Judith in France wrote:

I have that problem in the garden, the vegetable garden is supposed to
be rabbit proofed. Much as I dislike killing them; I have to shoot
them as they have burrowed under a shrub. I swear I kill 1 and 3 come
back to haunt me.

Judith

Being forewarned by some English living nearby, the first thing I did
when creating a vegetable garden was to make it rabbit-proof /
resistant. I dug a trench 18 inches deep around the garden and buried
some fencing wire. The lower portion having an extra layer of fine
plastic coated chicken wire bent outwards from the garden into the
trench. I've seen lots of rabbits around since, but never one inside the
enclosed vegetable garden. Also all rocks I've dug up with the rotovator
have been dumped on the ground just on the other side of one garden
boundary making it more inhospitable to digging animals.

Thus far, fingers crossed, the only major animal related pest problems
are wood pigeons , slugs, snails and caterpillars. I buried a big
builders tub in the middle of the veg garden which has filled with rain
water and encourages frogs / toads to take up residence too.

The strangest animal I've seen in the garden was a black and yellow
salamander about 8 inches long a couple of years ago. Thankfully no
snakes. I understand adders are quite a problem in parts of Normandy.

--
David in Normandy.
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