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Plants on the move...?
Dear
Martin...
I am due to move house next week to a
larger garden and plan to make use of the vegetable garden - 5m x
6m. I should like to buy the v tall fruit cage to accommodate my
move accompanied by my entire collection of garden plants now in
pots!
Unfortunately there are a LOT of rabbits there just now and I should like to think that the use of a fruit cage for the first few months will give me (my plants) sufficient protection from them until I can establish a rabbit proof boundary fence and lower the population gradually.... the local authority and next door farmer say that this can be accomplished by the autumn. I appreciate that the rabbits will easily dig under the netting of the fruit cage - but I am planning to surround the cage initially with an extra layer of buried chicken wire to deter them. Once we are a little better established I expect to be able to use the fruit cage as just that rather than a prison for my few containerised shrubs and trees which have come with me from my previous garden - and managed since '07 to survive against remarkable odds! This is plan A and I am looking forward to talking to Harrod Hort about it tomorrow. In the meantime - do you have any other ideas I could try to help my plants to survive whilst moving into this alien environment?
Martin says... Dear H! Many thanks for your message
and I hope your plans for a rabbit exclusion zone in and around
your proposed fruit cage work out; the way you intend to protect
the cage once established certainly points to success! With regard to moving and
protecting your existing potted plants; even though you hope to
have the rabbit population drastically reduced by the autumn, I'd
recommend temporarily planting out the shrubs in a fertile soil
enriched with plenty of well rotted compost. This mix should help
retain water and setting up a ground level irrigation system (try
our soaker hose) should help them through
after a thorough initial watering. This then provides you with the
opportunity to lift and replant in the autumn/winter (as long as
the ground is not waterlogged or frozen) when the trees you mention
will be dormant or less prone to stress when
moving. |
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