‘I’m devastated’ Stacey Solomon sobs as garden in Pickle Cottage is ‘robbed’ overnight
STACEY Solomon revealed she has been left “devastated” after a precious item was “robbed” from Pickle Cottage.
The mum-of-five has recently shared how she has been transforming the garden of her massive £1.2million home, including growing vegetables with son Rex.
However, things took a heartbreaking turn today when Stacey discovered that their broccoli had been munched by an unwanted guest.
Taking to Instagram, Loose Women star Stacey, 34, pleaded for help from fans after being “absolutely devastated” at the discovery.
She shared: “Devastated, send help. What do I tell Rex?
“Oh my gosh. I’ve just come out to water the plants because the sun’s gone behind the other side of the house and it’s like great watering time for me.
“I’m looking at the patch and I’m like what’s different? It looks different today. What’s happened here?
“I’ve walked closer and I’ll tell you what’s different. I’ve been robbed, I’ve been robbed. Oh my god, it’s so bad.
“I don’t even want to look at it. I’m absolutely devastated.
“The deer, and it must be deer because I don’t know anything that could do what they’ve done to my veg.
“The deer have come in the night and literally robbed me dry of my broccoli. All of it. I’ve just got stems left… stems!”
Stacey filmed the barren-looking vegetable patch where only the broccoli stems remained, and continued: “Look I’ll show you. I’m actually so sad. I’m actually so devastated.
“Do I have to just rip them out? Am I too late to start again with these? Send help please.”
Fans were quick to chime in with their responses, and Stacey did a follow-up post saying: “Broccoli rescue mission.
“Okay so loads of you saying it looks like rabbits. Also lots of you saying they might be okay so keep going.
“But I’m also going to plant new plugs and I’m off to the garden centre to get some netting. Hoping that helps. Thank you.”
The Loose Women host previously opened up about how “special” she was finding it growing vegetables with Rex.
She shared at the time: “Growing veggies is just the most special thing.
“I’ve enjoyed it so much. What a feeling of accomplishment!
“And the happiness it’s brought the pickles [her children] is just magic.
Inside Stacey Solomon's Pickle Cottage
STACEY Solomon splashed out a massive £1.3million on Pickle Cottage - and Joe Swash didn't put in a penny.
She solely stumped up the cash for their Tudor-style Essex property, which is set in 2.5 acres and boasts an outdoor swimming pool.
It’s not known why Stacey went alone, as ex-EastEnders actor Joe is reportedly worth over £1million, but has also been made bankrupt twice in 2009 and 2013.
Shrewd Stacey has shown she’s a dab hand at running a wide range of successful businesses including TV, books, clothing and homeware ranges.
Her main firm Key Map Entertainments is worth just shy of £3million – but she’s now branching out into cosmetics.
The former X Factor contestant registered the company Belle & Rose Ltd, named after her youngest two daughters.
“Hoping that my children forever see the beauty and wonder in these things.”
She recently shared how she had transformed her greenhouse from looking derelict to being a stylish outdoor space.
The Loose Women star loves a good DIY project – and now Stacey has come to rescue to help Britons on her latest TV venture, Renovation Rescue.
The new series, which airs on Channel 4, follows the home interiors fanatic helping people who have encountered bad builders.
Whether it’s bricklaying or basic plumbing, Stacey has been getting stuck into the projects herself too and sharing tips she has picked up while renovating her £1.2million home, Pickle Cottage.
Common garden pests
Common pests in the garden don’t need to be a cause for alarm. If you can identify them, you can work on getting rid of them and preventing them from returning.
Aphids (Greenfly, Blackfly)
Aphids are extremely common and can impact plant growth. They have tiny soft pear-shaped bodies, and are usually green or black. You may spot them clustered on the stem of soft shoots – look under leaves in particular – or may find a sticky substance on your plants that gives away aphids have been there sucking at the sap.
Whitefly
These small white-winged insects are related to aphids, at just 1 or 2 mm in length, and look very much like white moths as adults. They can be found on the underside of leaves, preferring younger, fresher leaves. They fly in clusters when you disturb them. Their lifecycle is only three weeks long, which means an infestation can occur very rapidly.
Slugs
An unmissable, squashy-looking body plus small sensory tentacles on its head. Slugs move along on one muscular foot. They range in scale from surprisingly small to terrifyingly large; limax cinereoniger species can grow comfortably beyond 20 cm in length.
Cabbage Moth Caterpillar
Cabbage moth caterpillars happily make their way into the heart of the vegetables, The caterpillars are distinguished in shades of yellow or browny green with no hair.
Mealy Bug
Mealybugs are tiny oval-shaped insects that have a white, powdery wax coating. There are several different species, many of which have what looks like legs coming from their sides and back end. In their earliest stage of life, it’s entirely possible to mistake them for fungus and not recognise them as insects at all.
The former X Factor star, who’s married to Joe Swash, is mum to Zachary, 15, Leighton, 11, Rex, four, Rose, two and one-year-old Belle.
On the show, Stacey joked she is better at DIY than her husband, saying he is ”not handy at all”.
She chuckled: ”It’s probably best that we keep the DIY projects just to one person – that person being me.
”Because I’m much better at it than Joe.”