Mum in Shropshire excited about the new veg-growing season!

[frankerooney]

Hello all, this is my first post .

I'm a small-time veg grower with four 1.5m x 3m beds which are all under black plastic at the mo, some autumn-fruiting raspberry canes, a few Gariguette strawberry plants and a Conference pear tree. I've decided not to sow any seeds until we come back from holiday on 21st March but it's good discipline because I'm using the time now to prepare the beds, tidy up, wash pots etc.

I'm a direct sower on the whole, mainly because I've got two little boys so I don't have much time or energy for gardening. Ours is a town garden with lovely soil but lots of slugs and snails around. I'm going to try harder this year to maintain a frog pond and beer traps and I might go on slug raids armed with torch and salt water but I've never done that before coz the slimy creatures give me the creeps . How much salt do I need in the water? Can I put snails in salt water too?

I've got a list of veggies that I want to grow and I'm trying to work out where to order from but the array of varieties is boggling my brain.

I've grown a few veg each year but I usually start all guns blazing and then, coz I'm a perfectionist and an all-or-nothing person, as soon as something goes wrong, I give up and it all goes to pot .

Anyway I'll stop droning on now. It's nice to meet you all!

frankerooney

[selfraising]

Hello and welcome to the vine. Don't know about whether you can put snails in salt water, shouldn't think it will do them any good, lets put it that way! I've got an old pair of barbeque tongs that I use to pick them up and sometimes, if I'm really hacked off with them, they become airborne!!

[RedThorn]

Hi and Welcome! Salt kills slugs and snails, but not sure how strong a saline solution you need....

[sallym]

Welcome Frank. I threw them into half a bucket of water with about half a cup of salt. slugs and snails all together didn't hear any arguments. To be honest, I got so fed up with them in the end that I just used a sharp pair of scissors. Its surprising how quickly you get hardened to it.

[frankerooney]

Thank you selfraising, RedThorn and sallym for your welcome . I think I might have to send DH out to deal with the slimies. He's not averse to squishing them between 2 bricks !

[FionaH]

Hi Frank, welcome to the Vine, snails are just slugs with shells! Treat em all the same

[Hazel at the Hill]

I remember the first time I thought about looking to sow carrots - there were 15 varieties in one catalogue alone! Had to go and have a lie down! Of course the irony is that I havent actually grown a real live carrot to eat as yet because of the damn carrot fly, but hey, there you go.

Direct sowing is easy with big seeds - try climbing beans and peas (or dwardf beans in a pot on a windowsill for a really early crop) and you can get the nippers involved too.

And once you've decided what you'd like to grow, let us know and we 'll see if we can rustle up some seeds to start you off....

[frankerooney]

Thank you FionaH and Hazel!

[Herbie]

Hello Frank
Welcome to the vine. I also grow veg on a small scale, but its great to eat your own vegetables. Good Luck

[Flummery]

Hi - welcome to the vine - growing your own is a brilliant education for children.

[wozzawozacat]

Hello frankerooney

Welcome to the vine. Good luck.

Cathy

[frankerooney]

Thank you Herbie and Flummery . My four-year-old got quite upset that the runner bean plants died at the end of the season last year! He can't understand why we have to wait to sow some more!

[shirlthegirl43]

Hi and welcome to the vine.

Spuds grown in a container are fun for the littlies too - the foliage grows quite quickly and the earthing up bit is fun (as is keeping them watered) then at the end of flowering and when the foliage dies off, you can watch little faces light up with delight at finding the potatoes in the bucket.