I love having chives - they're very useful in shade too, which many people don't realise because most alliums like sun. Have you tried any of the Chionodoxas @B3? Bulbs are small, but they don't get taken here, although, as I said earlier, I don't get mice taking bulbs because they have their ready supply of bird food. A possibility for you though. I only grow the white ones. No point putting chicken wire on pots to stop mice. They can get through holes the size of a biro. Fine for squirrels, but it's ugly, so I prefer netting, tied with string round the top of the pot. It can look quite nice in a 'shabby chic' sort of way You could just wire it on and hide the pots until growth gets underway though. I do both.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I cannot grow any peas or beans outside due to mice eating them but grow a variety of flower bulbs that have never been eaten by anything, especially lilies. (Except lily beetle). Perhaps my mice have different tastes and prefer savoury to sweet.
I have loads of them out the front but I'd have many more if I didn't mistake the young leaves for bluebells @Fairygirl. Worth a try, they're not expensive. I keep squirrels away with holly. So they're not usually a problem with container plants.
Maybe you have mutant ninja mice @Joyce Goldenlily I expect the more of these susceptible plants you grow, the more attractive your plot becomes to their predators. I occasionally lose lilies to rot if they're in the ground, just like several other bulbs, but the lily beetles are becoming more prevalent here now, which is a pain. When I grew them regularly in previous gardens, they were extremely rare, so it wasn't necessary to do the inspecting/wiping/dispatching.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
My cat has brought me a wide range of small brown furries as pressies over the years, ranging from young rats, rabbits and moles, to field mice, shrews and voles so I do not stand much chance really. I found a large frog wandering across my kitchen floor last week, not for the first time. I was really peed off last year to find a tiny hole beside each of my very small pea plants. The green shoot neatly nipped off and left and the pea gone. I had taken a chance and moved them outdoors ready to plant out and forgot to bring them indoors overnight. Not one was left. I grow my lilies in large deep containers, planted very deeply which is what probably deters furries from digging them up.
I grow most lilies in pots @Joyce Goldenlily , so that I can move them around according to time of year, and what else is growing, but the ones I have in the ground are mainly in raised beds. They often rot if they're just directly in ground level borders - bridge too far for them with the conditions. I've not had too many problems with mice eating seed, and I grow sweet peas every year. We do have shrews etc as well round here, but the rabbits aren't near enough to be a nuisance. There are certainly rats as well, but we aren't often troubled by them - plenty of food available in the fields/farm etc nearby. Perhaps the bird food is the answer for the mice!
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I have to take precautions with all early sowings of peas & sweet peas in the greenhouse as it is not mouse proof. I use an old aquarium stand with an overhanging top which has worked so far. i make sure it is not within touching distance or mouse jump of other plants.
Later sowings in the veg garden are usually ok though. The exception was this year when we had a rabbit population explosion and they got into the veg garden for the first time. Situation will probably be back to normal next year though, as most of them have been hit by RHD, poor things.
It's second nature here to keep everything chewable out of reach of mice, in barns and greenhouse. Gloves, ear defenders (for the foam padding) that sort of thing.
I sow mine [s. peas] in the house in mid March. They don't go anywhere outside until they're a decent enough size. If I do them in the growhouse, I'd be sowing them later anyway because it isn't suitable, temps wise, for germination. On the odd occasion I've done it, they seem to have managed fairly well without any meeces having a go. I suppose a secondary, small 'greenhouse' inside might work though.
Difficult if you have loads and loads of crops to sow though. I'd need a lot of windowsills...
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I like to have two large pots of the old-fashioned, white, strongly scented lilies, one on each side of my conservatory doors. They usually last several years before they begin to stop flowering. Lily beetle seems to be their only problem. A daily check and a long fingernail to pop them is my preferred method of control. Then I know they are really dead!
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Have you tried any of the Chionodoxas @B3? Bulbs are small, but they don't get taken here, although, as I said earlier, I don't get mice taking bulbs because they have their ready supply of bird food. A possibility for you though. I only grow the white ones.
No point putting chicken wire on pots to stop mice. They can get through holes the size of a biro. Fine for squirrels, but it's ugly, so I prefer netting, tied with string round the top of the pot. It can look quite nice in a 'shabby chic' sort of way
You could just wire it on and hide the pots until growth gets underway though. I do both.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Perhaps my mice have different tastes and prefer savoury to sweet.
I keep squirrels away with holly. So they're not usually a problem with container plants.
I expect the more of these susceptible plants you grow, the more attractive your plot becomes to their predators.
I occasionally lose lilies to rot if they're in the ground, just like several other bulbs, but the lily beetles are becoming more prevalent here now, which is a pain. When I grew them regularly in previous gardens, they were extremely rare, so it wasn't necessary to do the inspecting/wiping/dispatching.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I was really peed off last year to find a tiny hole beside each of my very small pea plants. The green shoot neatly nipped off and left and the pea gone. I had taken a chance and moved them outdoors ready to plant out and forgot to bring them indoors overnight. Not one was left.
I grow my lilies in large deep containers, planted very deeply which is what probably deters furries from digging them up.
I've not had too many problems with mice eating seed, and I grow sweet peas every year. We do have shrews etc as well round here, but the rabbits aren't near enough to be a nuisance. There are certainly rats as well, but we aren't often troubled by them - plenty of food available in the fields/farm etc nearby.
Perhaps the bird food is the answer for the mice!
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Gloves, ear defenders (for the foam padding) that sort of thing.
I suppose a secondary, small 'greenhouse' inside might work though.
Difficult if you have loads and loads of crops to sow though. I'd need a lot of windowsills...
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Lily beetle seems to be their only problem.
A daily check and a long fingernail to pop them is my preferred method of control. Then I know they are really dead!