Do mice tunnel ???

[Nature Girl]

Lo Lo!

I am off to plant peas directly in the ground as I have been unsucesssfull in growing any more than 2 pea plants in the kitchen. Lots of talk about maurauding mice on the allottment. I figured I would get one step ahead & put a net cloch over the top.

Will this do or do mice tunnel for their supper???

[sewer rat]

Mice do indeed tunnel - no experience of them eating from below but it's not beyond the realms of possibility. Maybe LJ who has had mice problems herself, or another grape can advise on possible methods of prevention.

[Lesley Jay]

It only happened the one year but I sowed three separate pea beds, one after the other and nothing came up and there was not a pea left in the ground so one of the old timers on the site said it was mice. There were no marks on the ground and no sign of any digging. Ever since then I always start the peas off in cells and plant them out.

[Nature Girl]

Ta for the reply LJ.

I tried planting them in 3" pots on the windowsill in an unheated propergator & apart from 2 they all went mouldy. One of the other more experienced lottie holders grows hers in loo rolls so she can transfer the whole lot in one go. I have now done this too. I will see what happens. My greenhouse is still not fully glazed but next year I will use the drain pipe method.

LJ what type of pots do you grow your peas in please.

[multiveg]

Have you tried sowing peas in guttering? I have started a load this way. For planting out, just have a shallow trench and slide out into it. Have done it with broad beans this year as well, plants look happy now in the plot.
Peas I have direct sown have not done very well this year.

[sewer rat]

I sowed all my peas in lengths of guttering robbed from a skip. Just cut the guttering to the length or width of your beds or plot, fill with compost, sow your peas and let God do the rest - dead easy to plant out - scoop out small trench, ensure peas are well watered, and slide the peas and compost into trench. Voila !

[Peardrops]

In spring, I sow my peas into newspaper tube pots, or loo rolls and then plant them out, succsessive sowing I do straight into the ground. I saw a tv programme yesterday, the big dig, where one allotment holder soaked her peas in parafin for 1/2 hour before planting, as a mouse repellant.