Polytunnels, Poison and Pests

I was down on the plot this morning. It was a gloriously sunny day but very cold indeed. The ground was still iced at 11 am and it was definitely not digging weather.

Mel and I repaired the polytunnel with all weather tape to protect the canopy from tearing any further. Birds are landing on top of the polythene and thier little feet are piercing the plastic. Has anyone out there thought of a way to stop birds doing this?

We then sowed the pepper seeds in quarter trays and put them in the heated greenhouse. Hopefully these will germinate shortly and we can prick them out ready for the plant sale.

We have a problem with our electricity supply to one of the green houses; this needs to be fixed very soon as we are not going to have enough space when we come to pricking out the tender veg and flowers. There has been a request by a film crew to use the allotment as a backdrop for a film they want to shoot; the "director" of the film has agreed to repair the electrics in the green house in payment for filming on the plot. This isn't the most satisfactory of arrangements, but I really don't want to get involved with alotment politics.

This week I also managed to sow a few of my own seeds, but my greenhouse isn't heated so I hope there weather will be sufficiently warm in the next few weeks to allow the seeds to germinate in the unheated green house too, otherwise I will have to start all over again.

In the last few weeks there have been a lot of e-mails flying about as a result of rats on the plot. The debate has been about whether or not to poison. There is clear division of plot holders into two camps; those in favour and those against the use of poison. Needless to say I am firmly in the against camp. I cannot condone the use of poison on a public plot and feel that even a single voice saying no must be acknowledged. Other wildlife ond natural predators could suffer agonising death.

We should be encouraging natural predators and the deterring the rats by not composting cooked food and me. One of my plot holding neighbours advocates the use of chilli spray onto and around the compost bins. I feel we should give this a try amongst other natural methods.