Slug Control

One of the things people are most interested in when they visit the pest and disease control garden here at Garden Organic’s, is the slug control display. I’m sure most gardeners have at some time gone to check on their lettuce or bean seedlings, only to find them devastated by a night of slug gluttony. A variety of slug control methods are on display in the garden, from barriers such as plastic collars and bran, and the classic beer traps to nematode biological control (microscopic worms containing bacteria that kill slugs). All these methods seem to be doing their job in the garden. Unfortunately, they can’t stop the voles that are burrowing under the soil and nibbling at the roots and stems of plants. I’ve lost a chilli and lettuce and beetroot seedlings to them so far. Although, I have to admit they are more tolerable than slugs since they’re a lot cuter!

There’s also been a lot of interest in the cage covering the brassica bed, made by one of our volunteers from plastic pipes, canes and enviromesh. It’s done a fantastic job in keeping cabbage root fly, caterpillars and pigeons at bay and we now have a beautiful crop of blemish-free cabbages. Another use of enviromesh in the garden is as a barrier around carrots to keep out carrot flies.

Encouraging wildlife into your garden that eats pests is also a good way to protect crops. A pond for toads and frogs, or a pile of logs and leaves for hedgehogs will help to control slugs and snails. We have loads of ladybirds and hoverflies in our gardens that can be relied upon to keep aphid numbers under control.

I’ll be continuing to keep my eyes and ears open for more tips on pest and disease control.

Summer Pruning

July has flown by. There’s been plenty to keep us busy as harvesting of fruit and vegetables gets underway, and the weeds keep insisting on growing! Harvesting in the pest and disease control garden started with broad beans, peas and strawberries, and has now moved on to French beans, potatoes and barrow loads of courgettes and the inevitable marrows. One thing that I’m particularly excited about is our experiment growing melons in straw bales. Beth, who previously looked after the garden, carved planting holes in the bales and soaked them with water to start decomposition. I’ve planted melons in peat-free compost in the bales, and the heat produced from decomposition of the straw should help the melons to grow. So far I’ve spotted two golf ball-sized fruit and am keeping a close eye on their progress.

The main tasks in the soft fruit garden this month have been summer pruning and fruit picking. Summer pruning of gooseberries and red and white currants is something I hadn’t done before. It involves cutting new growth on side shoots back to five leaves, but leaving leaders, which are the shoots that extend the main branches, un-pruned. This reduces shoot growth and concentrates the plants’ energy into the fruits. A RHS fruit group visiting the gardens this month enjoyed sampling all the different soft fruit varieties on offer.

I attended a really interesting workshop on green manures a few weeks ago, which covered the different plant species that are used and the benefits of using each. This is something I will definitely be putting into practice in the future. I’ve also had training on using garden machinery this month, which I found surprisingly good fun!

I’m looking forward to another bountiful month in August, and making lots of preserves with the harvest.