Allotment disaster

[Nicos]

Thanks Nicos and crikey moses about the baby bunny!! I've often wondered whether that kind of thing could happen. I dread to ask what you did with the trapped now teenage bunny...

OH released him in the field nearby!

( it'd been hiding amongst the potato top growth!!)

[veggiechicken]

Yours is a "real" disaster, Noosner, not one of the pale imitations

[Noosner]

Phew (Nicos)! and Thanks (VC)! One thing about this disaster, it's upped my number of posts! This is number 500...

[Noosner]

... and I'm a Tuber! Whoopeee!!!!

[veggiechicken]

[Raybon]

All relative.
Aunty Raybon

[Bren In Pots]

p.s. I've just seen that this thread has had over 1700 visits! I think that's because the title has the word 'disaster' in it. We all want to reassure ourselves that other people have disasters too, as someone said on the thread that VC started recently.

I keep coming back to the thread hoping you've managed to deter whatever's been eating your veg, it must be so disheartening.

[Noosner]

Thanks Bren and Raybon. I popped down to lottie this evening and I don't think there has been any further damage. But that's probably because nearly everything has been eaten now! I've bought a big roll of chicken wire, the 4' high sort, and have put some round two lots of the runner beans/peas, held in with 5' canes and tent pegs. It isn't very high tech but I think it will hold the beasts back while we're on hols. The beans are showing signs of regeneration but I'm not the peas will come back now as they've had two attacks.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to fence off the main pea/bean area and also a whole raised bed which I can then plant my seedlings in before we go away. Not sure whether to bother with the 4 sweetcorn or not, since all the other corn has been eaten and I'm not sure 4 is enough for pollination purposes.

I read somewhere that once plants are fully grown, rabbits don't bother with them. Is that true? Also, my squashes (spaghetti squash and crown prince) haven't been attacked at all. I have 2 courgette plants too and was planning to take the cloches off before we go away. Can I risk it, do you think?!?

[Noosner]

Arternoon folks. Just wanted to pen an update in case anyone's interested.

Mr Noosner and I spent all day at lottie. He dug a trench near next door's chicken wire fence and we quickly saw several holes in the underground part of the wire. It had rusted (maybe it wasn't good quality, maybe all wire rusts underground, we didn't know) and rabbits had simply gnawed through it - in three very obvious places.

So we shored up most of the length of it with extra chicken wire, dug in to about another 6" depth.
While he was on the other side of the fence, in the jungle that is the next door plot (it's abandoned), several rabbits actually came to watch him work!

I made several chicken mesh pens for my new batches of seedlings and to go round my poor ravaged peas and beans (which are happily already showing signs of new growth!)

On a fellow plot holder's advice, I went and fetched the dog. She was very obliging and we were able to decorate the bottom of the fence (on the other side) with her t*rds.

I don't think we could have done more so let's hope it works. If the peas and beans regrow, the only real loss will be this year's strawberry crop. That does rankle. But I must, as they say, 'move on'!

And thanks so much for all your support and advice over this folks - it is MUCH appreciated.

[Greenleaves]

Keep us all posted Noosner, I am sure you will snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat ( or rabbits)

[Chippy Minton]

Well done for not completely losing the plot! (No pun intended, only just spotted one...) For what it's worth we lived in Sweden for a while and had a terrible problem with deer (they do so love a tulip bud, the beloved flower of all of our neighbours!). We grew a load of courgettes, making a hedge in effect, and had no problem with anything inside, they really didn't like the spiky leaves. Who was it that said, make your plot less inviting than someone else's

[Raybon]

Deer Chippy Minton, I hope your roe of courgettes will work for Noosner, we can get in a rut with the same old ideas. It won't cost a lot of doe, either.
I hope you have a good hol Noosner, nice and sunny, with very little reindeer.
Oh, I do like a pun.
Sorry!

[bearded bloke]

I got it figured at last,run the wizard of oz on an endless loop
















That'll sort the buggers















Why ? I hear you ask


















Be cause ,I say

[Noosner]

Yes, CM, courgettes and squashes really don't seem palatable to the nibbling brigade. Hurrah for furry leaves!

Raybon, I have never seen so many puns per square inch!! You deserve a medal.

BB, I would be scared if I met those characters on a dark night, with or without a gun!

[Raybon]

What do you call a deer with no eyes?
No eye-deer.
What do you call a deer with no eyes that doesn't move?
Still no eye-deer.
What do you call a deer on Noosner's plot?
All the names under the sun!
Hope things are working out for you.