“The Moon is in the wrong quarter” or “There is still snow on Cagire” (a local mountain) were the warnings given by my neighbours when I planted out my tomatoes far too early in the year (according to them).
I am experimenting with some early spring jackets cut from clear paraffin bidons. Two old roof tiles are usually de rigueur around here!
There’s only one more danger period and that’s around May 1st a full moon. I’ve chanced it and put in all my tomato plants
Ooh er Geoffrey
Aren’t tomatoes a little tender considering where they originated from?
Hopefully yours will come through the next cold spell. Please update us in the near future.
Good luck. I have yet to plant ours but they always seem to catch up. Once established I don’t water them any more. It makes them put their roots down deeper and the flavour improves.
You’re probably right I’m always too impatient to get them planted and they don’t grow much in this weather but I’m usually lucky
Better to be born lucky than rich!
Yummy MiK. Will you share it with your beloved?
I’m having a frustrating year - I start nearly all my seeds in my polytunnel, but something has been systematically pulling out all my seeds, and making a total mess of things. Initially I thought it was birds getting in, but once I made sure it was all sealed off, it appears to be some sort of rodent during the night.
I did. We had half each on top of a Rum Baba
I use one of those night time trail cameras. It is surprising what is about after dark
Does it need to be within wifi range?
No, they can have a SD card in them which you take out and download and images,
+1 for the wildlife camera. We have one in the UK and have seen foxes, badgers, cats and hedgehogs coming through at night. Never saw rats, though, even though at one time we had an (un)healthy population living in one of our hedgerows. I always assumed they weren’t big enough to trigger the camera’s sensor. Or maybe the grass, being about 4” high, hid their movements.
The answer is yes and no. I use this trail camera.
You need to be within WiFi range to activate the camera, change any settings, download any images from the memory card or watch live footage.
Once it is activated, it continue to take photos or videos whether you are within range or not. You can then go back and download from the memory card later or even remove the card and download directly.
⅚
The size of the target matters but it depends on how close it is and how quickly it is moving. It is the change in signals on a group of pixels in the camera’s sensor that it is critical. I once got a nice close up of a snail crawling across the lens. Yes it definitely picks up rats and mice.
EDIT. To be precise, the connection between app and camera is made using Bluetooth and local WiFi, not not internet WiFi.
Thanks for that. My polytunnel is definitely out of wifi range, but I could potentially bring it back to the house to see what’s going on… I’ve have seen mice in my polytunnel in previous years, but they’ve not disturbed my seedlings before now. I have a humane trap somewhere, I just need to find it!
Your Amazon link doesn’t work, as you seem to have made it from your order list rather than the product page. I’d be interested in which one you use if you can put the proper link on here.
Sorry HB that is just what I did. Try This link. It is as close as I can find to the actual one I bought (let me know if it works)
That is not necessary Gareth. Once the camera is set to trigger a photo or video whenever a movement is detected the data is stored on the memory card in the camera. You then take your phone to the camera and download what has been recorded. It just means you cant sit and watch live footage which is a shame because it is more entertaining than current TV programs.
i sometimes wonder if it’s better not to know! 
I remember one sleepless night getting up every hour trying to chase away a pine marten that was intent on beheading all my chickens. 
It killed a couple, and the moved onto my neighbour’s geese and did a number on them.
Does anyone know what this is? Has what looks like white blackberry flower, a thin straight-up trunk with vicious thorns, but kind of rosehips? Are they fruit, or old flower bases?
I am tempted to cut it down but worried the droopy-type things might actually be early sloes that I could make sloe gin out of …
