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Voles – bain of my garden! I think one of the few drawbacks of no dig is that it leaves their tunnels untouched, and the voles very comfortable. A mousetrap set next to the entrance hole with a clay flowerpot upturned over it is my most successful method, but snakes and bucket traps sound worth investigating!
It’s not much help for this year’s crops I know, but I have found enviromesh to be the answer. Last year I invested in some 5m wide meshes that come right down securely to the ground and give the plants room to grow, and this year for the first time ever, no insects in my caulis or calabrese at all so far, really clean veggies. Expensive, but long-lasting solution. We live very close to a butterfly reserve, and there are clouds of butterflies over the garden this year, many of them white, but they are not bothering me!
I have these too, and I’m in north Dorset. I’ve never seen them before, and I wasn’t too concerned as they are on carrots which are about to be pulled, but I’m going to go out right now and check the parsnips and salsify in the same bed.
I usually put the leeks in where the potatoes have come out, but this year I am only just beginning to dig the potatoes and the leeks need to go in now, so I will have to make a plan B!
I was going to post on this subject! My garden is all raised beds filled with composted cow manure on top of undiggable clay and rocks (I discovered no-dig out of necessity). The moles haven’t been much trouble the last couple of years, and I generally believe in leaving them be, but this year they’ve gone bonkers! When planting small plants, the trowel is forever dropping into a void, and I often have trouble finding a solid place to plant. Quite a few plants have keeled over as if drought-struck, which I guess is the mole digging a tunnel under them. I don’t think there is much point in setting traps as we ajoin open fields and more will just move in, but is there any way of deterring the little menaces or driving them deeper into the soil??
Sorry you lost your greenhouse. I recently bought a Rhino and I’d thoroughly recommend them. Expensive, but so much better than my old greenhouse, which looks very apologetic sitting next to it. They do heated benches too.
would be interested to hear more about you growing these plants.