Windys Veg

[windy]

Yesterday I began to plant up one of my veg beds ( the other one is still full of Broccoli..that's neither purple nor sprouting, but I'm using the leaves to feed the Crickets!!)

I planted some red onion sets, some garlic and sowed a row of carrot seeds and a row of leek seeds. I know it may be a tad early for the seeds outdoors, but I'm hoping to get a head start on the slugs.....who dares wins!!!!!! Mother Nature thoughtfully provided a torrential downpour, so now it's down to fate!!! ;D

[vegmandan]

I wish I lived where you do.

It'll be another 4 weeks before I sow any seed outside up here in freezing Yorkshire.

We even had a frost on May 23rd last year.
I always reckon on sowing about the 1st of March and 1 week later for every 100 miles further north you are from the South of England ,hence me only starting in April up here.

I'm glad I don't live on the Shetland Isles

[windy]

It's mild but damp here....unfortunately, great conditions for slugs! Mother Nature...first she giveth, then she taketh away

[char]

Good luck with what you have planted , i am sure it will grow well,
i hope my veg grow ok this year, it will be great to see photos when yours have grown and see how they get on.

[windy]

Well so far all I've got is one random seedling right in the middle of patch where I didn't plant any seeds Must have been an escapee...dunno at this stage whether it's a Leek or a Carrot..never having grown Leeks before unsure what they look like
Ah well, it's a start I suppose!!

[vegmandan]

I don't want to complicate things for you but are you going to transplant your leeks or earth them up where you've sown them ?
I'm only asking as you've said you've never grown Leeks before

It's just that if you grow them in situ and don't earth them up then you won't get a white stalk,It'll be green and bitter because it needs to be blanched i.e kept away from the light to become white.
Thats why transplanting them in abut June into 6inch deep holes is the general way.

You probably know all this anyway but I just thought I'd check so you don't get a duff crop.

[windy]

Well the bl*8dy cats have decided to Christen my veg plot, so I'm gonna get randomly scattered crops if anything at all Didn't know that about leeks to be honest Dan...suppose I could transfer em into my other bed when they get to that stage....

[windy]

Well on my enforced day off due to broken car I sowed 2 rows of Radish, finally sown my Tomatoes (Sungold and Totem)....the seeds for all where very kindly given me by Daggers , and sowed our first lot of lettuce. Have sorted out the cat scratched bed and there's a couple of sproutings showing through...I am now on slug watch

[Admin]

Well we look forward to seing them grow..Sure the radishes wont get eaten by slugs as they are a bit pungent

[DAG]

From memory, slugs eat the leaves of the radish and then the plant dies! I am fairly sure I have lost some in the past like that! Slug pellets definitely help, but I hate to use them! Use them very sparingly, you don't need many.

[windy]

Well last year I tried Radishes in the main veg bed and despite successional sowing the slugs had he bl**dy lot. So this year I've put them in the long trough pot alongside some lettuces with the copper banding on it that worked quite well last year....fingers crossed!!!!!!

[Admin]

Gosh you learn something new every day i wouldnt have thought they would like radishes..
Well its amazing what they do eat and how much !!!!! They cant half chomp fast..

[char]

I grew Radish last year and the Slugs destroyed it all so i was shocked as well, i didn't think they would go near it,

[Admin]

Greedy beggars they are a flaming nuisance to gardeners..

[vegmandan]

Here's a thought to repel slugs from your radishes.

As you don't need a lot of space to grow Radish you could grow them in one of those long plastic troughs.Then stand the trough on a couple of half bricks which are semi submerged in water in a shallow dish or similar.
Then mr slug would have to learn to swim to eat your stuff.

You could also get an old table and stand the legs in old tin cans or pots full of water and put the trough on that.
I think I'll do that myself this year for my Hostas in pots,If I cut the legs off dead short then you'd never know it was an old table.

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