Allotments were in the news yesterday, with the Telegraph and the Guardian both running stories about a creature that sounded worryingly like it had stepped from the pages of a Wallace and Gromit film script menacing allotments in Northumberland.
A giant rabbit has been uprooting veg in allotments in Felton, near Morpeth:
Leeks and turnips have been ripped from the ground while Japanese onions, parsnips and spring carrots have been devoured. The main clues to the culprit are paw prints the size of a deer's and sightings of a cross between a hare and a rabbit with one ear larger than the other.
Where's Wallace and Gromit's Anti-Pesto when you need it, eh?
Despite the fact that my site borders farmland, rabbits haven't been a problem for me (so far). I am not sure what measures people who do suffer from mammalian pests such as deer, rabbits and so on take - fencing, a shotgun or all-night vigils. Do tell ...
Garlic mash - grazers seem to hate the smell of garlic, so I take an entire garlic head, run it through a garlic press, pour over about two liters of hot water, let sit overnight, strain off the garlic and keep it to spread round plants, and pour the rest over seedlings. They won't touch the stuff until it rains, but that's what the strained off stuff is for, to make sure they stay off until I get some more put down before they appear again.
Need to make some more tonight, actually...good thing I actually LIKE garlic. How long do rabbits silflay here in the UK anyway? Grazers are usually only a spring problem in the States in my experience.
Posted by: OyaDancer | April 08, 2006 at 04:56 PM
Top tip, OyaDancer! Thanks ...
I don't know if it's a year-round problem in the UK. Anyone?
Posted by: Jane Perrone | April 09, 2006 at 11:26 AM