My pathetic growing

[Marb67]

Well here I go again at the end of another season with the same problems. I sow beetroot, card and salad and plant out. Protect from slugs with coffee granules and crushed eggshels and they get eaten, grow poorly, bolt or the leaves get riddled with tiny holes from flea Beetle. Even The enviromesh covered greens (which have grown pretty well atl least) have tiny catterpillers on the leaves and @&-?£&*# flea beetle holes.

For the life of me I just don't understand why when planted out they go downhill. Early in the season they showed promise but slugs etc always win despite loads of frogs in the adjacent pond which do a good job. I don't use any pesdicides and feed acordingly. I just never get those giant chards with big leaf like. monty Don :-(

[Lumpy]

Don't worry Marb, I think many people have had all kinds of problems this year. Like you I have not managed any beetroot and my carrots are, to say the least pathetic.

The cabbage whites are now out in horrifying numbers and every other veggie eater seems to be following suit.

I have ripped out alot of my stuff and have started planning for next year.

[Bill Door]

Hi Marb67.

Somehow I don't think that you have slugs eating your beetroot. I suspect that it may be pigeons or other medium sized birds. Your beetroot are too tall for slugs and anyway they would now go for the "succulent" root. I don't see any silvery slime trails that slugs would leave.

I think you may also have a "damp" problem in that it looks like moss growing around the beetroot in one or two spots. Do you have a blackcurrant growing close by? Is the area shaded by a wall? or other plants. It would seem that you are quite tight for space.

good luck with the gardening, maybe try some broad beans or runner beans?

regards
Bill

[Philthy]

Perhaps you could construct a cold frame type structure. If you buried the boards 6" below the soil surface that might prevent the slugs getting in. Painting it white on the inside would help with light if it's a shady space you're growing in.

I've had no luck in the past with beetroot, radishes, chard and the like. The location, the soil, pests, the weather, who knows why.. perhaps a combination of all those factors? 3 failed attempts at those crops is enough. So now I don't bother with them. And instead focus my efforts on stuff that is within my skill set and suits the conditions available. Much less stressful, and I continue to get pleasure from my hobby

[roitelet]

If you have a problem with slugs try beer traps. My daughter is slowly eradicating them from her Hosta bed. She doesn't grow veg but it works. With any luck next year there will be less slugs.

[sparrow100]

Sorry you're having such trouble Marb. It does look to me with the moss that the soil is really very damp, and that might also be part of the problem.

[bario1]

Don't go comparing yourself to Monty Don, Marb - he's basically a fictional character. Do they ever show his bolted radishes and slug-ravaged chard? No, because they don't think it makes good TV - although personally, I think it would.

[PyreneesPlot]

The only way I found to deal with slugs was hand pick night after night after night. They just crawled straight over eggshells, bran, flour, coffee grounds, copper and in and out of beer traps (having downed a few on the way, no doubt) and they will happily climb well over a metre to get the tastiest tops of the psb.
I've found no solution to flea beetle which will destroy seedlings in an afternoon, other than not to sow direct and to try to avoid planting out small plants in high summer when they are at their worst
I admire your determination to stay pesticide free in the face of such a dreadful year.
But there must be something that makes you smile in the garden - those busy and presumably rather portly frogs, perhaps?

[Penellype]

I can sympathize with you marb. I've just lost a whole batch of salad veg to what I think is flea beetle, plants grown under veggiemesh. There are 2 sorts of beetles - tiny black shiny ones with yellow stripes on which are definitely flea beetle because they jump, and bigger (about 3mm long) round grey ones which are much more numerous and appear to love brassicas. These don't jump, and are sluggish enough to be caught with tweezers. If knocked they fall to the ground and lie still, like lily beetles do. They appear to like young leaves of seedlings, and about 6 of them appeared on my kitchen work surface when I harvested a few calabrese shoots. No idea where they came from - they are most definitely beetles, not grey cabbage aphids, and they are very destructive

[Knight of Albion]

I've found watering in the morning, instead of the evening, greatly reduces - this year has virtually eradicated - slug damage. [Slugs are moisture requiring and nocturnal ...]

On the subject of poor crops. The weather is a great influence on this, something we can do absolutely nothing about
And the truth is, the soil conditions in gardens can favour some types of crop and not favour others. I think its a question of establishing what is likely to do well and what isn't and run with that.

As a last resort, you could try bringing in new soil...

In my greenhouse I always had a fine crop, but .... there was one little corner where nothing would grow - always the plant would die. One year - I don't know why I hadn't done it sooner - I decided to dig the soil out, figuring there must be something seriously amiss, and in so doing I came across a large, heavily rusted bolt and nut ... Obviously had been chucked by the builders years earlier.

[vixylix]

Between whatevers eating my plants and the terrible summer I've ALMOST given up for this year - and like Lumpy planning for next year instead.

The only things that have been really successful are my peas and my cucumbers - my peas have been battered by all the rain we've had in the last week (think there must have been a bit of hail in there - they almost look like something's sat on them! ) so despite all the flowers and tiny pods on there I think they're going to have to come out.

They are currently entirely squashing the cucumber plants, so that's them going downhill too!

I have loads of green tomatoes (outdoors) but dont think all this rain will be helping them. The chillies are only just flowering so not sure there is enough time.

My beetroot and carrots did well at the start of the year but all the bigger ones were pulled up and the rest havent grown any bigger at all. Even the radishes have stopped doing anything now!

So whinging aside... I dont think its just you this year! Step back and plan for how to minimise damage for next year - with the help of this lovely forum

[Marb67]

I can say that I have had great success with courgettes and runner beans. Broad Beans sown in Autumn (as advised here) gave me a good crop. Salad has been great early in the season planted outside. Kale is good covered with enviromesh (except the few pests that have got inside)

The reason I have to water is because all these windy days that seem to have dominated most of the summer dry out the soil/pots so I have to water. I also found someone's cat sitting among this area (see photo) so I think he may be part to blame. I also spotted a mouse in the garden which we have never had before. just hope it is a passing visit. We lost our cat early this year so other cats will now try and claim our garden as much as I like them but I don't want them in.

[Penellype]

Good to hear that youhave had some good crops.

I also have issues with other people's cats. Most cats don't like things that are prickly, so if you push a few sticks into the ground around your plants that can stop the cats from digging in the soil. Doesn't always work - next door's ginger cat seems immune to this unfortunately and nets are the next step up.

[Ovce domácí]

If you have a problem with slugs try beer traps. My daughter is slowly eradicating them from her Hosta bed. She doesn't grow veg but it works. With any luck next year there will be less slugs.

I agree, I have had moderate success with beer traps. My plot is too big to put loads of beer down but there is a definite slow down of slugs getting at the veg, noticeable early summer when we had loads of slugs on the move. The smell of slugs marinaded in beer in summer is something else though.

I also found copper slug tape moderately successful too, I put it around old hosepipe Id made a ring out of like those plastic hula hoops from school, covered it in tape and had another reduction in slug activity around young courgette and pumpkin plants. The odd one gets behind the lines though, SAS slug, Andy McSlug.

[Bill HH]

Monty Don flies in all his veg from zimbabwe every morning.