Sorry to report: the brassicas have come to a premature end. The pigeons ate the curly kale and the the cavelo nero through the netting. First the snow weighed down the netting - and the curly kale went. Then the central pole keeled over/broke through the plastic netting and the pigeons went to town on the cavelo nero. Next year I'm going to stress test the brassica defence system. It's war!
On the plus side the cabbages were too low for the pigeons to get to and have kept us in greens throughout. Also how can you resent beeing outwitted, even by bird brains, when they are struggling through the worst winter in years. It's just that kale is such a Caledonian/Latin tradition...
Big effort this weekend 2 hrs Saturday sorting out the brassica mess and finished digging manure into the 'Others' patch. Dug up the last parsnips and (shame, shame) the very last of the potatoes. 2 hrs Sunday preparing the carrot zone and ...planting posts for next years brassica patch.
Time spent: 4 hours
Money spent: £20.99 ('Walk-in Greenhouse' 19.99, seeds(2pkts £1))
Song of the week: Ain't That a Shame ~ Fats Domino
Sorry to hear about your brassicas...what sort of cabbage did you grow through the winter??? I really want to have more winter produce in the ground.
ReplyDeleteI still haven't been to the plot yet...maybe tomorrow!!
I really sympathise.We've got pigeons the size of Aylesbury ducks, not to mention the rabbits. Sometimes I think I should see the veg patch as bait. Try singing "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins.
ReplyDeleteHi Tanya. 'Tundra' matures in November but stands throughout winter. Usually I grow 'January King', which has a red tinge and is winter hardy, but I ran out of space this year.
ReplyDeleteIzzy - Feed tne birds - let them know it's...
My brassica cage stood the test of time, it was the slugs that got mine.
ReplyDeletePigeons are a nightmare, the only way I kept them off my brassica's this year is to make mesh tunnels, using water pipe screwed to a wooden frame (you can just see them on the photo on the about me & my plot page). They worked a treat!
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteI had the same thing happen with my sprouting broccoli , I had grown it for 9 months only for the pigeons to strip the tops , on another note I am suprised they went for the kale and cavelo nero as they normally leave it ? recently I started growing some new brassicas for te summer only to find them going leggy , if its not one thing it's something else ?
Stewart
Soory to hear about your loss..but as you say, they need to eat too!
ReplyDeleteOnce I get an allotment I'll be taking advice from blogs such as yours...at the moment I'm just gardening in pots and tubs! No pigeon probs.