What to cover how to cover?

[Davidfromcheshire]

As a newbie allotment holder I have managed to get various into the ground in the last week

Potatoes
Runner Bean
Peas
Beetroot
Cabbage
Broccoli
One squash
lettuce
radish
swede
onion
shallot

My question is however what needs to be covered and how?

I have laid slug pellets round the delicate plants. Do I need to cover the beans and peas when they show through? I have netting over the squash, broclli and cabbage plants.

What do birds like most? Someone told me they are not interested in onions

[Two_Sheds]

When you say 'cover' do you mean netting?

Different birds attack different crops.

Woodpigeons = brassicas & peas
Blackbirds = strawberries
Sparrows = peas & beetroot


Brassicas need to have butterfly (fine gauge) netting on them at all times, otherwise caterpillars will eat the lot.

You've planted everything awfully late in the season, so don't be upset if you don't get much out of it. Days are shortening now, so the things that will do well are the "early" types of carrots, salads etc. Quick-maturing stuff, in other words.

[Alison]

I cover all my brassicas and carrots with enviromesh but that's it. Never have any problems with the other things but it does vary from area to area.

[Davidfromcheshire]

Thanks for that

Yes I mean netting

Yes its late, I only got my plot 2 weeks ago

When you say 'cover' do you mean netting?

Different birds attack different crops.

Woodpigeons = brassicas & peas
Blackbirds = strawberries
Sparrows = peas & beetroot


Brassicas need to have butterfly (fine gauge) netting on them at all times, otherwise caterpillars will eat the lot.

You've planted everything awfully late in the season, so don't be upset if you don't get much out of it. Days are shortening now, so the things that will do well are the "early" types of carrots, salads etc. Quick-maturing stuff, in other words.

[rustylady]

Your runner beans should be fine, but your peas should be covered now otherwise the birds will have them as soon as they pop their heads above the soil. The pigeons round here love them

Is all your stuff seeds, or have you managed to get hold of some young plants for the cabbage etc.

[Mikey]

I'm still planting carrots, salads, turnips and peas for salads at the moment. Fast growing crops are still fine to plant out, trying to get young plants rather than starting from seed will certainly help. I still have kale to go in yet and some french beans. Just make sure you keep them well watered in this dry weather.

[Alison]

..... your peas should be covered now otherwise the birds will have them as soon as they pop their heads above the soil. The pigeons round here love them

Really? Never had that problem and the only problem I've heard of with peas has been that weevil thing (which thankfully isn't common here either). It always amazes me how different things are across the country and I'm very grateful I don't have to do anything fancy with my peas as I've no idea how I'd go about netting them all as I have loads and they're all 5 to 6' tall. Maybe the fact that I start them all off in guttering and then plant them out when they're a few inches tall helps, not sure.

[Two_Sheds]

I start them all off in guttering and then plant them out when they're a few inches tall helps, not sure.

Yes, we plant out pea plants, not seeds. Seeds get eaten completely by pea weevil larvae. Pea plants have to be netted all their lives, because woodpigeons and sparrows strip them completely and pea moth makes them all maggotty

[Mikey]

I used to lose a lot of direct sown peas to mice, but I watched a neighbouring plot holder cover his beds with cut bramble and thistles last year. Its very successful, and you can remove them once the peas are strong enough to hold their own.

[Nicos]

We use environmesh as I've seen several birds caught up in netting over the years.
Also hedgehogs get stuck at night and get heatstroke during the day and usually die.

Not terribly common, but it does happen and I'd feel awful if I'd caused a bird or animal to suffer like that.

[Alison]

Yes, we plant out pea plants, not seeds. Seeds get eaten completely by pea weevil larvae. Pea plants have to be netted all their lives, because woodpigeons and sparrows strip them completely and pea moth makes them all maggotty

Blimey you do get it bad down there, round here the hardest part is giving the tall ones adequate support as they seem to be particularly tall this year. I had about a dozen or so pods that I had to throw away a couple of years ago as something had burrowed in them but no more and nothing since so long may that continue. However bad some people get with things eating / destroying their crops I do think it's worth trying without the first year as you never know, if you don't suffer from a problem in your area then you can save yourself a lot of work - or maybe if somebody doesn't want to risk that then they could do a trial lot unprotected and see what happens as we've just given two examples that are right at different ends of the spectrum and I'm quite lazy so want to put my efforts into the stuff that really needs the protection on my plot.

[Two_Sheds]

Blimey you do get it bad down there

Yes, we seem to have every pest going. We're in a very urban town (few gardens, little wildlife) surrounded by monoculture farming country, so perhaps there are more pests about generally, than in a more natural setting.
Even though 'everyone' uses pesticides & herbicides on my site, and the farmers certainly do, we still have lots & lots & lots of pests, and weeds. If those sprays really worked, there wouldn't be any pests would there? But we get carrot fly, cabbage fly, leek moth, pea moth, aphids of all kinds, asparagus beetle, lily beetle, woodpigeons, slugs & snails galore (no frogs or slowworms).

There's a real lack of beneficial predatory insects, and wild bird populations have crashed, allowing pest species to flourish. I think that bats would eat pea and leek moth, for example, but there's no habitat for bats to live up on the allotments, in a town.

RustyLady's plot 8 miles away is much more natural, next to a park and lake, and protected (from the wind) by a shelter belt of trees. Birds & bats live among the trees, and her plants grow stronger from the extra wind protection. My site is totally open to the elements and there's no shelter from the tearing winds, so all plants are weedy & stunted. I get quite despondent when I see how good her crops are from comparatively little human input. My soil is like desert sand, while hers is good loam: the wind just blows our topsoil away (the committee bans the planting of hedges & erecting of windbreaks).

It's impossible to keep the plot well-watered, it just flows away through the sand: sweet peas are hard to grow, celeriac and celery is impossible. Beets & swedes just go to seed, spuds are scabby.

*despair*

[rustylady]

RustyLady's plot 8 miles away is much more natural, next to a park and lake, and protected (from the wind) by a shelter belt of trees. Birds & bats live among the trees, and her plants grow stronger from the extra wind protection. My site is totally open to the elements and there's no shelter from the tearing winds, so all plants are weedy & stunted. I get quite despondent when I see how good her crops are from comparatively little human input. My soil is like desert sand, while hers is good loam: the wind just blows our topsoil away (the committee bans the planting of hedges & erecting of windbreaks).

What do you mean by that? I'm over there nearly every day

I agree with the shelter and natural surroundings though, just wish the woodpigeons would find somewhere else to live.