Of mice - and a woman...

(With apologies for paraphrasing the title of John Steinbeck's novel, and using a line from Robert Burns poem, "To a mouse")

You all know the problems I had with field mice and my tomatoes last summer.  And, shamefully, you know of my one moment of weakness when I left out a dose of mouse poison to try and get rid of these pests.

Well, it would appear that moving all the remaining building rubble, remaining bricks, wood piles, and even RMan's ride on mower (which saw major damage to the wiring occur) away from my vegetable growing area, didn't solve the problem.

The shadecloth veggie house is planted up
with onions and garlic hehe

This winter I planted up my shadecloth veggie house with onions and garlic - the mice, thankfully, don't seem partial to that diet.  Hopefully they will forget the smorgasbord they enjoyed there last summer...

A rogue tomato plant lives on amongst the
broad beans - the mice, naturally have
found that... (I didn't know that tomatoes
grew in winter)

I decided to plant broad beans and peas where I previously had pink popcorn, sunflowers and squash growing.  They love the spot and are thriving.  But, it is too close to the empty field next door, which is home, apparently, to many more mice than even I had bargained for.  They have had a field day with my precious pea pods.  I envisage the broad beans suffering a similar fate, and decided, no way - I've been pushed just a tad too far.  This is WAR! 

A chunk out here, a chunk out there -
not nice!

Having read that tomatoes do well with a sprinkling of urine, I thought that perhaps that may deter the mice.  A perimeter pour was applied.

Telltale signs - one of the mouse runs under the
fence

It caused a 36 hour hiccup in the diet.

Nope.  I'm not giving up.

My poor peas

When  Natasha, WGuy and Mike arrived with their 2 dogs and 2 hamsters they also brought along Sam - their grey cat.  She has proved excellent at assisting in diminishing the mouse population - to the point of leaving the lower extremities on the floor of Mike's bedroom - no doubt awaiting the accolades she feels she is due for the services she has rendered.  (note to Sam - if is completely unnecessary to bring these rodents into the house - I am aware of your superb feats, without needing the physical proof - please!!!!!)  But, as grateful as I am for 2 mice having thus met their timeous demise in the past 10 days, I reckoned that stronger action is required.

Again - they don't eat the entire pea pod -
just a mouthful here and another
mouthful there - selfish creatures!

Google to the rescue.

Beds of lavender apparently deter these nasty critters.  But - I seriously can't  wait for lavender bushes to be big enough to make a difference - not if I want a successful harvest next summer.

Lateral thought was applied.

So, off to my local pharmacy, and "Yes!!!" they had it - lavender oil.  Lavender and lavender oil - they have to be the same surely?

I mixed roughly 6ml of lavender oil with 5 ltrs of water and started spraying.  The first spray consisted of only one section of pea plants -  and round the very base of the plants where they emerged from the soil, as well as round the base of the support poles - just enough to wet them.  As the bottle says for external use only I made sure that I did not spray any pea pods and I telephoned the manufacturer to clear this use of their product.

The next morning there did not appear to be any newly munched pods...

Hmmm... that emboldened me.

Thus a two pronged attack began.

Damp used cat litter strategically placed along
the fence to the neighbouring property where
the mice reside

Firstly, the (damp - but not "solid") contents of Sam's cat litter box, which she was allowed for the first couple of days whilst she acclimatised to her new location, were spread between the pea / broad bean bed and their visible mouse runs - no, not right on top of the plants but roughly 3½ metres from the bed next to the fence.

"Smell that and quiver you mangy rodents" <evil grin>.

Secondly, I took the balance of the 5lt bottle of lavender oil and water mixture and sprayed a perimeter ring around my pea and broad bean veggie patch  -positioned at least a metre away from the veggies, and ½ metre wide.

It is now Day 10 and there is a dramatic reduction in the number of peas which are showing signs of being munched, so I'm hopeful.  It seems the lavender oil is effective for 6 - 7 days, and thereafter a perimeter respray is required.

I am prepared to fork out the R83.00 a month (until I find a wholesale supplier that is) for 20mls of lavender oil in order to create a perimeter ring to deter these incontinent pests away from all my vegetables.  At least I know that it is the eco-friendliest solution (and one which wont also harm the nearby resident owl) until I purchase and plant up a whopping crop of lavender plants....

Peas are the one veggie that RMan will consume
with gusto - even raw.  and, he's willing to shell
as many as I can pick.  I have to save the peas
from the mice!

The moral of the story?

Don't mess with a woman who is trying to provide for her family ;)