Spring has sprung......

[Pford75]

Well...slightly aching today after an over-vigorous weekend gardening.

Lawn treatment & scarifying, digging over the potato beds and trying to repair some major mole damage

Wonder if anyone else faces the same problems - when spring arrives, the house takes a back seat to the garden...or we will quickly be faced with a jungle. I've resolved to enrol myself on a COSHH course for mole/rabbit control, so that I can deal with the little blighters.....anyone in the Norwich/Norfolk area who wants to participate in the course, let me know and I will see if it is possible to have a small group session.

 

[skier-hughes]

M<y wife has been begging for the miserable weather to continue, so she may get a kitchen and bedroom back this year, but alas, the nice weather has put paid to that idea for another season.......

 

[JoceAndChris]

Gosh, I'd love to come, even though I'm in South Lincs. If it is after the 30th April I might have passed my driving test, otherwise could make husband or train driver bring me.

I'm not even bothering with spring crops until I sort out my rabbits.

I spent last Thursday morning ringing pest contol men advertising rabbit elimination by means of traditional methods. (ferrets?) I tried to persuade them that they shouldn't really charge me hundreds of pounds as the rabbits could be sold for about £1 each and I have hundreds. I was universally scoffed at and told "rabbits en't worth nowt duckie". Then I got on the phone to the game stockists and found out they do pay for their rabbits- but no-one would give me the name and number of a ferreter. Dad says if I keep a ferret he will show me his old Gloucestershire tricks, but I think it can't be easy to raise and keep such a cooperative creature.

We shot one, butchered it and ate it. It was a good though slightly traumatic experience. It's too risky to shoot many, so many kiddies play in the fields round here.

 

[Pford75]

We have a neighbour who ferrets on our land...but since he has only recently started, this doesn't quite have the impact necessary...(he caught 2 rabbits in 4 hours)

Moles are a major problem also and most professional pest control will charge quite a bit for the application of phosphides. H&S dictates that 2 people are necessary for the job (3 if it's a large area) and the fumigants are not cheap. So all in, it can easily cost £500 for a single treatment on a sizeable warren or large mole-affected area. Taking the course personally will mean that I can then purchase/apply myself and therefore treat infestation over the course of a season. (You could spend several hundred pounds on professional pest control and have new rabbits/moles move in within weeks)

 

[Feltwell]

Rabbits I can understand being a pain if they eat all your veg, but moles? What do they do except leave piles of earth? Are they also devourers of veg??

MD of my company is obsessed with wanting to get rid of moles beneath the grass verges outside our warehouse, where they are doing no-one any harm. So far we're ignoring his repeated requests to get an extermination company in.

All this said from a man who has neither moles nor rabbits, but you're quite welcome to my bindweed infestation if you want it. And you could take next doors bl**dy cat while you're at it if you like.

I too ache like mad today - beautiful day yesterday, so time to finally dig out that old tree stump that was stopping me putting a new garden shed up. I'd forgotten what a tortous job that is. Compensated largely though by spending the day accompanied by a very tame blackbird, sat about 8 feet away from me, who hopped over every time I stopped work to hunt for worms and grubs where I had been digging.

Let's just hope that aforesaid cat doesn't put paid to that one.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Moles are terribly destructive in a garden where crops or flowers are aimed at. They tunnel underneath and nibble at the root structures, causing death and decimation, and they unearth your tender young plants. If you value the traditional beauty of a smooth English lawn in front of your beautiful country house then moles are out.

Cats on the other hand are highly useful creatures who protect your property from the destruction and filth of mice. Without our wonderful British cats we would be overrun.

Some of my neighbours in London did not give my 7kg British Shorthair the respect he deserves. Now the Victorian terrace is suffering from a plague of mice and they have phoned me, begging me to bring him back in May when I go to service my flat. We are talking about 25 flats he kept clear of mice through his diligent patrols.

Feltwell, I wish you a plague of mice.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Have you considered putting a rabbit-proof fence round the veggie patch, and just living with them eslewhere?

 

[JoceAndChris]

No. If I can find anything that is prettier than galvanised hexagonal mesh and keeps rabbits out then that might be a solution.

But what about my rose garden, herbaceous borders, and lawns?

Mr P, who lived here before us, shot loads. I don't remember even seeing a rabbit when we came house-hunting. (we befriended Mr and Mrs P, and stayed here overnight, and went out with them socially a lot before we bought the house)

Now the rabbits have bred like well,rabbits. One is asleep on the lawn right now, looking so adorable I can't believe I can find it in my heart to kill them.

 

[Pford75]

Have you considered putting a rabbit-proof fence round the veggie patch, and just living with them eslewhere?

Rabbit-proof fencing is a fallacy....unless you are prepared to sink it into the ground, the little blighters will tunnel under it.

Besides, we have an orchard, veg patches and walled gardens....rabbits destroy them all....they eat veg, bulbs, tree bark, patch the lawn etc.

