[peanut97]

Today I went to the lottie to discover rabbits have had my cabbages and sprouts, none left at all, they had nibbled my onions and carrots.
I have got peas and beans under netting, they don't like strawberry plants and the tatties are not up yet.

What with carrot fly, pea moth, mildew, rabbits, pigeons, wireworm, blight . catterpillers etc. I am beginning to wonder if it is all worth it, does anyone actually bring an edible harvest home?

I asked the next plot owner and she admitted that last year she didn't get a lot. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with it all. We are trying to net everything and buying loads of chicken wire but it seems we have warfare without any chemicals or weapons of mass destruction! We are also broke and trying to do everything on a shoestring.

[WG.]

Rabbits are a major pain in the ass.  They won't eat your tatties but almost anything else is fair game for them.

I do feel for you but unless you can keep them out then it'll be an uphill struggle.

Netting is not cheap but at least you only have to do it once.

[richyrich7]

I do feel for you but unless you can keep them out then it'll be an uphill struggle.

Netting is not cheap but at least you only have to do it once.

Me too Peanut, growing veg can be hard enough without vermin eating them, I to do most of my gardening on a shoestring budget. Keep at it the rewards are worth it, try asking on your local freecycle for netting or scaffold netting and see if you can gradually make a boundary around your plot.

Are the plots council owned ? would they be able to help keep the rabbits down or are you on the edge of fields, can you get some one up there to trap em ? we fortunately don't get them being an inner city society, plenty of rats and squirrels though, which dig every thing up  :x

[peanut97]

I am on a council owned plot, inbetween an industrial estate and housing, but it is kind of rural with a cemetry and parks nearby.

 I didn't realise the council could help, thought that was only for rats. At the moment I am just fencing individual beds because the plot is huge and we are able to drive our car right onto it which is useful, can't really afford gates right now!

[Axe Victim]

I think it's mice that have nibbled the tops of most of my beans and peas....I will be developing a plan. :twisted:

 :roll:  

[shaun]

dont have a rabbit problem where we are but i can imagine it.a lot of garden pests can be eradicated by basic hygiene,get rid of anything that will make slugs and bugs cozy like plastic sheeting,carpets, piles of old timber or bricks,very weedy areas,long grass do that and the slugs and snails will move on

[crowndale]

My garden plot is like fort knox, mostly to prevent cats and dog digging everything up and wood pidgeons eating the rest but I also noticed a bunny rabbit the other day, well puppy did, he tried to kill it but softie that I am I wouldn't let him.  I have gradually built up the military strength of the beds protection as you're right, it's blasted expensive unless you can get stuff on freecycle.  I'd really like huge fruit cages with chicken wire round the bottom but that's years away after the kids have left home and university I reckon!!

[wellingtons]

... and there are rabbits around, but they haven't broken in yet.

I was interested though when I went to see my father.  He lives in the middle of farmland on the outskirts of a small village in Cornwall and he has no fencing around his vegetable plot at all, and I see rabbits hopping about their garden of a morning.

He germinates most of his plants in the greenhouse and then transplants and protects them until they are about six to eight inches high, and then the rabbits don't bother him.  They don't bother about potatoes apparently nor rhubarb, they like young sweet tender shoots.  Get them past that stage and he seems to be OK.

So perhaps you could find a way to protect your precious crops when they're young.  It's an awful lot of hard work if you get no return.

Good luck!

[Sadgit]

Don't give up.. last year was my 1st year and 90% of my crop was destroyed, mainly to pigeons. but thanks to everyone on here I am way more prepared this year, I have enough fleece to over the moon and loads of plastic bottles to also cover thins while they are still young.

oh and wireworm also destroyed my apples (I think) so going to use the advice from here on the tree this year as well.

[Oscar Too]

But it's not about growing an edible crop, is it?

In a secular age, when the only certainty we have is death, when religion has lost its comforts, when spiritual salvation depends on shopping, when leaders are more venal and corrupt than ever, what's the thing most people want in their lives?  Hope.

Some find it through buying lottery card, others through going out every weekend hoping to meet "the one".

We find hope through planting stuff and hoping that it will come up, survive, resist rabbits, pigeons, water shortages, allotment thieves and that we will be able to eat it.

If it was only about the veg, I'd be down to Sainsbury's like a shot.

[WG.]

But it's not about growing an edible crop, is it?

Uplifting stuff Oscar but IMHO, yes, it is about growing an edible crop

[richyrich7]

Me too WG, get the biggest kick out of eating what I've grown, even better when you realise you've gone a whole year without having to buy say onions or runner beans from the supermarket.

For me that's the name of the game getting back some of my self reliance.

[fluffypebble]

Totally agree Richy and WG.  I started this because I want to have veg that I know has not been treated with chemicals or stored in a gas chamber for months.  I am enjoying what I do which is a bonus but my ultimate aim is to get food.

[Oscar Too]

am I over-analysing again?  

Well, yes, it is about growing veg.  But I do like the idea that in a frantic, 24 hour, consumerist world, we are doing things now that will come to fruition in 6 or 12 months, not in 15 minutes.

[sausage]

OP when your shoots are just popping up, have you tried cutting a clear 2 litre bottle in half and using it to cover your veg?