Hi - I've just rejoined the group after several years' gap. I have a
lament and a question.

Just wondered if anyone else was having veg troubles in this wet
season. On the ridge above the Thames Valley I've lost the outdoor
tomatoes and the maincrop (Pink Fir Apple) potatoes to blight, but
also to voles/mice - I think the latter, as I've noticed lots of
tunnelling round the fruit trees when we cut the long grass. I've dug
the onions early, fearing rot, and the raspberries and strawberries
died from botrytis or similar.

On the other hand, the salad leaves have been extra lush this year.

My question was is it worth while trying to get rid of/discourage the
voles or should I just shrug and hope for better luck next year? I've
never had my maincrop eaten before storage before.

Hope everyone's weather dries up a bit.

Gill near Pangbourne, where it's been extra soggy

In article .com, says...
Hi - I've just rejoined the group after several years' gap. I have a
lament and a question.

Just wondered if anyone else was having veg troubles in this wet
season. On the ridge above the Thames Valley I've lost the outdoor
tomatoes and the maincrop (Pink Fir Apple) potatoes to blight, but
also to voles/mice - I think the latter, as I've noticed lots of
tunnelling round the fruit trees when we cut the long grass. I've dug
the onions early, fearing rot, and the raspberries and strawberries
died from botrytis or similar.

On the other hand, the salad leaves have been extra lush this year.

My question was is it worth while trying to get rid of/discourage the
voles or should I just shrug and hope for better luck next year? I've
never had my maincrop eaten before storage before.

Hope everyone's weather dries up a bit.

Gill near Pangbourne, where it's been extra soggy

Here in Caversham We haven't had blight yet touch wood. the voles
amount of voles or other small mammals next year will depend on
what type of autumn/winter we have. Given that crops may be poor
generally, if we have a hard winter, there may not be much to
worry about, but if we have an indian summer and a mild winter
you may need to take steps. My first step would be to keep
down long grass and shelter belts to discourage the blighters.

Gill M

"Gillian" wrote
Hi - I've just rejoined the group after several years' gap. I have a
lament and a question.

Just wondered if anyone else was having veg troubles in this wet
season. On the ridge above the Thames Valley I've lost the outdoor
tomatoes and the maincrop (Pink Fir Apple) potatoes to blight, but
also to voles/mice - I think the latter, as I've noticed lots of
tunnelling round the fruit trees when we cut the long grass. I've dug
the onions early, fearing rot, and the raspberries and strawberries
died from botrytis or similar.

On the other hand, the salad leaves have been extra lush this year.

My question was is it worth while trying to get rid of/discourage the
voles or should I just shrug and hope for better luck next year? I've
never had my maincrop eaten before storage before.

Hope everyone's weather dries up a bit.

Yes it's certainly an unusual growing season. Most things on our allotment
are growing lushly but are behind where they would normally be for the time
of year. Whilst all our Potatoes now are showing signs of Blight our few
"Ferline" tomatoes are OK despite the rest of the row of other varieties
turning black through Blight.
Our two rows of pea seeds were all lost the first time of planting to mice,
after covering the second planting with fine wire netting we did get some up
but all the young pods were then taken off and stored in hiding places by
the same mice. In the end, and after finding a dead rat amongst our
cabbages, we resorted to rodent bait, in sealed boxes to try to remove any
chance of anything else getting killed. They do seem to have gone now and
the few remaining pea pods are swelling.
I'm afraid bait will be used as a matter of course for the next few years,
it's them or us.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
17mls W. of London.UK .

In article , Bob Hobden
writes

Our two rows of pea seeds were all lost the first time of planting to mice,

My first sowing of modern peas didn't do that well and had a few peas. I
then sowed (on a friend's advice) non plus ultra and alderman, both old
fashioned . They romped away, carried tons of peas and don't seem to
suffer from drought or lots of cool days like the modern types.

Will sow them again next year.



--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

On Sun, 5 Aug 2007 00:32:00 +0100, Janet Tweedy
wrote:

In article , Bob Hobden
writes

Our two rows of pea seeds were all lost the first time of planting to mice,

My first sowing of modern peas didn't do that well and had a few peas. I
then sowed (on a friend's advice) non plus ultra and alderman, both old
fashioned . They romped away, carried tons of peas and don't seem to
suffer from drought or lots of cool days like the modern types.

Will sow them again next year.

Ne Plus Ultra is my favourite pea and has done better than others most
years I've grown it.

Pam in Bristol

"Janet Tweedy" wrote after
Bob Hobden

Our two rows of pea seeds were all lost the first time of planting to
mice,

My first sowing of modern peas didn't do that well and had a few peas. I
then sowed (on a friend's advice) non plus ultra and alderman, both old
fashioned . They romped away, carried tons of peas and don't seem to
suffer from drought or lots of cool days like the modern types.

Will sow them again next year.


We used to grow them and a couple of other "heritage" tall varieties which I
believe I did share with some on here years ago but we stopped growing them
a few years back as they stopped doing well due to the summer heat. With a
hot summer they simply give up growing and don't crop at all. This summer
they should have done well but not usually down here with the hotter
summers.
We stick to "earlies" only now, Feltham First and Early Onward etc. not that
we have a crop from them this year, but that's down to mice.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
17mls W. of London.UK