Feltwell - As Joce says, moles destroy plants...they also make a mess of a lawn. Also, anyone with kids will know that football and outside games become dangerous when there is a risk of broken ankles when treading on a bit of lawn which suddenly gives way into a mole tunnel.

 

[Stephen]

If you live in an historic house you may have archaeology in the gardens and if so moles can cause much damage to buried archaeology.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Down with moles.

Moles also eat vast quantities of worms, which are highly necessary for good soil structure.

 

[Moo]

Our lurchers kept two successive gardens clear of mice, pigeons, squirrels and cats. The result was a couple of real nature reserves, full of birds and other assorted beneficial wildlife.
Both gardens are now a bit barren, thanks to the neighbouring moggies who have taken them over, and the lovely people who bought the first house from us were surprised to learn that we'd never had any problems with house-mice.
We weren't rural enough to have a rabbit problem, but my guess is that with the pair of resident hunters they wouldn't have lasted long.

My allotment site (huge - 300 plots!) is also vermin and rabbit free, thanks to the foxes that patrol it.

 

[Feltwell]

Feltwell, I wish you a plague of mice.

Ohhh, a touch harsh. I didn't say that I don't like cats - I do quite like them actually, despite being much more of a dog person - I said I don't like my neighbour's cat.

Here we have a creature whose sole purpose in life seems to be to cr@p in my garden - not good when you have 2 young children running around - and kill the resident wildlife - birds, frogs, sloworms, the list of victims is quite long. If said cat would not kill things and would defecate on it's owner's property I would have no quarrel with it.

Take the point re moles and plants, dangers of collapsing into tunnels etc. I still can't help but feel slightly sorry for them though. And, without moles, one of my children's favourite pastimes would not be possible - going to give the moles a headache.

Yes, when you're 3 years old, putting on your wellies for a short walk to the nearest green and jumping on molehills to "give them headaches" counts as top class entertainment!

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Some do say that moles only stay for 2 years!

 

[JoceAndChris]

Clearly some amongst you have swallowed the ridiculous scapecatting that goes on regarding cats and wildlife. If wilderness areas abound and butterfly/bee attracting plants are planted there is no reason for the presence of cats to affect the density of other wildlife. The odd slow-worm, frog or bird death should not affect things much. Where there is food for birds they will come in profusion. A nature pond should have hundreds of frogs.

I cannot imagine a dog could discriminate between animals you wanted terrorising and animals you didn't. I have seen many dogs breaking into this garden here and upsetting my pheasants and hedgehogs. As a little girl I had a Rottweiler who was a menace to everything that moved.

A cat, on the other hand, will leave larger creatures alone. A good British Shorthair, well trained by its owner, as I have trained mine, will not eat a bird. He is too heavy and slow, and he knows it upsets me.

Feltwell, I unwish the plague as you are very nice and clearly have extremely cute children. Presumably you know about the ways to stop cat visits: throw the stuff back in his territory, spread round lion excrement, squirt him with water? Although how anyone could be anything less than honoured by the visitation of a cat I cannot imagine.

 

[AMc]

http://fwd.five.tv/gadgets/toys/flash-flood-super-soaker

Should give you tips to deal with the moggy menace. I love cats but no one wants them cr@ping in their garden

 

[Penners]

I've resolved to enrol myself on a COSHH course for mole/rabbit control.

Do moles and rabbits really qualify as "Substances Hazardous to Health"? :?

Rabbits I can understand being a pain if they eat all your veg, but moles?

Nope. Bad luck. Rabbits definitely don't eat moles. :wink:

 

[Flyfisher]

I've resolved to enrol myself on a COSHH course for mole/rabbit control, so that I can deal with the little blighters.....anyone in the Norwich/Norfolk area who wants to participate in the course, let me know and I will see if it is possible to have a small group session.

I might be interested in a mole control course - we're inundated with the things. However, I'd prefer alternatives to chemical warfare, especially if the chemicals are going to cost around £500 as I'm not sure they are that much of nuisance. I've also been told it's very difficult to completely eradicate moles; once killed and removed, others will move in.

 

[Feltwell]

Feltwell, I unwish the plague as you are very nice and clearly have extremely cute children.

Much as beauty is in the eye of the beholder (or is that beer-holder?), the cuteness of both children and pets is without doubt linked to if they are yours or not. I'll send the kids round to you if you want, test the theory and see if they can get rid of your moles.

Presumably you know about the ways to stop cat visits: throw the stuff back in his territory, spread round lion excrement, squirt him with water?

Chucking the poo back in his territory is out I'm afraid, as they have young kids too. I know Ebay sells everything but even then I'm not sure about lion poo. Water is a definte favourite, I like AMc's suggestion! Most effective method so far is dog-sitting for the in-laws Alsation. A couple of chases up the garden with the world's softest and most stupid alsation close behind and we were cat-free for 3 months.

 

[MdB]

http://www.crocus.co.uk/product/_/tools/pest-control/silent-roar-lion-manure/classid.2000004185/