Rural riddles


HOLY MOLEY! Jeremy Hobson solves more of your pastoral problems The right solution?


Tunnel vision Q


In January we discovered several


rows of upturned turf in our Brittany orchard. Presumably they are made by moles but I’ve only ever seen molehills before – and never this sort of continuous line. Were they made by moles? If so, what on earth (forgive the pun!) were they doing? Emma Williams


A Let us spray


advocating the use of diluted washing-up liquid to rid garden plants of aphids. Do you happen to know (a) whether it is effective and (b) is it likely to harm the plants themselves? Rob Lambert


Q A I


While I’m not an ‘expert’ on gardening (or few other


I sometimes see gardening ‘experts’


subjects for that matter!), I’m led to believe that, with care, spraying plant pests with a weak solution as you describe above does work. As to possibly harming


plants, it seems that any detergents which contain ‘surfactants’ – molecules that lower the surface tension between two liquids (e.g. water and oil), or a liquid


HORSEPOWER


n the Jan-Feb 2024 (#385) issue of French Property News, I responded to Sophie and Paul Keating’s query regarding the use of working horses in the orchards and vineyards of France – further to which, I received an email from Marcie Carver who mentioned that she knew of vineyards


that were using Breton and Percheron (both native French breeds) horses in such a way. Marcie also told me that she’d found more on the subject in a book by Susanna Forrest (The Age of the Horse, Atlantic Books, 2016) and quoted this particular section from it: “Horses can do jobs … that are impossible for tractors. Their hooves,


though colossal, are dainty compared to the relentless roll of the tyre tread: that means less soil erosion, less damage to other vegetation and less compaction of the soil itself … winemakers in Bordeaux realised that new vines cultivated by horse power produced grapes two years earlier than those in soil compressed by tractor…”


102 FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS: May/June 2024


and solid (e.g. water and dirt particles) – could present a real risk of harm to plants by removing the protective natural oils and waxy surface from the leaves of certain plant types. Also, some plant varieties are more susceptible than others. In general, a soap solution might be the safer bet as soap is usually created from fats and oils.


Yes, it is more usual to find molehills rather than


the lines your photo shows. Usually, especially in dry weather, moles create a network of tunnels well out of sight under the ground and use them to find food (earth worms and other insects and invertebrates fall into the tunnels and make for an easy meal). In wet weather, they are


able to move the earth quite easily from immediately under the ground surface and pick up feed from there. Worms in particular can often be found just under the surface in wet, mild weather. If not made by moles in


search of food or moving on to pastures new, it may be that, at certain seasons of the year, the lines are created by male moles in search of a mate.


Minimal impact


© EMMA WILLIAMS


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