After years of squirrels digging up freshly planted pots in my back garden and then chomping away at newly emerging flower heads for afters, I have built some mini cages to neatly fit on some old wine boxes so that I can still grow my favourite salad leaves by the kitchen door. Once the lettuces etc. are of a decent size and can look after themselves, I can remove the cage. Simple to make. All you need is some chicken wire, nails and a 8 small pieces of thin wood (these were reclaimed from a nearby skip). First, cut and then nail the base pieces of wood together to fit around the wooden box, then nail on the 4 upright pieces of wood to the base. Shape and position the wire around the wooden framework and then nail the wire onto the base. Mine’s getting a bit rickety, but still really does the job.
And while I’m blogging, here’s a quick update on the mint I re-potted about 9 weeks ago in March.
Looking very happy and ready to be used in the kitchen too. Spring is a good time to re-pot mint as new growth is so vigorous, but if your mint is pot bound, re-pot anytime throughout spring and summer and even into early October if it is still mild-ish.
And finally, a quick mention for Andrew Babicz’s blog. Every week I receive a ‘What to do in the garden’ list from Andrew. Really comprehensive for both flowers and veg-I find it a timely reminder of when to sow seeds, when to cut back , when to plant out, when to prune and what pests and diseases to look out for. Thanks Andrew!
Out of my shed 
An electric fence round the entire garden might be good for squirrels too! Might try another version when planting autumn bulbs where half get eaten by squirrels
[…] Click here for May update on Mint […]
Hi,
Its interesting to see what you have done, i have put some netting around one inch below the soil surface(galvanised dosent rust too quickly) then sprinkled cayyanne pepper on top. The plants grow thro the netting, and the pepper puts them off comming too close, but the rain washes it off after a time so you have to put some more out. It doesnot look too bad on the flowers, i have also found that certain types of plants the dont like, daffodils are one. I hope this helps, keep up the blog.