Seeds planted, Badger keep out.
It was a lovely day today so I spent part of it in the small allotment at the end of the garden. I tidied, weeded, and planted some seeds. They were:
- Spring Onions ‘Ramrod’ and ‘White Lisbon’
- Radish ‘Mirabeau’
- Rocket
- Snap pea ‘Zuccola’ (second sowing as only half of previous sowing came up - stolen by mice?)
- Carrot ‘Chantenay Red Cored’
Unfortunately this particular raised bed has been recently designated as a latrine by a visiting badger. As soon as it happened I cleaned the area and covered the bed with carpet, cardboard and large twigs to discourage it. How do I know it’s a badger? Because they dig latrines which are very distinctive. They are deep holes which the badger uses and DOES NOT COVER. Bad badger! So after planting the seeds I dug out an old rabbit run and put it to good use.
Of course badgers are not easily put off but this one did me a favour of sorts and squeezed through a small hole in the bottom of the fence (made for our cats to stop them scrambling over the fence and damaging climbing plants) and dug a large hole in my flower border instead. Eeeek!
He spent three months visiting this same border at the end of last year so he knows it well. Hopefully my seed defences will hold - I’d rather he was in the flower border than among the vegetables. I’m sure he’s a male - a lady badger would never be so uncouth.
If he wanted to he could toss the protection aside as badgers are extremely strong and single minded. I’m hoping he’s also lazy and takes the easy way out - unless he moves to one of the other raised beds. In which case Plan B will come into effect.
Squirrels then badgers - will it never end.
7 comments
Hello
I’ve been peering at the flower at the top of your ‘About’ page.
(Not sure what it is.)
But - anyway - I planted Aquilega a few years ago and every one of them vanished over night.
(Badgers.)
(Neat holes where the bulbs had been.)
Only today, I was thinking about having another bash.
And you use old rabbit runs and things to protect plants.
I used to have two guinea pigs (instead of a lawn mower) but would never do it again.
I felt terrible about restricting their freedom.
Their run comes in useful now though!
Esther Montgomery
P.S. So glad you enjoy ESTHER IN THE GARDEN !
I quite like badgers - but then I have never had one visit my garden. Lets hope is IS a lazy one - and moves on elsewhere … What is plan B?
Esther -
Thanks for calling. If you are talking about the plants in the title pics there are three that rotate - a bird of paradise (strelitzea), a morning glory (ipomoea Heavenly Blue) and a fritillaria meleagris.
We used to have guinea pigs to mow the lawn - now we have no guinea pigs and no lawn!
Karen -
Plan B is me disguised as a squirrel sitting behind the compost heap, waiting to jump out and say Boo! to the badger. I have doubts it will be a success. I think my tail will get in the way.
I would have thought a nice carpeted bathroom would only encourage it to come back more regularly?
Helloooo easygardener !
Oh my .. you have your hands full (no pun intended, truly ! LOL) A badger ? .. they look so mean when they are on nature shows .. not something you would want to confront when it is in a good mood less a bad mood ? .. hope he is a lazy one for you and he will move on ! .. that was a hoot on why it had to be a male ! : )
It is a rain day here .. so what gets done ? house cleaning , jeez !
But we are getting a good soaking of rain and that is great. Even with all the snow we got we are drying out fast once more. I did by a batch of herb starters .. so i have them on the deck bench for me to feast my eyes on till they are sorted.
Good luck with the badger war (thanks for telling me what geranium that is by the way .. so pretty !)
Joy
Well, a badger is something I’ve never thought about in the garden. In fact, if one came up to me it would have to introduce itself as I’m sure I wouldn’t even recognize it! That latrine thing though is a nasty habit so I guess I won’t complain so much about my rabbits and squirrels.
Haven’t had a badger visit my patch, which I am thankful for after reading about your naughty one. Can’t wait to see what your Plan B is!
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