Molehills

Polytunnels, cold frames, greenhouses, propagators & more. How to get the best out of yours...

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JohnN
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In the fields round my fishing lake there are dozens of molehills, the dark, crumbly soil of which looks ideal for the garden veg beds. I'm tempted to scoop up a few sackfuls, but is this soil OK for that use or could there be a problem? Thanks.
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oldherbaceous
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Afternoon John, this is lovely soil to use......in years gone by, this was always collected and used in the greenhouses, to cap the cucumber mounds and also used in many other mixes of compost. It's fairly weed free as it is dug and pushed up from the lower soil.
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Pawty
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Hi john,

My nan always collected if for use in her hanging baskets - always raved about it!

Pawty
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JohnN
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Thank you for your comments, Pawty and OH. I must tell you that when I told my wife that I was going to collect molehill earth, she looked blankly at me for a moment and then said "Won't they mind?" :lol:
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Pa Snip
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I love the look of soil that moles have pushed to the surface but surely it has no magic ingredient that is not present in the rest of the ground. Ok, yes it maybe slightly richer due to the moles own waste production.

Is it a case that It has just been well dug and worked. Well finely sieved soil from the same ground would look just the same.

There may however be one advantage if you have a mole problem, are not moles territorial therefore the mole scent you introduce from elsewhere in the molehill soil might fool other moles into thinking your ground has already been claimed.
Great in theory providing it isn't mating time and you happen to have spread female mole scent all over your best plant bed . ooops :D

No idea if that's possible or not.

JohnN, just one other thought. Is the area around the fishing lake grassland or is their strong weed growth in summer. You don't want to be spreading weeds, especially not ragwort, to your own plot beds

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JohnN
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Hi all
Very useful morning this morning - two sacks of molehill earth and a 2lb rainbow trout :D
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Pa Snip
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them must have been damn wet mole tunnels !!! :D

The danger when people start to believe their own publicity is that they often fall off their own ego.

At least travelling under the guise of the Pa Snip Enterprise gives me an excuse for appearing to be on another planet
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oldherbaceous
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PA Snip.... :) :)
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.

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