There’s a thief at the bottom of my garden, and who it is I haven’t a clue. Something has eaten all my onions from one of my willow planters and the lettuce. The other planter hasn’t fared any better with the culprit starting to eat those onions too and the radishes! It isn’t only my veg that’s going missing but the foliage on some of my bulbs has been nibbled at.

Two months ago something ate all the heads off my bearded irises and I thought perhaps it was a one off but these recent thefts have the same tell-tale signs although I haven’t got any idea what the thief could be. I can dismiss the birds because my veg has been protected by netting and it doesn’t look like bird damage. I’m considering the possibility of slugs/snails but again the damage doesn’t match what they’ve done to my hostas.

This leaves me thinking that I have a mystery on my hands because I’m certain that the neighbourhood cats do not eat veg and I’d surely notice them at it. The onions have been eaten from the top down, along with the foliage on the bulbs and the radishes have been nibbled at around the edges inward. I have no idea about the lettuces because they have vanished! No sign of them can be found anywhere much to my disappointment.

Do you have any idea what it could be? Any help identifying this pest would be much appreciated.

On a brighter note I’m happy to say that my French beans are doing surprisingly well when I had almost given up hope they are actually developing some pods, not enough to feed my family of 4 but still it’s better than nothing. The runner beans are now developing too and so far none have been pinched by the wee blackbird that checks up on them daily. I’ve still to harvest the carrots after deciding the miniscule one I pulled up meant they needed to be left a little longer and they are completely pest free so the coldframe idea has worked quite well.

I just have to discover who this mysterious garden thief is before any more of my plants go AWOL!

Happy Gardening, Nicole 😀