The vegetable garden is under attack with pigeons eating their way through the emerging crops. I've got a motley arrangement of defences in place, but today, whilst the rain kept me inside, I've been looking online at crop cages.
The chard is starting to outgrow the confined space provided by the old secondary glazing panels and it all looks so ugly.
The pigeons found a small hole in my netting and almost demolished the young broccoli plants. They've nibbled away at the sprout leaves. Some vegetables they don't, thankfully, seem to like, the leeks and early peas are untouched.
We are enjoying the first of this season's offerings, "Rocket' potatoes, asparagus and peas.
There is so much rain that everything looks incredibly green.
The walnut tree is the last one to come into leaf. It's a huge specimen now and we are discussing how to treat it come the winter. Do we remove the lower branches to bring more light into the garden or crown the top? Perhaps we need to do both! It crops wonderfully (and the squirrels carry off quantities of nuts!) Any advice would be welcome.
Last week we had a large Swedish Hornbeam tree crowned and the bottom branches removed and I was very concerned about how it would look. It actually looks much better and there is so much more light in the garden now, our Arborist did a great job.
ReplyDeleteI think that we shall have to wait until the winter before any work can be done as I've read that walnut trees bleed badly if the sap is rising.
DeleteLet the light in. If you get the right person to trim it, I am sure you and your garden will like it.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think you're right, as long as it doesn't spur the tree on to even greater growth!
DeleteI think it all looks gorgeous and I've never seen anyone actually use cloches. They must be more plentiful over there as they are quite expensive here. I've also never heard of pigeons eating crops. Rabbits yes, but pigeons are a surprise. Oh, and deer help themselves to most of ours.
ReplyDeleteMy bell cloches are plastic, not the heavy and very expensive variety. Believe me, pigeons can eat! I've been admiring a young deer that comes into the orchard at break of day. My admiration has now stopped as it has trespassed into my garden - trouble ahead!
DeleteI would crop the tree if that is something that can be done. I would also thin it out if possible.
ReplyDeleteYour garden is wonderful and I think it looks wonderful. Like Donna I never thought pigeons were garden eaters. For me they are more like city birds. Thank goodness I do not have to deal with them. I have other critters to worry about. Don't you live in the country ?
cheers, parsnip and thehamish
We live in a small hamlet of twenty houses with woods on either side, but we're close to two cities so I don't think of it as 'country' exactly. The woods mean that plenty of wildlife finds it's way into the garden in spite of walls and fences.
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