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Gardening

I had a cock pheasant in the garden yesterday, in suburban Leeds.

Nice experience. I knew a pheasant plucker once, who was game for everything.

Thinking about my largely unsuccessful brassica (well, mostly edible but not brilliant) which is grown in 3 locations, I'm at a loss as how to protect them from the voracious pigeons, caterpillars and slugs which always plague them. Although I do have some anti white cabbage butterfly netting, I've come to the conclusion that the only way is a high netted compound for access. Only frequent personal attention can keep slus and snails at bay.

However, compounds cannot be moved from plot to plot in my sloped and irregular garden. This winter I'm trying various brassica (red & white cabbage etc.) in my big g/house as an experiment; small slugs still get in, but are at least accessible. My soil is reasonably neutral being neither too acidic or alkaline.

Any brassica hints/tips/precautions anyone?
 
Get the predators in. Long term, you need amphibians, and birds like ground feeders. If you had half a dozen toads, 2 or 3 thrush families, a hedgehog and some robins, you’d not have a slug to name. Eliminate their dark damp day beds, and plant insect attracting flowers. It’s an imbalance that you are seeing. Balance the habitat to make more living spaces for those species above and it’ll be much better.
 
Nice experience. I knew a pheasant plucker once, who was game for everything.

Thinking about my largely unsuccessful brassica (well, mostly edible but not brilliant) which is grown in 3 locations, I'm at a loss as how to protect them from the voracious pigeons, caterpillars and slugs which always plague them. Although I do have some anti white cabbage butterfly netting, I've come to the conclusion that the only way is a high netted compound for access. Only frequent personal attention can keep slus and snails at bay.

However, compounds cannot be moved from plot to plot in my sloped and irregular garden. This winter I'm trying various brassica (red & white cabbage etc.) in my big g/house as an experiment; small slugs still get in, but are at least accessible. My soil is reasonably neutral being neither too acidic or alkaline.

Any brassica hints/tips/precautions anyone?

Netting is key; build a netting cage to go around them, about 5ft high will be perfect, more so if you're growing kale, cavelo nero, sprouts etc as they can grow tall... Either make it stable/solid enough to be a perm fixture; or make it light enough to be removed once they're strong enough to put up with the wee beasties

As for slugs etc; cheap beer and half oranges on the ground attract them more than the brassicas; just a case of replenishing when necessary
 
Get the predators in. Long term, you need amphibians, and birds like ground feeders. If you had half a dozen toads, 2 or 3 thrush families, a hedgehog and some robins, you’d not have a slug to name. Eliminate their dark damp day beds, and plant insect attracting flowers. It’s an imbalance that you are seeing. Balance the habitat to make more living spaces for those species above and it’ll be much better.

Very good advice, a little pond or even a Belfast sink pool. Eliminate all the dead and decaying material too e.g. the yellowing leaves at the base of the brassicas. The job of slugs is to clear this stuff up.
 
Get the predators in. Long term, you need amphibians, and birds like ground feeders. If you had half a dozen toads, 2 or 3 thrush families, a hedgehog and some robins, you’d not have a slug to name.

We used to have lots of frogs, but no more, despite exc. pond and conditions. We have plenty of blackbirds and robins + others and hedgehogs. The big slugs are despatched manually on my nocturnal slug hunts, some either wrestling or mating. It's the tiny ones in autumn especially which almost burrow into brassica tops and leaves, which no predator (except me) could reach.

Netting is key
As for slugs etc; cheap beer and half oranges on the ground attract them more than the brassicas;

Yes, I've used the right netting on makeshift supports, to suit the plot I'm using, but it's never really successful or accessible; does ward off pigeon damage; that's about it. Our garden slopes in 2 directions toward the south so not easy to contruct a tall and robust enough structure.

Useful info. I've not heard before re. orange halves. As everything goes to compost anyway, that'll be a useful and easy deterrent. The 'cheap beer' (is there such a thing?) would simply run off or require lots of annoying receptacles spread around.
 
My pal in Dorset is slug infested. He built raised beds , but more importantly, put 'paths' around the beds and used wood chippings to coat each path 2 or 3" deep. Slugs HATE crossing rough ground. Clear them from the beds in one massive blitz week then surround with coarse path material. His problem has reduced by a lot.
 
He built raised beds , but more importantly, put 'paths' around the beds and used wood chippings to coat each path 2 or 3" deep. Slugs HATE crossing rough ground. /QUOTE]

Mine are also raised, Rocky, but anything like wood chips would soon 'migrate' to the lower level. Some years ago a carpeted the paths after we'd had new ones in the house. Luxury for a time but soon rotted and became a messy grass carpet.

Fifteen years + ago I went on nocturnal snail hunts, as we were infested (lots of ivy etc.) which was very satisfying, knocking out many many hundreds over a couple of years. Have only come across the odd one since.

I'm hoping that my nightly assassination trips for slugs from March to October will have achieved the same effect. I started by smashing them but ended up by the much cleaner method of sllcing them with a knife where I find them. Never fewer than a dozen a night, max. was 45, achieved more that once. Oddly (?), very few were visible the next morning; presumably enjoyed by early birds and the hedgehogs I often met in my nocturnal meanderings.
 
Just seen a big rat in the garden !!! Dam :mad:

And have you asked your neighbours yet whether they also have a problem?

You killed what you had before, they came back, killing them again may be the best you can do, but first, I think you need to get to the bottom of the problem.
 
And have you asked your neighbours yet whether they also have a problem?

You killed what you had before, they came back, killing them again may be the best you can do, but first, I think you need to get to the bottom of the problem.

Bird feed, kitchen waste in compost bins etc.
 
And have you asked your neighbours yet whether they also have a problem?

You killed what you had before, they came back, killing them again may be the best you can do, but first, I think you need to get to the bottom of the problem.

Not had the opportunity to see them , They do have 2 dogs
 


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