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What keeps doing this grrrrrrr......

13 replies

lottaluvin · 19/04/2010 16:23

I live in Military Married Quarters so our gardens aren't up to much as people don't stay in one patch for long.

This year I've planted pots with bulbs and just some ready to pot plants from Lidl, we had a composter last year and surprisingly the plants have taken to our homemade compost and seem to be thriving....

Yesterday I went out to admire my 5mm little green shoots in my pots and found two of them had huge holes dug out of them and earth scattered all over the floor. I immediately called my son and asked if he'd been making mud pies but he hadn't, he's a good kid and knows better.

Today I came out to find one of my bulb pots has a huge football sized hole in it and the earth all over the paving slabs.

I am a novice gardener, just want a bit of colour on the MOD concrete, what is doing this and how can I stop it?

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JaneS · 19/04/2010 16:27

Squirrels, by the sound of it. Have you seen any around?

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PrettyCandles · 19/04/2010 16:29

Not sure, but foxes will dig up bulbs if they're hungry enough, and cats like to dig in soft soil too.

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lottaluvin · 19/04/2010 16:50

How I can I stop a squirrel/fox? I have owned neither of the above lol...

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meltedmarsbars · 19/04/2010 21:41

Put a ring of chicken wire over the pots, close to the soil so the plants will grow through it and hide it but the squirrels can't dig up your bulbs.

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taffetacat · 19/04/2010 21:46

My first thought was squirrels.

But....lots of my bulbs got trampled on by a blardy pheasant yesterday. Tis a rare sight in these parts. He was quite spectacular. DD (3) noticed him first, said "Daddy, What's that bird called?" very calmly. DH, turned, expecting to see a sparrow and jumped out of his skin. He replied "Its a peacock."

He's from London.

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meltedmarsbars · 19/04/2010 21:54
Grin
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lottaluvin · 19/04/2010 23:36

Good plan, I think I'll pop down to the garden centre tomorrow, I am determined to see some greenage in the garden this year. Last year slugs were my arch enemy and killed all of DS' lil' veggie trugs Whatever they are the wire should do a good job, I am wondering if it's blackbirds swooping off the roof, I don't know what kind of nest they are building up there but by the sheer amount of twigs it must have a utility room and a loft conversion....

Once installed, if we awake to find a couple of peacocks trapped in the wire we'll alert you taffetacat!

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meltedmarsbars · 20/04/2010 10:52

If you've got loads of "blackbirds" taking twiggery up to your roof they are probably jackdaws, notorious for blocking chimneys up with nests.

Blackbirds nest in hedges and bushes usually.

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lottaluvin · 20/04/2010 11:01

Must be marsbar, but we don't have a chimney, they must be in the loft. Would they be after my pots though?

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meltedmarsbars · 20/04/2010 11:11

Better get up there and look!

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lottaluvin · 20/04/2010 11:23

Not allowed to go in MQ lofts - too much asbestos, which is apparently ok if you don't "move it around much" - and I quote.

...and then not really wanting to find asbestos eating mutant jack daw babies living in post apocalyptic stick world...

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meltedmarsbars · 20/04/2010 14:20

!

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Lionstar · 20/04/2010 14:25

Squirrels and magpies are the main culprits round here, they've already had a go at my newly planted tomatoes and carrots. The wire covering sounds like a good plan.

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