OK Slugs - it's War!

The clocks have gone forward an hour to British Summer Time so we should get a few evenings up the plot quite soon! This weekend was a good start, with warm temperatures and no rain.

We bought our potatoes yesterday: Chopin and Desiree. We may get a few more but had decided to be a bit more selective this year.

Https://www.nematodesdirect.co.uk/6-nemaslug-slug-killer

So, today, Jamie watered in the nematodes which have been waiting in our fridge for three weeks. We had enough to share between our potatoes, onions and the raised bed. That should protect the ground (by killing slugs) for 6 weeks and then a second lot will be delivered and a final delivery will complete the programme. Let's see if that does the trick...

Plenty of nematodes to go round!

There were a lot of butterflies (mostly tortoiseshells) around today and I found a good deal of millipedes whilst I was digging a bit more of the legume quarter - still pulling handfuls of roots; we think it's tree roots!
Here's a pretty pied shield bug that Jamie spotted on the earth - it looks like an adult, but I'm no expert (unlike these people!)

Merry Christmas!

Will be at the plot picking sprouts and leeks tomorrow but don't expect to be blogging, so Merry Christmas!

 

Phew! What a scorcher!

What a perfect week to have booked leave!

It was another sweltering day - we didn't go to the plot until the evening. Walking through town was lovely, felt like being abroad with such warm air. Look at the temperature at 7pm, and look at the record-breaking day! The thermometer is hung in the shade so imagine what it would have been in the sun!!



Jamie dug the area in the potato quarter which is where we're going to put the leeks in - they're getting quite big in their modules now so are ready to go really. Far more sensible digging as the sun went down!

I planted the rhubarb, looks a bit pathetic with just its one leaf, but it has a healthy bud and roots so should be ok. I planted it level with the surface. Most websites say to plant below the surface but Terry, who gave us the plant, assured us this is the correct way to dealing with it - hope he's right!

We stayed for a bit of slug-chucking and bat-hunting then went home. We're expecting another hot day tomorrow - so barbecue on standby!

Another blue sky day!

We did a morning a session of weeding and digging then went home for a few hours. By 10:30 the temperature had already reached 26° in the shade, of which there is very little at Marsh Lane. We went back up in the afternoon and by then the temp was 31° phew!
I found a tiny bit of shade behind the runner beans!

I planted the petit pois plants which Jamie had sown in the root trainers - 8 out of 12 germinated. I also transplanted the fennel directly into the herb garden so hopefully it will grow enough for some soup!

Found this little bug - it must be a shield bug but I don't know what sort yet - but still haven't done my butterfly count. The cabbage whites are desperately trying to get at our cabbages, which the slugs are already loving!!

As we were leaving this lone swallow was singing very happily on the overhead cables - there were lots of them sweeping the air today.

Yay! The jetstream has shifted!

At last the jetstream is where it should have been for the last few weeks so the sun was shining and it was lovely and warm! See http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=jetstream%3Bsess%3D

We helped out at Hungerford Town Hall in the morning for the AONB 40th anniversary where HAHA had a stand and then we went to the plot for a few hours. AONB gave Marsh Lane the grant for digging the borehole - actually had to use it today to water the celeriac, that's the first time for a while!

We pulled the shallots as the tops had mostly died back - as the weather is meant to stay lovely and dry for the next week it should be perfect for drying the shallots out prior to pickling. We laid them out on the old fireguard we have on the plot - look at that lot!

There were lots of slugs and slug eggs in amongst the shallots. We've left the area open so hopefully the frog and weather will deal with clearing up - I managed to get this photo of a mother feeding her chick, unfortunately they definitely prefer worms to slugs though :-(

Slugs and eggs

I sowed a double row of broad beans on plot 8 where we'd dug some manure into the ground a couple of weeks ago. Jamie fed the tomato plants and mowed the grass which is growing like mad and looks good but isn't really the best type of path because of the work it generates - also there's only so much grass that you want in your compost bin.

And...hooray! Our first courgette is showing - shouldn't be long before I'm getting rid of the glut at work :-)

Slugs, Weeds and a Frog

Jamie found this frog beside our brassica cage! Lovely - I love frogs :-) I popped it in a nearby pond, but hopefully it'll keep visiting our plot - there's certainly plenty for it to eat!

Little froggy!

Slugs have even developed an appetite for potato leaves this year - and look at our poor pepper! That was the one I took the photo of at the end of June :-(

The weeds have had a field day! They aren't very tall but they're everywhere.

