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Something or somebody has been severely shortening my sugar snap peas! They'd been growing reasonably well, protected by wiremesh while they were young, and yesterday I noticed that they were as if cut off at about 20cm (8 inches) height... (They'd fallen over a bit, as I've not got round to tying them up yet, so if I pulled them up the plant would actually be longer than that.) Definitely not slug damage, and it's so regular as if somebody had been in with a scythe! Now I know that my neighbours wouldn't do a thing like that, and we don't have any random vandals around here. I can't imagine birds or rabbits (would have to be a big one) being as systematic as that.

Anybody any ideas what has hit me? I'm almost suspecting my cat - felines sometimes have strange cravings for greenery - but again, at that height, and so regular? (My old cat used to pick green beans in the garden and eat them. She liked Chinese cabbage, too.)

Ina

rodents?

I'd blame squirrels myself. No particular evidence but they certainly do enough damage in my garden. The other day, I looked out of the bedroom window at lunchtime and realised there was one digging away in the raised bed, just a few feet away. Grrr... I hate squirrels!

Wulf

I think rodents would attack lower down, and I've never seen a squirrel in my garden. (Actually, no rabbits, either - I've gone to some lengths to make the veggie garden rabbit proof, and the cat keeps them out of the rest of the garden for most of the time.)

But I saw the cat chew off some grass at just that height today, so my suspicion is getting stronger... Especially as I've just noticed that now that I've covered the sugarsnap peas with wire mesh again, that same villain has started on my other peas! I'll have to cover everything, I think. And I'll spend the day at the kitchen window staring at my peas, so I can catch the culprit red handed... Or green mouthed . Whatever it is, it's eating the stuff; there's no debris lying about.

It's nice to know my cat has her greens every day, but can't she stick to grass? Or if it has to be legumes, I've got some nice clover and tares... She's probably just taking revenge because I wormed her the other day. Didn't speak to me all night after that.

Ina