[Janette1970]

I planted some lovely cabbage plants that my neighbours had given me. On the next Sunday morning, just as I was waking up I looked out the window to see a FAT pigeon waddling up my row of baby plants carefully and meticulously stripping each one as it went!!! I opened the window and clapped loudly. The bloody thing was that heavy it could hardly fly!!!  Luckily for me, they must have been slightly intelligent as they left the bit in the middle of each plant!!! They are all growing nicely now.   
Unfortunately/fortunately the bird was not so lucky!!! That very night, either the bird was hit by a car or my cat did its job!!! All that was left was a pile of bloody feathers!!!   

[Janette1970]

Forgot to say that I DID net my baby cabbages after said bird attack. I didn't know how to do this, so I did what I thought was right and then modified it when it went a bit wrong!!! I'm finding trial and error is a good way to go.

The little blighters (birds, mice??) also had all my peas but one!!! I even covered my pea seeds with holly (as suggested by that woman off gardeners world)!! ONE solitary plant sprung up. I found that pecked out a few days later!!! So I replanted it in my greenhouse. It has survived and is slowly growing into a handsome plant.


I LOVE MY GARDEN                   

[Fleecewife]

Hi Jeanette.  Shame about the peas - next time try swishing them in paraffin just before you sow.  Nothing likes that smell but it doesn't seem to affect the seeds and definitely means that most are still there to germinate. A different trick which I use early in the season is to sow in a compost-filled length of guttering - I hang this from  the crop bars in my polytunnel but anywhere the mice can't reach would be fine.  Once the peas are about 3" tall you can slide the whole row into a shallow trench and off they go !
I love my garden too, even when the weeds grow faster than the plants 

[Wizard]

Good Moaning as Arthur sez.Before we were blessed with the Soil Association and the likes, Carrots on the farm were sprayed with TVO to combat the Carrot Fly. That is another thing that will not go and get a taste of it. They seem to keep well away so I always give mine a little squirt.When the carrot is harvested They do not taste of it.

[valr]

What's TVO, Wizard?

*Touch wood* I have never even SEEN a carrot fly! What do they look like and what damage do they do?

I have only been growing carrots for a couple of years ...

[northfifeduckling]

never had much of a problem with carrot fly, I always plant onions or leeks in the rows both sides of carrots
I think it's the larvae that borrowes holes into the carrots 

[Wizard]

Hello vair I answered another of your questions this morning am I a good boy or what.Carrot Fly is a major pest to the carrot grower and you are quite right the fly lays its eggs and the grubs tunnel holes into the carrot rendering it useless for anything.Often a bonfire is made and the carrots put on to burn the grubs in the carrots.TVO Vair is Tractor Vaporising Oil or paraffin to you For some reason TVO doesn't harm the carrot on any way at all but the carrot fly never go near it.The fly is allegedly a beasty that flies about 18 inch's above the ground and alights on the seedlings and lays its eggs amongst them when the eggs hatch they attack the carrot.This is why you often see fleece vertical about 3ft high around carrot beds They don't seem to be able to go up and over only 18 inch's. ???Bloody things

[valr]

Thanks Wizard I'll maybe put some fleece around the chicken wire cage!