[mentalmilly]

Help please anyone,  Mice have dug up and eaten all of the early peas I put in. Any tips on how to  stop this without me having to decimate the wild mouse population which I don't want to do?  Is there any spray I can use to put them off, or put anything over the peas until they grow? Don't have or want a cat. Any tips welcome please.

[Fleecewife]

Little devils, aren't they    I have resorted to starting off all peas and beans indoors ie in a tunnel, in 4" pots (2 beans/ 5 or 6 peas per pot) in baker's trays suspended from the crop bars, or for peas in lengths of guttering, again suspended from the crop bars.  Once the plants are too big for the mice to want to eat them, then plant them out into the garden - the peas in the guttering will have a nice mat of roots, so can be slid out into a shallow trench.
I've not found that much will remove the problem otherwise, so although it's a drag I find it worth it.

Last year I had broad beans drying in the tunnel, for saving my own seed.  The mice stole many of them and stashed them around the place.  Of course they started to grow and I thought I was getting a free crop, but the little devils dug up and ate their seeds and left the greenery to die.

[mentalmilly]

thanks Fleecewife l wish l could start them off in the tunnel but l plant thousands of peas to keep us going until xmas in peas. Have read rhubarb leaves chopped in water for soaking 24 hours and then put over the peas might help.  will give it a try. also T tree oil in soapy water, soak peas overnight and plant out also worth a try.

[Q]

One of the old boys at our allotment soaks them in jeyes fluid before planting - it seems to keep to mice off them - never tried it myself though.

[Fleecewife]

Paraffin is another option to make the peas unpalatable.  Dunk them, but don't soak, so the paraffin isn't actually absorbed, unless you don't mind it.
Another suggestion is to spread gorse clippings in the trench as you sow - I don't know how successful this is.

[MAK]

Gorse clippings work in mole runs as I was told that moles have poor blood clotting and they bleed to death from cuts to their snouts. Not sure about mice. We have mice that live in colonies around the garden. They do not seem to like making a dash from their home across open ground. Stuff I plant near a lawn gets eaten by mice but stuff in the large clear veg patch is untouched.

[mentalmilly]

Thanks folks, paraffin, jeyes fluid, gorse clippings, rhubarb infusion, T tree oil, its all out war now. Will start on the moles later.

[Fleecewife]

We just found that many of our crocuses have been bitten off at ground level and the bulbs eaten - guess who did that, given that there are no squirrels around.

[Lesley Silvester]

My friend loses most of her spring bulbs to rabbits. All her pots now have scrunched up chicken wired on top.

[pgkevet]

I start mine off under chicken wire tunnels pegged down with canes... then lift one side up and re peg so the peas can climb it.

[Marches Farmer]

I read that gardeners of old used to put sawdust in the planting trench.  Never tried it myself but then I don't grow peas.  We actually encourage voles in the garden as they're a good food source for the owls on the farm. but I'm not so enthusaistic about them I want to provide a banquet.

[mentalmilly]

I don't really want to kill any field mice, voles etc but just want to put them off pinching my peas

[waterbuffalofarmer]

I lost a lot of my flower bulbs due to a mischevious dog digging them up. The only problems I have had with pests are rabbits digging up and eating runner beans, oh and also a rabbit hole in my veg patch.

[Fleecewife]

We just found that many of our crocuses have been bitten off at ground level and the bulbs eaten - guess who did that, given that there are no squirrels around.

I've forgiven the mice, as I now suspect blackbirds which peck and flick as they search through loose soil.  Weird they would eat the bulbs though.  We have several pairs of nesting blackbirds, so they clearly have no time for the niceties.