Spring has sprung......

[Feltwell]

Good Lord - I had no idea you could buy that!

Beats the organic repellant I tried a while back - that stank so badly (mostly of garlic) that it was more effective in keeping us away from the garden!

 

[JoceAndChris]

It's amazing isn't it?

If you bring her round here you will not get her back.

 

[Feltwell]

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

I wasn't sure about the Suffolk ones Penners. They're a funny bunch down there. :wink:

Feltwell (a Norfolk lad who's migrated)

 

[Flyfisher]

Does Lion poo really work? I mean, how many UK pussy cats have ever seen a Lion let alone had opportunity to smell its poo. Or do cats naturally keep away from any new smell just in case it belongs to something bigger and more ferocious than itself?

 

[Moo]

I cannot imagine a dog could discriminate between animals you wanted terrorising and animals you didn't.

I don't think the dogs discriminated out of consideration for my preferences. They just chased off the ones they objected to.
The small birds (tits, sparrows and the like) seemed to stay in trees or bushes, the larger birds like blackbirds and thrushes seemed to establish a sort of peaceful co-existence with the dogs, as did the frogs.

The odd slow-worm, frog or bird death should not affect things much. Where there is food for birds they will come in profusion.

That may well be true in rural parts where there is only one cat, but it's certainly not the case in more urban areas. There it's more like mass-murder than just the odd death. A neighbour who'd spent many years cultivating a wild-life haven for birds was heart-broken when next-door imported a couple of cute little black kittens that rapidly grew into very efficient hunters.

 

[Pford75]

The mole control is chemical - mechanical (scissor) traps can work....but are very time consuming to set. Mrs F has caught apx 12-15 moles...but sometimes you'll get one that is elusive and in the space of 2-3 days can completely wreck a lawn.

The chemical option (phosphide) is expensive to have applied by professional pest control (since they insist on 2 people min)....if you are trained (COSHH) you can purchase direct from amenity suppliers and a single application should cost 10-30 quid (plus your time)......hence I am pursuing the DIY option.

Obviously, new moles can move in....but I have been advised that if you keep on top of it, it can drastically reduce the problem (think golf courses....very few molehills)

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Moles and children have one distinct gardening advantage.

The moles have produced barrow-fulls of lovely stone-free top soil all over my fields. The children have been well exercised (and thus sleep-induced early nights have been easy) filling barrows with molehill soil at 10p per molehill.

The veggie patch now has lovely raised bedds full of nice top soil, the kids are healthier and wealthier, and they have spent their new found pocket money on books and comics that I would have bought them anyway. I like to think of it as domestic quantitative easing!

As for the rabbits - I keep hinting to SWMBO that we need a gun. She seems strangely unpersuaded. Anyone know if a decent air rifle is enough for rabbits? What should I be looking for in terms of power and price?

 

[JoceAndChris]

We bought a simple cheap air rifle which doesn't require a license or anything. Chris shot the bunny at close range in the head and it didn't die, he had to wring its neck. The memory of this gets worse the more you think about it. Maybe when you've killed hundreds you stop thinking about it.

I've been thinking about these bunnies a lot this evening and like everything else they put me in a quandary. Veg is very cheap and plentiful here in Lincs. The bunnies have a lovely time and so do the foxes. The remnants of bunny are picked over by raptors. Who am I to interfere?

 

[skier-hughes]

I've just watched a sparrowhawk fly into my open fronted log store and grab a bird, first time I've seen it, nice and sad at the same time.

 

[Schoolmarm]

Oh my god. Please delete that link. I only read the title and that was bad enough.

 

[CHRIS]

Oh my god. Please delete that link. I only read the title and that was bad enough.

Its not that bad, but does show how to do a proper job of killing a rabbit - if you are going to do it please do it the right way don't mess about trying to shoot it.

The nutritional content of a rabbit eye was quite interesting! It was from an ITV program last year on young recruits at Lympstone.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Right, that's it. The bunnies can stay. Sorry Pford, I've changed my mind about this whole thing.

 

[Pford75]

Back to the original thread....

Does anyone else find that with th advent of Spring and all things green that their best intentions inside the house suddenly disappear?

And what is the job in the garden which you most detest?

I've been putting off turning my compost heap for weeks

 

[DaveBrigg]

Back to the original thread....

Does anyone else find that with th advent of Spring and all things green that their best intentions inside the house suddenly disappear?

And what is the job in the garden which you most detest?

1. Yes
2. Spent Saturday morning experimenting with the right proportion of cow dung to add to the daub mixture for indoor repairs, then the afternoon digging rotted horse manure into the vegetable patch. The final job was supposed to be the nicest, planting out a small herb garden, but unfortunately I used my hands to make a hole for the parsley, and discovered that the neighbour's cat had planted something there first.

Last autumn the same cat managed to lift the lid and get into the rabbit run. The fight seemed pretty evenly matched until I heard the commotion, and me and bunny formed a tag team. The cat keeps clear when the rabbit is out now, which is another good reason for not shooting.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Landmines

And Joce's little local scrotes won't come by so often with a leg missing either...

I had no idea you had such violent propensities Mr Hughes; how refreshing.

My scrotes have been chopped back ( :twisted: ) by the local bobbies who come up here all the time now, eating fish and chips and watching the sunsets. They're great.

 

[Flyfisher]

I really had no idea the Yanks were so gun-obsessed until then.

Very true, well for a very large proportion of them anyway. The roots of their obsession, as I understand it, is the enshrined right for citizens to arm themselves to defend against wayward government, which doesn't seem such a bad idea in principle.

As for landmines, I've read that they are expressely designed not to kill. Apparently the rationale is that a wounded soldier will slow down his fellow troops while they attend to him, making them all more vunerable. What sort of people work that sort of stuff out for a day job?

As for gardening, my biggest challenge is to actually recover the original gardens from the undergrowth and I'm afraid that has a lower priority than sorting out the house at present. I just about keep on top of mowing the grass - unearthing the original walls and flower beds will be for another year.

 

[CHRIS]

As for landmines, I've read that they are expressely designed not to kill. Apparently the rationale is that a wounded soldier will slow down his fellow troops while they attend to him, making them all more vunerable. What sort of people work that sort of stuff out for a day job?

Very true and thats why NATO moved away from the 7.62 to 5.56 calibre round so the Soviets would use more troops up during a conflict and so we could share with the US army.

Landmines

Having been stuck in a mine field I can assure you that this is not a good idea!

 

[Lime]

With all the problems of your area's "wild"life I think a couple of dobermans would sort out most of your problems, human and/or otherwise.

 

[JoceAndChris]

With all the problems of your area's "wild"life I think a couple of dobermans would sort out most of your problems, human and/or otherwise.

Is the "you" me?
When I asked my husband for two new puppies he said I already had two big bouncing puppies and to stop being greedy.

sorry about the smut today it is not my fault.

 

[Schoolmarm]

With all the problems of your area's "wild"life I think a couple of dobermans would sort out most of your problems, human and/or otherwise.

Or a nice new build with a yard?