And the first thing on our list was to get our poor vegie patch up and running again...........let me fill you in thus far!
About 3 years ago, Pip and I decided we needed to be a lot more sustainable and produce our own food if we could, so we got some chooks and spent an entire weekend building an awesome vegie patch. This was great we thought.....our first real step! The chooks settled into their new environment nicely, and even got along well with hound of a dog Duke (labrador I might add!) which was lucky because we wanted them to be able to roam free in the backyard! The first seasonal vegies were in and the kids were so excited watching the growth (daily!) and we delighted in our spoils that season with beautiful salads, roasted beets, dips, sweet sweet tomatoes, pumpkins, spinach herbs a plenty etc etc............
But then it stopped! Something was eating our vegies! One morning we went out to pick some snow peas for a lunch salad and EVERYTHING was gone.
At first I turned to the dog, but as it was all fence in (due to free roaming chooks) I knew he hadn't got in because all was still secure. Possums!! It must be possums! So we planted again and this time placed netting all over the gardens so they can't reach the vegies.........woohoo......were back in action!
But no.......kids came running in the following morning crying "they did it again mum, every things gone".
Rats!!!!! Bloody burrowing vegie eating bush rats! I'm gutted! How do I compete with and animal that can create an entire vegie patch eating army of a family overnight! I looked into baiting, but then discovered that because they burrow, you don't know where they'll go and die (so to speak) so it could actually be still within the soil of the vegie patch thus contaminating our next potential meal!
Catching them didn't work, their numbers were too great (think the storm water pipe next door could have alot to do with their access too just quietly!) I'd love your advice or assistance if you've had something similar!!
So that it......I gave up! Our beautiful patch lays derelict and houses a great array of weeds, some of which are taller than my children he he
So that's it to date, but this year being the year of 'do it' Pip and I decided to tackle the situation head on.........move the veggie patch to the front yard!
See if they can find our vegies there he he. We already had our parsley stash growing out there (always needing parsley) so we know potential growth is possible, but whether our rats are willing to travel that much further for their meal will yet be discovered!!!
So here is were we have our new vegie patch ready for our summer spoils!!
planted out with lettuces, spinach, tomatoes, and a few herbs to start off with!
Will keep you posted on the growth.......if we get it!
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