Talkback: Growing veg in containers - garden pests
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Kate, it is pouring with rain in Bristol and I have just dashed out and lifted everything I have in pots with lush new growth onto the picnic table out of reach of the slugs and snails who will be roaming around tonight. Being a gardener means using all your wits if you want to defeat wild life on the look-out for a tasty meal. I too am hoping for help from the frogs, if the heron has left me any. He has been swooping down on my garden a lot in the last few weeks.
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Besides frogs I am also very lucky to always have slow worms in the garden to sort out the slugs for me. Snails seem to be my problem but the population can be kept down by going out at nights with a touch and picking them up and beer traps work well. I never knew that frogs ate vine weevil, thank you for that bit of information.
I am growing Broccoli Tenderstem-Green in very large pots for the first time this year and they are well protected with nets to keep the Cabbage White butterflies off!
Runner Beans, Broad Beans, Carrots, Parsnips, Raspberries and Strawberries are all doing well. My first batch of peas failed but not being one to give up and to learn from my mistakes the second batch is growing well. To make up for the lack of early peas the first early potatoes, Foremost, have produced a wonderful crop and are delicious with a knob of butter!
At long last we had a down pour here in South Devon and the garden had a good soaking this afternoon, more rain is promised for this weekend.
No ladybird glut here yet (South Yorkshire), but I'm hoping.
I've managed to defeat the slugs and snails so far this year by growing my salad leaves in pots in a wheelbarrow. This means I can quickly put them under cover too. My first lot this year were shredded by a hailstorm! Up to now I've just depended on huge sacrificial Hostas which grow stronger and bigger each year inspite of being 'laced' by slugs and snails. I thought water shortage was the cause of my stunted peas, but a thorough soaking the other day caused the soil to cave in showing a mole run underneath!
I nearly weeded out the dandelions on the lawn, though I love the yellow flowers. But then I saw a pair of bullfinches feasting on the seedheads, so I've decided to leave them - or could I eat them too?
I would love to be a successful veg gardener, but more than that I love the diversity of wildlife in my garden and the shop down the road which prevents our starvation.
barbarav - i'm sorry you don't like your grass snakes. I'm actually really envious.
Green aphids were attacking my lettuces on the windowsill and were banished by my peppermint spray too. Ants, Cats and dogs hate it too if that helps. Oh and I have not had problems with them (yet) but Blackfly is repelled by Lavender essential oil. I do find the ladybirds help too and they don't seem to have been affected by the oils.
Row - I don't think adult vine weevils are a frog's favourite food, but they will eat them if nothing else is around. The blackbird likes picking through my pots to find the grubs, however.
barbarav - I'm also jealous of your grass snakes. Can you sow your seeds elsewhere and transplant them to the raised beds when they're big enough to sustain being slithered over?
Josephine from Wilts - it's a bit early for blight, but if it had infected the leaves then you were right to remove them. However, how the tubers are will depend on how quickly you cut off the haulms. If blight spread to the tubers, then it's curtains for your spuds. If not, you can leave them in the compost as long as it's dry. Any rain may wash blight spores into the compost and infect the spuds, so - if in doubt - get them out!
Dan Martin - go on, leave the aphids be, what's the worst that can happen?!
mervyn willetts - I have lots of chafer grubs in my garden too, and loads and loads of leatherjackets, the larvae of daddy long legs. The blackbird and robin love pecking through the borders to find them
Kate