Growing your own

Page 2 / 2 Prev

Sustainable Gardening & Food

Last Post by Morgan 1 year ago

14 Posts

5 Users

12 Likes

1,375 Views

RSS

Majordennisbloodnok

(@majordennisbloodnok)

Noble Member Member

3859 kWhs

Joined: 2 years ago

Posts: 348

09/03/2023 4:32 pm

Well, we’re now more organised than we ever have been this early in the season.

The greenhouse has been cleaned, leccy points have been installed and we’ve now got a greenhouse heater and separate thermostat, a couple of propagation LED strip lights and some smart plugs to control the light timings.

Basil, tomatoes and brassicas now sown and starting to germinate and about to get some broad beans on the go this weekend.

105 m2 bungalow in South East England
Mitsubishi Ecodan 8.5 kW air source heat pump
18 x 360W solar panels
1 x 6 kW GroWatt battery and inverter
Raised beds for home-grown veg and chickens for eggs

"Semper in excretia; suus solum profundum variat"

Mars reacted

ReplyQuote

Morgan

(@morgan)

Noble Member Member

3986 kWhs

Joined: 3 years ago

Posts: 539

10/03/2023 8:49 am

Feral/farm cats. That's what you need to control rabbits. We live in a rural out of the way area surrounded by farm land. The previous owners here had a terrible problem with rabbits and were pretty much unable to grow anything that the rabbits wouldn't eat. Until...................... further down the lane is some derelict barns that were renovated. It is thought a litter of feral cats living in the derelict buildings scattered across the countryside on arrival of the developers. Two of these scraggy under nourished kittens found their way to the garden here. A pair of brothers. They were trapped by the local cat rescue folk. Once wormed, vaccinated, neutered and one of the ear tips was clipped (international vet' sign) they were released back here where they were fed very sparingly and took up residence in the old pig stye at the bottom of the garden. As they grew they became quite naturally adept at hunting mice, voles, rabbits, grey squirrel, wood pigeon and even moles. Suddenly there was no rabbit problem. Regularly see them dragging a rabbit to one of their 'safe' places to devour. They are great value. Suddenly I went from a guy that had spent his entire adult life devising methods to discourage cats in my garden to seeing them as a natural part of our daily life. They have no desire to enter the house and seek the bare minimum of at a distance contact with us humans. Sadly one has disappeared we know not where. Probably a fox had him but who knows. He certainly hasn't just wandered off because these two brothers were absolutely inseparable. Already considering how we replace them when they're (he) is past it and meets his maker. So, my solution, and advice, is, if you live in a suitable location, is to source a feral/farm cat and hope they become adept at controlling your rabbit population.

Retrofitted 11.2kw Mitsubishi Ecodan to new radiators commissioned November 2021.

ronin92 reacted

ReplyQuote

Page 2 / 2 Prev