiter and is available for hire!

[pdblake]

I use netting and chicken wire for keeping pigeons and cats (and chickens) off crops. Old CD's and tin foil on a string keep smaller birds away.

I had trouble with a couple of dogs breaking through the hedge a couple of years back and had to cover the raised beds with heavy duty mesh, the same kind I use on the chicken run, until planst are established. Then I net as usual.

[HeyWayne]

One more thing to consider - make sure the chicken mesh is galvanised. Mine wasn't and is rusty in places so will need replacing sooner than if it was galv.

[lottie dolly]

another chicken wire user,we tend to get badgers on our plots when the weather is very hot,and they cannot get food easy,2 years ago they made a mess of the carrots,dug up some potatoes,and had other peoples sweetcorn,we have made a wood frame covered with chicken wire aprox 4ft high,done in 4 separate bits for easy store or move if wanted,we have incorparared a gate into 1 side for easy access,it was just the ticket last year,as for carrots,are still going through ideas involving wondermesh for the carrot fly,and the good old chicken wire to try and badger proof them,or at least deter them,to maybe make some lift of tunnel/cloches,
pigeons,all you can do is net things,the black pond netting it better for fruit cages,as it lets the pollinators in,or some net curtains draped over,and vegies,debri netting/voil/wondermesh,to keep out not only the flying rats,also the other bugs and butterflies ext,what you can get free or cheaper the better

[jackyspratty]

if you are plagued by squirrels as we are, grating a bar of soap over pots where you have planted bulbs deters them

[binley100]

Our beds have boards round them to define the areas , chicken wire round them and pegged down . Then the paths inbetween thick layers of newspapers wetted so they go hard like paper mache and covered with chippings. So far nothings dug through into the beds. Fingers crossed.

[richkw]

Barbed wire entanglements, razor wire, a mine field, 4 machine gun posts.......and a Bull Terrier!

[Hans Mum]

Pigeons are stripping anything they can get at so I cover all my winter veggies with netting over blue water pipe hoops, for my soft fruits (currants, strawberries, etc) in summer as soon as the fruit looks like its starting to ripen I have old net curtains which i drape over & peg/clip securely otherwise I would never harvest anything. This year I will also be putting net curtains over my cherries as the birds had a go at them last year too DD says my fruit bushes look like brides from a distance

[OllieMartin]

Barbed wire entanglements, razor wire, a mine field, 4 machine gun posts.......and a Bull Terrier!

And still you're infested with Smurfs!

[Emma Ward]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your replies - these all sound very effective From what you've told me chicken wire is a must-have when deterring larger pests. Do you find that you need to combine this with anything else? Do you find any plants are effective at keeping animals away?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts

Em

[vicky]

Cut lengths of holly placed on the ground are useful to stop the cats 'doing anything' in that freshly turned over soil!

[Jardiniere]

hey...i have sanglier (wild boar) come down onto my plot in the winter and NOTHING keeps them out except electric fencing which i dont have! So this year they ate all my jerusalem artichokes which i had left in the ground ...however they didnt touch anything else.......so maybe i'll leave j a's for the next year!

[Glutton4...]

I had a problem with Rabbits chewing my newly-emerging Garlic and Onions in the Autumn. Luckily I had a couple of spare Heras-type fencing panels leftover from making my Chicken run (the type you see round building sites). I laid these over the raised beds and they can't dig or chew through!