How To Protect Leeks From Mice
For myself, I prefer leeks in a nice cheese sauce – not at all sure about leeks & mice 🙂
The bad news is that like it or not, I have had a little run-in with the pesky mice! Ah the joys of living in the countryside – last month it was the cauliflower, now it’s the leeks turn to get a good chewing up.
Never mind – as long as they don’t get into the new Jeep. Yea I had to get rid of the old one partially due to a mouse infestation! A simple tap on the headcloth would result in a mad scurrying above my head – and a mad rush as my wife scrambled to get out of the blessed car 😉
Anyhoo…back to mice nibbling away at my newly planted leeks. I had thought that my main problem was going to keep the winter weather at bay, so that I could enjoy my leeks in the late spring/early summer. Now it seems that my real adversary is going to be the massive field mouse population I have in my garden.
There are a few different ways to get rid of field mice
or voles in the veggie garden – or more accurately, discourage them from enjoying the vegetables. Pepper spray made from boiling down hot peppers for 30 mins or so, then adding the liquid to a hand sprayer; seems to work quite well on these voracious garden pests.
Sonic scarers I have found can also be quite effective over short distances. Surrounding your veggie patch with mouse traps might work – though you risk your fingers whilst harvesting the veggies 🙂
Have you seen the price of plumbers pipe lately?? I decided to try growing my own this year! Hmmm yea, never mind…
Thankfully there is an easier way to protect your young leek plants. Cut some 1 1/2 – 2 inch plastic plumbers waste pipe to about 6 inches (150mm) long. Carefully slip athe plastic pipe over the top of the plants, Sink it an inch or so into the soil and let the plant grow up through it. This will not only protect your leeks, but it will act to blanch your plants. This means that you will have a long white stems on your mature leeks – ideal for that leeks in cheese sauce dish.
Great stuff – now I just have to protect them from the cold winter. Home-grown Leeks in cheese sauce is back on the menu for next year!
Do you have your own clever solution for mice problems in the garden? I’d love to hear about it – please post your idea in the comments below – no matter how crazy it may seem!
