baffled by strawbs and a mystery plant

Mizz

hi

i'm quite new to growing fruit and veg and continue to be baffled by the things that happen in my veg patch!

i've had some great advice from this forum which has helped me no end. so i've come back to ask some more questions which i've been unable to solve.

so somethings going on with my strawberries. it's only happening to about half of them but i can't work out if it's a pest or rain damage.piccys attached. they look diferent when first picked to when they've dried a little so i've taken piccys at both stages.

i've also managed to grow a mystery plany from seed but now it's bigger i suspect it's just a big weed! before i got rid of it i wanted to double check though. i've grown lots of things from seed and this just seems completely different. pic attached.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Mizz

p.s. if anyone has read my past threads, the parsnips that appeared in our lawn are doing really well, the leaves on some are 6ft tall! they've now got yellow flowers on.

Mizz

 

 

 

 

sotongeoff

That looks like typical slug damage on the strawberries.

granma

not sure but it looks like some sort of lettuce, could you ask at a  nursery at all ?

Mizz

thanks both for your quick replies.

pesky slugs. great to know what it is though. been trying to buy some organic pellets for ages but everywhere sold out. could i use salt?

it could be lettuce, it is one of the things i have planted. seems a bit leggy to me though?

sotongeoff

Don't throw salt on the garden-you can use salt on a slug but it is not a pleasant sight!!

Wildlife friendly pellets are available now on Amazon-just checked- if you don't like the chemical ones

janebray

The very few ripe strawberries I have had look very similar to the picture, in my case it definitely is not slug damage, the strawberries just appear to have split, I am putting it down to all the rain we have had.  I am just hoping that it doesn't happen to all of them!

Tina5

Looks like slug damage to me too. The first pic seems to show soggy patches..that's probably due to all the rain. We grow a lot of strawberries,and whilst the yeild is good this year, the quality ain't!  Many of the berries are rotting on the plant from all the rain. Slug damage not too bad, but I do lay a very thick layer of straw.

If that leaf is salad, it might be mizuna, or maybe a variety of rocket?

gardeninggaggy

I think your mystery plant is a rocket (lovely in a salad!)  We suffered a bit of  similar damage to strawberries and discovered it was the pigeons so all the plants are netted up now.  I have to say I have suffered an attack of woodlice in one our strawberry barrels and this is a continuing problem - any ideas please - we are just using ant powder - not sure if this the right thing to do.  By the way have you put any straw for the berries to rest on, this helps prevent some of the rotting

Mizz

ahh great advice thanks all. will definately try some straw for the berries. i did use some sticks to try and lift them off the soil but the rain hasn't helped. we do have an excess of woodlice in some of our pots, so could be them. i read in a garden mag that slugs dont climb pots but somethings def going on!

will try the mystery leaves and see if it tastes like rocket! good to have a bit of a clue before eating something that could be a weed!

in terms of soggy patches, we've had lots of those. i did think it could be splitting like tomatoes do if over watered but the lines are a bit too wiggly on some. trying to pick them as soon as they ripen which has reduced the amount that are attacked. we've had some funny shaped ones too. not had that before. may be due to the rain again where we've had spells of very heavy rain followed by dry spells.

thanks to everyone for your advice.

Dovefromabove

Slugs definitely climb pots!!!