Making cages - to keep da wabbits out!

Hard work in the scorching sun today. The plot has really come to life. Happy to see a lot of plants that have been struggling looking good. Tomatoes are still alive but something is still chomping through the beetroot and even my broccoli which has been under netting.


The answer appeared in a flash of grey fur when I approached the compost heap - a rabbit! He shot off down the other end of the plot to hide in the weeds.


I spent most of the day pulling out grass and other weeds that are going to seed. Cut back a lot of the overgrown areas. Was pleased to see a lot of Marigolds, Poppies and Comfrey in amongst the weeds. Have pretty much given up hope for my parsnips though - they were swamped by weeds before they'd even got started.


I ended up making a cage for the beetroot and spinach with chicken wire - easier than fixing the whole fence.


By the time I got round to the main order of the day - building a net frame to keep the birds (and rabbits) off my broccoli, it was almost dark. Dad came down to give me a hand watering everything, which was nice of him. As we were packing up I found an altogether more welcome visitor to the compost heap - a small toad. Must be having a field day with all the slugs!

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Tomatoes doing good - at last!

Well at last my tomatoes have come good! (at leat those that survived) I've had sweet juicy cherry Gardeners Delight in my lunch box every day this week, with these Harbringers (above) ripenening up quickly too. I think it's all the dry weather doing them good. I've had to do a lot of watering lately though, seems very dry for September after such a wet July.

We've also been eating loads of runner beans lately too. Definately the biggest success so far, theres some to pick almost every day!


The bad news is that I'm fearing the worst for my Broccoli, which have been completely descimated by baby slugs. The Sprouts are hanging on in. Time will tell.

August Update - bumper post!

Well, as usual, this Summer I've been enjoying the great outdoors too much to spend anytime inside communicating online. I spent the end of July at festivals in floods, on farms and and in fields. August has involved lots of BBQ's, bike rides and a week at the Heathrow Climate Camp.



Vegetable wise, we've had a few more mange tout, loads of runner beans and courgettes (modelled by Rosie) as well as our first few carrots which were really tasty, and tomatoes which have continued to be dogged by blight. The rocket's still going strong, and I've also sown some Chinese Baby Leaf to compliment it.


Slugs (as featured on the news lately) have continued to gnaw away at everything, and I'm sure contributed to both the early demise of my peas and a lower courgette output (we have to pick them small to get there first). The main casualty has been my purple sprouting broccoli though, which is all on its last legs and riddled with holes. Sprouts seem to be doing alright still though, touch wood.


The big news is that as of Sept/Oct, I'll have my first allotment! Yes, that's right, after an off chance visit to my nearest allotments - where Rosie and I had a look round and were given armfuls of runner beans to take home - I put my name down for a plot. I was delighted to hear only a week later that I have been granted Plot 18!


I'm going to share it with Henry as we're not too sure how much additional work it's going to be. We should be able to have a look round in the next few weeks (having already been down for a sneaky peak) and will take ownership not long after the current tennants have moved away. I'm very excited, we can't wait to measure it up and get planning what top plant!

Flowering courgettes!

My first courgettes have flowered, both of the ones on the windowsill in the kitchen. I did a spot of late night gardening yesterday and put the rest of the tomatoes outside.

I've been on slug patrol every night this week with my scissors and the body count is mounting up. Trouble is, they seem to be attracted to their own dead friends. I may also have to reconsider my lentient policy on snails, there's hundreds of them out there and something munched my broccoli in pots last night despite the killing spree...

The battle begins...

War is upon us! On the way out to get some compost from the shed I found 6 or 7 juicy plump slugs chowing doen on my radishes. No wonder they're full of holes and growing so slowly. Little bastads. I picked them off and lobbed them as far as I could over the fence, but when I came back there were another 3 or 4 there.

After ejecting them this time I put some chilli pepper, which apparently they don't like, down around the plants. Should do the trick until it rains - which seems pretty unlikey right now. I am being councilled, however, that a more hardline strategy involving salt and pellets is required if I wish to save my lettuces. I want to avoid pellets though (for the birdies) so instead I'm going to try and build some beer traps, employ holly leaves, and design some sort of water feature to attract toads (as if the offer of a slug supper washed down with free beer and salad wasn't enough for them!)

In other news, I bumped into Henry getting off the train this evening, so went round to see how he was getting on. His lettuce is much bigger, the onions he grew from sets are slightly bigger than my garlic and he's already got his courgettes on the go. Planting early seems to be paying off for him, particularily with all the global warming (I'm reading James Lovelock's Revenge of Gaia at the moment. It really is scary stuff that we need to face up to) I also found this little mushroom growing by my carrots while I was slug slinging. \/