bleedin' mice!

[retropants]

I am very depsondent today. I have spent the last 3 weekends planting 1000 anemone de caen corms for my wedding in February. They are all in greenhouses, spaced out perfectly and minding their own business. I have been phoned today, by my allotment neihbour, who says, looking inside one of my greenhouse, there appear to be many small holes dug into the soil. He reckons the mice have had them. So much for the greenhouise cat, I reckon he just sleeps all day, and doesn't pull his weight in the mice catching department.

Ack, if it's not slugs it's soemthing else helping themselves.

[oldherbaceous]

Dear retropants, i'm so sorry to read of this news, especially as i know how much it means to you to be able to grow your own wedding flowers.
I do hope they haven't taken too many of them.

I'm not sure how you can stop them, now they have got a taste for them, maybe some fine wire mesh over the trays.

I hope you can find a way to stop them.

[Primrose]

I guess it probably is mice. Possibly sprinkling some chilli powder or pepper around them might deter them but it's very dispiriting for you after all your efforts.
I don't know whether putting some alternative more readily accessible "bait" down for them would help. I know you don't want to encourage them but wonder if a few dishes of dry oats might encourage them to go for that rather than having to dig up their supper. I suppose some mouse poison is probably the only answer as I guess the colder nights are now driving them indoors.

[Catherine]

Oh Retropants I am so sorry to hear you have had a problem with mice. Are the anemone in pots or in the ground. Two years ago I lost all my pots of broad beans, sweet peas etc. as I had planted them up in pots and had placed them all on the floor of the polytunnel. I learnt my lesson and bought some metal shelving and put everything up off the floor and never had any further problems. I do hope you have not lost too many plants.Keep us up to date with what is happening please. Good luck.

[Elle's Garden]

Really sorry to hear that Retropants - I also hope they have not ruined too many.

[retropants]

thankyou all!

The corms are in the borders not pots. We are going to put net over the ground for the time being, don't know how much of a deterrant that will be. My mum is going to put a couple of traps out too.
This is a old cedar greenhouse, lots of places for mice to get in. The other GH is aluminium and sealed all the way round. Hopefully they won't make it into that one too.
I'll try the chili pepper trick too!

[Johnboy]

Hi Retropants,
At present I have mice invading my house and have trapped over a dozen in the last week. All field mice fortunately.
It is very bad luck with the flowers for your wedding.
My advice is either to pot sow a load more if it is possible.
If you need pots just shout and I can have a 1000 pots to you in no time!
To be successful in covering those in the ground you need for them to be wire netted and the netting pushed into the ground to deter them from digging underneath.
I am not being deliberately gloomy just trying to be practical.
Sincerely,
JB.

[retropants]

Thanks JB,
we will do our best with what we have. I have planted 1000, and that is all I ordered. It is too late to plant anymore, for the timing needs to be right to get the flowers at the end of Feb. I know that it is not guaranteed that I will get any at all, but it would be nice to stand half a chance without those pesky vermin wouldn't it! I can stand for them not to flower at all, to flower too early or late, but this just really does upset me. I am fully prepared to have to dash to the florist and order some if I don't get it right, but for the mice to eat them, isn't really giving me the chance to see if I can get this right!

thanks again everyone for your advice! I'll keep you posted.

sorry you have them in your house JB, what a nightmare, & thanks for the offer of pots! They are in the ground, so no pots needed, thankyou.

[retropants]

well, my mum just called. She says it looks like every single one of the 200 I planted on Sunday are missing. Instead of a nicely raked surface, there are lots of little holes where the corms were, like I hadn't planted them at all . Either I invented Sunday in my imagination, and didn't plant them, or a whole army of mice marched in on Monday.

I am NOT a happy bunny.

[oldherbaceous]

Dear retropants, i know this probably won't help, but they have probably stashed them somewhere. If there are any empty pots or trays laying around it might be worth having a look under/in them.

Try not to get too down.

[retropants]

Thanks OH, I did actually hope this might be the case! I can't get there til Sunday, so will clear out under the benches and have a good look for them. I didn't think they'd be able to eat all 200 of them. I'm very surprised they've dug them all up in such a short time really.

OK, so, glass half full: I will find a stash of muddy corms on Sunday!

[Catherine]

Hi RP. At the beginning of this year I spent most of a rainy, cold Monday in the shed planting broad beans and sweet peas in root trainers. As I said in an earlier post I put them on the ground and left them to their own devices. Two weeks later I was expecting something happening at least to see something growing and there was nothing. I I started checking the pots, nothing there, my OH was convinced that I had filled the pots with composts, written the labels out and then not planted anything. He was so convinced that was what I had done he almost convinced me too. Only because I had the emply seed packets persuaded him that I was not going mad. Well not at that time anyway. I hope that something grows as I know only too well how disappointing it can be.

Like our stolen peas, I would rather have given them away rather than had them stolen.

[old codger]

Dear retropants, the only advice i can give you is to put holly twigs around them, that will stop the pesky mice.

[oldherbaceous]

Old Codgers suggestion does work with his wallet, he's got white five pound notes in there that are as good a new, no nibbles on them at all.

[retropants]

Ha! thanks OH, that's cheered my right up ! (sorry OC!)

All I can do now is hope the remainder do come up and at least produce a few blooms for me.