Grow Your Own Magazine

i havent posted on for a while although I have been reading some of the advice thats been given.

This is my first year with my plot and although I love it, I have lost the faith a little.

The constant bad weather and slugs have pretty much destroyed all the crops. lost all my peas, broad beans, brocoli etc.

all I have left is toms, potatoes, beetroot and sweet potatoes.

But I think I have got a second wind sort of thing, I have order some replacement brassica's but I need to stop the the slugs. I dont really want to use slug pellets and ideas.

I have an empty bed can I sow some turnip, swede and carrots or is it too late.

the slugs seem to have no fear and are huge, anyone know where I can find a hedgehog???

Sounds like you're doing pretty well, PT, if 'ALL' you've got left is toms, pots, beets and sweet pots - deal sight more than you had last year, hmm? So well done, and no giving up now!

With regard to your brassicas, if you net them when you get them in, it'll stop that other well known annoyance PIGEONS!

The added bonus is that with the brassicas securely netted, you might be able to bring yourself to using (those 'safe') slug pellets as the birdies won't be getting in to eat the slugs.....

I'm guessing that you'll be ok with the carrots and turnips (not sure about swede), but I'm sure that others will be along to let you know about the sowing.....

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Hazel
www.hazelandjanesallotment.blogspot.com
update Sat 20/12/2008......End of year report - plot d (legumes)!.....

thanks Hazel


will try to not get down hearted.

I net my brasicas because of pigeons/rabbits/magpies. I put down slug pellets which the animals can't get to, but other options are copper rings, nematodes, a ring of course sand or grit around plants, beer traps, upturned orange peel, etc, etc.

Try a bit of experimentation and see what works for you!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

I use the more expensive slug pellets which make the slugs go underground and expire rather than leaving a slimy mess on the surface which the birds then eat. If the slug pops its clogs on the surface, the poison only kills the slug - not anything else that might fancy dead slug for tea!

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

Percyt i know just how you feel I had a bad run at the beginning of the season. My overwintered onions had white rot (can't plant them in that bit of land for EIGHT years) quickly followed by the untimely death of ALL my garlic. The Brassicas were a joke and the peas which were successful were only a second thought and so I had only planted a few. Added to that we had a period where we couldn't get down there and when we did it looked like we'd never put a spade or a hoe to it! At one point we thought it just wasn't worth it but somehow this gardening stuff gets under your skin and we found ourselves (rather half heartedly ) planting again. Try as we might we just couldn't seem to leave it and here we are a couple of months down the line as determined as ever. (Mind you I've just discovered blighton the toms.......)
have a good moan, grab a cup of tea and content yourself that this is a really naff year (I know 'cos people on the vine have said and they're never wrong) Then work out what you want to try next.
Good luck
Raine

Just look at it this way Raine..........nowt else can go wrong barring an earthquake or tornado! Like the old song lyrics go "Things can only get better"!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

Percy
Yes net your stuff, and it will keep some of the slugs off as well, no finer sight than seeing slugs crawling over the enviromesh, unable to get in. And of course, you can pellet inside the netting to stop any that have got in. You still get the odd loss and nibble but nothing like as bad as leaving it unprotected.
I don't know about you but I'm still new to growing stuff, I've gone from not growing anything to growing a bit very badly last year and growing more this year, still with a number of F**k ups but can def see an improvement, give me another ten years and I might be getting near competent...
You keep seeing the truism, seeds want to grow, and that's mostly right, they do, some seem to commit suicide but lots do to my continued amazement, even when I've planted them. Chin up, keep going, you'll get there, you have done well with some stuff, it's a bad year to judge against, and there's always another chance next year.
best wishes
Sue

Actually, Shirl, not many animals eat dead slugs. I never liked the thought of using pellets and leaving poisoned slugs and snails around. However, research has been done, and is now backed by the RSPB, which states that the little blue smarties we feed the slugs do not generally harm anything else. Most slug/snail predators (birds, frogs etc) won't touch a dead or dying one with the proverbial bargepole. One alternative is to keep a bucket of salty water handy, go on patrol in the dead of night with a torch and drop the little blighters into the salty water. You then have the problem of what to do with the remains, however!

thanks everyone for the advice, ok am very silly does slug pellet posion not go into the ground around the veggies?

will def have to invest in netting as everyone seems to suggest.

