The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: Kitchen Cottage on May 14, 2014, 07:31:14 am
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okay... got the greenhouse, turned the soil, spent 3 weekends destoning.....
Planted out beans, peas, toms and they are fine....
Planted out pak choi, purple sprouting, sweetcorn and.... the crows swept down. :gloomy: :gloomy:
I have got a hawk on a pole from ebay now and some other scarers..... If I can keep the birds away.... will the tops grow back or do I start again...
*wibbles and weeps*
I have spent so so long sorting out this allotment so that THIS YEAR.... I can finally have one *weeps some more*
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Really sorry to hear that, it's no joke when all your hard work is destroyed by pests (where we used to be it was pigeons and deer, not been here long enough to know our main enemies yet).
The sweetcorn is unlikely to regenerate, though a few might (ours got eaten by mice - not happy!). Give the pak choi and purple sprouting a chance, it depends how badly they were damaged, but hedge your bets by buying in a few young plants if you can (seeds would take too long to establish at this stage).
We used to net absolutely everything and are doing the same here, just in case. Keep going, it will be so rewarding when despite the set backs you are harvesting your own fresh produce. The sun is shining here so I'm sending you an optimistic :hug: and :fc: that the plants flourish.
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it was the onions our crows went for. i know how frustrating it is.
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My first year the pheasant wandered along the veggie patch helping themselves to all the hard work..particularly brasscas.
I disagree that it's too late to resow purple sprouting or even the pak choi (although I grew it last year and decided I didn;t like enough to bother again).
My first trays of brassicas are about ready to plant out but I plan on resowing at least twice more in modues during the year and planting out.. lots of hazards to come from caterpilars and weather but I usualy get enough left by just keeping on chucking the stuff into the ground
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we sowed our purple sprouting by seed for harvesting the next yr, and i doubt we would have planted before may. it survived alot of winter snow to crop really well in the spring. never got bothered by birds though.
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I have pigeons to contend with so will net my brassicas when they go in. Another problem, living as I do in an urban area, is cats. Time and time again I have sown seeds in neat rows, only to have the cats scratch the rows and poo. This year as I am growing in raised beds, I have netted the one with seeds. Easy to do when you only have to drape it over the sides and fasten it down (baler twine in this case). So infuriating though, not to mention disheartening.