Mouse Trap Stations

I'm trying to tackle my mouse problem in the garden before they get out of hand. A few years ago they ringed a lot of my young fruit trees which would have killed them if I hadn't inarched them with new root stocks. 

I've decided to be a bit more proactive in my approach and get them before they do any damage (I've got a lot of young fruit trees in my nurseries) and I don;t want to use poison if I can help it. This is purely for selfish reasons, I don't want rat poison being carted off by the mice and then going into my soil or the children finding it. 

Beets damaged by mice

I watched a lecture by Eliot Coleman the other day on YouTube and he was giving his answer to keeping mice under control. Little trapping stations set out in the field. He doesn't bait them and just relies on a mouse's natural love of going into dark spaces and tunnels.

So I bought some fancy new mouse traps (I get fed up with cheap wooden ones that are tricky to set and make a real mess when they kill the mouse) and knocked out a few little "mouse houses" out of some old wood in the workshop.

I think the downside of these is they look too cute for their own good. 

"Ahhhh, look, a lovely little house for a mouse..."

Inside they each have two traps ready to go and a lid that is easy to lift off and check each morning.

I set four trap stations yesterday afternoon and caught three mice when I checked them this morning, so not a bad start. With anything like this I think consistency is the key, I need to make sure I keep checking and resetting these traps so they constantly keeps numbers down.

I'm going to make a few bucket traps next as well, as these have been recommended to be before, and see how they do. 

How do you deal with mice in the garden? 

Do they cause you much trouble?

Beetroot Soup

Wednesday night I made beetroot soup.

When I was out in the garden I saw that the mice had been at my beetroot again (see this post from a previous year) So I decided to pull up what was still edible and make a soup for tea. 

A simple soup consisting of about 6 beetroots, a couple of carrots, a red onion, loads of garlic, some stock and a cooking apple. 

The onion and garlic were sweated first to soften, then the other veg were added for a bit, the stock cube and water was poured on after about 15 minutes. I left this to simmer, prepared some dough to prove for rolls and went to bath the kids (the dough was mixed in the bread maker earlier though!)!

I left it to simmer for an hour then blended it with a stick blender. 

I served it with rolls on the side and some crumbled feta in the soup. 

Lovely! 

Now to take care of those mice in the garden, I have a cunning plan....

Mice!

The nights are getting colder and the little bas##rds are starting to come inside. I'm referring to our furry little friends the mice. 

I've set traps for them, blocked up any holes I can see and yet they still find there way into the house. I hate hearing the trap snap shut but at least I know that's another packet of crisps they haven't eaten!

In truth its not just this time of year we've been having problems with them, all year they've been a major issue in the garden. My mum has suffered worse with mice in her garden this year, above is a picture of what is left of her beetroot, not very appetizing I'm sure you'll agree. 

I didn't have a single strawberry this year. I blamed my inability with growing them, but I've seen the evidence and I know it's mice, my neighbour said she's caught 50 while her strawberries were growing!

So any hints or tips on getting rid of them? I'd rather not get a cat as I'm just not a cat person, also many friend have said that you end up with more in the house as the cat brings them in for you still alive!

I bait the traps with either peanut butter, chocolate or good old fashioned cheese (for the Tom and Jerry type nostalgia) and I can normally catch the one I'm after but I need to less the numbers considerably!