This is something that worried me a bit Percy, so I just put them round the edges of the bed - stops the slugs and snails from getting near (unless they manage to build a catapult...??!!) but they're not too close to the veggies. I use Enviromesh too, over the brassicas mostly, and this stops pigeons and also the dreaded cabbage white whose offspring can chomp as much as the slugs...

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Sarah

http://www.hypermobility.org


“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

Cabbage white have got me mostly too, I can tell you how many I have crushed. Note to self, build beds and buy environmensh that allow growth upwards... I had to remove mine a while ago but hey ho, fingers to the ready.

As for the question about slugs, I use the organic small pellets where I need to but once established, I dont mind the slugs having a feed on the leaves, so long as they leave the nice veg for me.

Maybe grow them at home in modules and plant them once established is the answer, well not the answer but a start.

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An onion can make people cry but there's never been a vegetable that can make people laugh.
Will Rogers

This year the slugs have won...due to the wet weather.

To keep them down you need to remove anything that they can hide under, raised beds, slabs and long grass paths.

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My phone has more Processing power than the Computers NASA used to fake the Moon Landings

ok ok I have got the urge again and I will not be beaten by the slug, think its time to declare war.

I have bought in new veg plants, this Sat will go to garden centre and buy some netting.

I am new to all this and didnt really do much to protect my crops in the first place.

I have dug a bed system and intend to make raised beds in the future however for now I am going to invest in lots of salt (still dont want to use slug pellets).

I am going to enclose all my beds with a salt barrier use the mesh, and use the stella left over since christmas for beer traps and see what happens.

any wise grapes that can think of any thing else let me know

You'll have to replace the salt pretty frequently, PT as it will wash away (not sure how good this is for the soil?)

Suggest you start saving eggshells - crush 'em up fine and use as barriers instead of the salt - it won't kill the slugs, but it will stop them crossing into Fortress Brassica!

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Hazel
www.hazelandjanesallotment.blogspot.com
update Sat 20/12/2008......End of year report - plot d (legumes)!.....

I heard on the radio that the slug population has doubled this year. I was at the allotment yesterday & found some massive ones - yuk!

Half our plot is covered with black plastic which they seem to love living underneath unfortunately.

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I've had my weetabix...

Does anyone know if I can sow turnip seeds straight in the ground at the moment or should I sow them at home in pots and plant the out in the allotment when they are big enough to withstand the pests?

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I've had my weetabix...

Lucky for me hazel I though of salt as I have a free supplier of it by the sack load but shhhhh dont let on

hI Ya, Percy T.
I saw a program where this lady got used coffe grounds and spread them around the plants quite thickly. The Slugs cannot get a good grip and produce to much slime and dehydrate, so they try to get off the area. Oh yes it was Gardener's World last week, the update with the resident head gardener. So if you have access to a coffe shop it might be worth a try asking for coffe ground waste.


I Prepared a raised bed, placed potted peas in bed. Made a 3ft frame with
1"x 1" x 4ft wooden stakes then strung the stakes in all directions. Surrounded frame with fleece and top cover with fleece secured by drawing pins.

When peas matured, took fleece top off then a few weeks later reduced sides to half height.
This kept the birds off and gave an excellent early crop considering I live on the North East coast.
I am going to try this next year for Carrots as companion planting with Onions, Marigolds and Shallots didn’t do so well.
All the best to all
Fred Perry
North East Coast.

This is something I think could be beneficial to getting rid of them humanely. Lay down the plastic - it creates a warm damp area which slugs and snails love. After a few days, lift off the plastic and collect up the slugs and snails and take to wherever you can (prefereably not onto adjoining plot!). Keep repeating and the problem will diminish - I don't think it will ever go away though

Skotch

Sown them direct Sunshine, and thin as soon as possible as turnips do not like root disturbance, which is why you shouldn't start them in modules.

They grow very fast and evenly, so I would also stagger sow them.

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An onion can make people cry but there's never been a vegetable that can make people laugh.
Will Rogers