[Sadgit]

or like we did last week, pop the the plot to water and took the camping stove and made fried egg butties with a coffee and chill

[peanut97]

Thanks for the info about the tender shoots, I am going to try the plastic bottles over the top until they are bigger, that sounds easy and cheap! I just hope they don't eat the crops when the bottles come off but it buys  me time to make more fences anyway.

I read somewhere about chilli spray on plants you don't eat, like beans etc. You can't use it on salad or cabbages etc, cos you would taste the chilli. Anyone had any success with that?

[wellingtons]

... I don't actually mind if my crop isn't prolific, but the absolute satisfaction of eating the bean when all I did ( :shock: OK I've got selective memory clearly ...   ) was put a seed in the ground is fantastic!

It doesn't have anything to do with getting away from the quick fix consumerism society in which we live ... for my sins I fit right into that society I'm afraid.

It's also about getting outdoors, doing something in the fresh air.  I have small surburban garden, which I can keep in order in a couple of hours a week max.  I spend a lot less time in the gym in the summer, because of my plot ... which is a good thing!

[GrannieAnnie]

Yes hope is a good thing, but if you lose crop after crop every year to the blasted rabbits and other pests, hope dies, so IMHO, yes, getting an edible crop is very important.  after all, its why most of us do it, otherwise, we could just stick flowers in and watch them grow as the rabbits don't eat flowers!

Mind you, saying that, we are lucky, the few rabbits we've had gets chased off and possible eaten by the dog, as do the rats, mice, moles, voles and anything else that ventures into the garden.  Funny though, she never touches the chickens or the cat!!!

[slow_worm]

If the rabbits are eating your crops I think its only right for you to eat the rabbits! That way you will be eating your crops albeit indirectly!
Get a gun or a snare and 'harvest' them instead... in fact you could sell some at a farmer's market...well its a plan.

A friend at work has rabbits plaguing his plot... he got some steel mesh and buried it 12 inches down (its 36 inches high) around his plot border to keep the rabbits out!!! worked  a treat.

[ClaireMc]

Firstly - sympathy.  I'm a novie lottie-holder and just waiting for the first pest-related trauma.

Secondly - our allotments used to be completely overrun and were actually falling into disuse because of rabbits.   Then the Committee started to supply rabbit-proof fencing and voila - allotment renaissance.

It's cheap metal fencing which is, obvioulsy, sunk into the perimeter of each plot and is completely effective.

[Sadgit]

we have LOADS of rabbits at the  far end of the site and fingers crossed they stay there as well...

[WG.]

... rabbits don't eat flowers

Oh yes they do.  :cry:  :cry:

[ruffmesiter_69]

rabbit proof your plot like we have (see link in sig) cost us about 20 quid and stops the rabiits getting your crops

[GrannieAnnie]

... rabbits don't eat flowers

Oh yes they do.  :cry:  :cry:

Do they?  Oh sorry about that.  I've never seen a rabbit eating flowers.  Apologies for misinformation everyone!!!!!

[Losttheplot]

Hi

The upturned bottle seems to be working a treat on our plot.  Any size bottle will do  We have had our peas nibbled but they are still growing so hopefully they will be ok.  We have bought some organic slug stuff from aldi.  It was only a couple of quid and it is a big tub of the stuff so we shall see if that does the trick.  Thet main  problem we have is pidgeons and badgers so gonna try the cd trick myself!!!

Hope this helps

[mkhenry]

Hey SG I bet they where great Egg Buttys. You could not get better tasting grub at a 5star restaurant than a fresh fried egg butty and a big mug of sweet tea. As to rabbits there is a local butcher who wants as many rabbits as he can get. He says that the message as got through that they are good for you,low in fat and cholestrol etc.and he cannot get enough. If you got rabbits you now have another crop,one that you can also sell. Lucky for me Muntys not on line,he would tell you he has been doing just that for years.    

[mum of 3]

all our site is rabbit proofed as its like blooming watership down on a summer evening .we lost all our carrots last year when someone left the gate open :roll: ,but other than that didnt really suffer.