Unweeded row (on the right!)

At least you can see where we've been and after taking this pic the other row of celeriac was also cleared. I found this information about celeriac before I bought our plants so surely it should be the perfect year for it!!

"Water it like mad. If you’re flooded, and the fire brigade evacuate you, sneak back during the
night to water your celeriac, even if it is under a foot of water. It will never have too
much water. Then water it again."

The onions are looking good, hopefully the mildew resistance is working as we've seen it elsewhere on site. We watered the spring onions with some epson salts as the leaves are yellowing a bit - they need the extra magnesium. Whereas the shallots are yellowing and dying back so they'll be ready to pull soon and then we need to find somewhere to dry them off prior to pickling..

Silverskins

There is a distinct lack of insect life on the plot, hardly  a butterfly in sight. These are the first black fly we've seen this year - these are being farmed by the ants! Still undecided as to whether the ants are going to help reduce or cause more blackfly to breed. We'll wait and see - slightly ashamed to say that they're not on our beans so not our problem at present :-)

Red Ants and Blackfly

We pulled the sickly potato (it's a kestrel), there were just 3 tiny tubers. It's the only kestrel plant that's in trouble, the others have very healthy haulms.

Sickly Kestrel

Healthy Kestrels

The runner beans have finally reached the top of the canes and there are a few flowers. There were a couple of bees working them today when the rain stayed off for a bit so hopefully we'll get some beans.

A sunny day in June 2012!

We had a fab day on the plot today. Took our lunch with us and stayed for 6 hours. We were in the sun for much of the time too, though it was very windy, it was warm!

We moved our store of bags of manure, etc. and there were so many slugs - I counted 25 of the biggest, most horrible ones in that small area - ugh - they went over the hedge, anyone walking along the towpath could have got a shock :-)

Multi-coloured, but not pretty!

We dug an area on the new plot (ok, Jamie reads this - he did most of the digging) for rhubarb, which we were kindly given by another allotment holder, Terry. We sorted out two bags full of our compost which we'll put under the rhubarb, along with some horse manure.

There have been a few sunny and warm days over the last week and many of the plants have really cheered up as a result. Flowers are beginning to show on the beans, at least one of the squashes looks like it's pretty happy and there are a couple of peppers actually growing!

We've got a green pepper!

Growing, growing and eating

Popped up the plot after work to see how things were looking. The cabbage and sprout seedlings  look healthy. We'll move them out of the cloche but under netting in the next week or so - depending on the weather.

Cabbage seedling

Marigolds & sweet peas

The eating in the title isn't by us yet, sadly! However, we've got so many marigold seedlings we can afford to lose a few to the abundance of slugs!

Evidence!

And we found this evidence of a mouse's work in the cloche! Funny (sorry Neal) thing is that the broad bean seemed to have been taken from our neighbour's plot to be enjoyed in the dry! 

Neal's beans nibbled down to ground level

The turnip seeds have germinated and the whole first row of potatoes (Belana and Chopin) are above the ground now.

Seedlings (& slugs)

Quick visit to the plot after work to see how it's managing after the windy/rainy/sunny week that we've had.


About 10cm of rain

The perspex over the beets had blown across the plot but the beet seedlings are looking happy enough so they should be alright without that protection - I'll sow a few more seeds to fill the gaps.


Boltardy Beets

The silverskin onions carrots and parsnips have all got nice little seedlings growing now. All onion seedlings have the bent over tops so they're easy to spot amongst weeds; carrots are a bit more tricky but if you pull one (even when they're this tiny) they already taste carroty!


Silverskin onions

Early Nantes carrots

The seedlings in the cloches are looking good too though I think we may have to arm ourselves with more slug pellets - this rain is really encouraging them to be out and about, dining on our lettuce seedlings!

Flying visit

Had a little visit to the plot after work yesterday. We thought we were going to get caught in a thunderstorm but it avoided Marsh Lane.
It rained all day on Monday but it barely showed on the ground so we could certainly do with more rain - but hopefully it will come at night, mostly :-)
At last there's life in the broad beans plot - they were sowed in 18th March and we'd almost given up on them!
I put slug pellets in the salad cloche and it seems to have helped so far. However, still one lonely little stem in there!!

These particular slug pellets contain Iron-III Phosphate which bio-degrades in the soil to be used by plants