How does your garden grow?

[joe90]

With mine most will be under ground so very little visible, I fancy circles in the lawn for growing trees, now I need to make myself a “rolling machine “ to create a circle.

[Gone West]

4 hours ago, joe90 said:

With mine most will be under ground so very little visible, I fancy circles in the lawn for growing trees, now I need to make myself a “rolling machine “ to create a circle.

I thought about making my own, but couldn't be bothered, so bought some from Everedge.

 

https://www.everedge.co.uk/product/garden-rings/

 

 

[Onoff]

If Everedge is good enough for the National Trust and @Gone West...

 

What diameter rings? Just slice up an old 50gal drum maybe?

 

Just make damn sure it's degassed and vented or fill with water and cut top down.

[joe90]

Yes the Everedge looks good but I am an avid (die hard) make it myself merchant ?‍♂️, the black mild steel I use is 4mm so won’t rust through in my lifetime.

[Onoff]

12 minutes ago, joe90 said:

Yes the Everedge looks good but I am an avid (die hard) make it myself merchant ?‍♂️, the black mild steel I use is 4mm so won’t rust through in my lifetime.

 

Psst, want some roller plans? ?

[canalsiderenovation]

3 hours ago, Gone West said:

I thought about making my own, but couldn't be bothered, so bought some from Everedge.

 

https://www.everedge.co.uk/product/garden-rings/

 

 

 

Yep we have a price from them and Core Edge too which is similar. Core Edge is cheaper as their packs are larger as they account for the overlap of joining where Everedge doesn't so you need more packs.

[canalsiderenovation]

I planted some bulbs earlier this year called Tigridia and the first one has flowered.

 

 

There is a old man that fishes on the canal that kindly keeps bringing me plants and the small dahlias he gave me months ago have also flowered.

 

 

Lettuces are doing well but I'm off lettuce for life after picking some and rinsing it to find this. If anyone is close by and wants lots of lettuce feel free to come and get it. 

 

 

[Onoff]

We get the proper large, (edible) Roman snails here from nearby Lullingstone Roman villa. 

[Cpd]

41 minutes ago, canalsiderenovation said:

Lettuces are doing well but I'm off lettuce for life after picking some and rinsing it to find this.

Standard practice with home grown food, at least I know what I can see  on my garden veg, I wonder what unseen bacteria and chemicals are on shop stuff……

[SteamyTea]

33 minutes ago, Cpd said:

I wonder what unseen bacteria and chemicals are on shop stuff

Probably less, and a lot safer to eat, at least it is legislated what is and what is not allowed.

[SteamyTea]

13 months on, my echiums are now quite tall.

 

 

 

[joe90]

2 hours ago, Cpd said:

at least I know what I can see  on my garden veg, I wonder what unseen bacteria and chemicals are on shop stuff……

But shop salad leaves are chlorine washed (like American chicken ?‍♂️).

[Roundtuit]

1 hour ago, joe90 said:

But shop salad leaves are chlorine washed (like American chicken ?‍♂️).

Only the ready-to-eat stuff.  You can buy unwashed and do it yourself if approved and validated food safety measures concern you.

[joe90]

Well it took long enough but looking a lot better now, just some edges to tidy up.

 

 

[canalsiderenovation]

21 hours ago, joe90 said:

Well it took long enough but looking a lot better now, just some edges to tidy up.

 

 

 

What are those plants @joe90?

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, canalsiderenovation said:

 

What are those plants @joe90?

Cannabis. He smuggles them across the boarder most night to corrupt the Cornish youths.

Last I heard he got 2 pasties and a cream tea for an eight.

Purple Bude is the street name.

Edited August 21, 2021 by SteamyTea

[joe90]

1 hour ago, canalsiderenovation said:

What are those plants @joe90?

Love lies bleeding, grew them from seeds, takes a while but I like the long tassels. Funnily enough gardeners world last week showed someone’s garden with loads in, don’t see them very often, easy to grow.

[SteamyTea]

8 minutes ago, joe90 said:

Love lies bleeding

Reminds me of my youth.

[canalsiderenovation]

On 21/08/2021 at 10:51, joe90 said:

Love lies bleeding, grew them from seeds, takes a while but I like the long tassels. Funnily enough gardeners world last week showed someone’s garden with loads in, don’t see them very often, easy to grow.

 

Thank you, I may have to try them. I'm growing blue poppies from seed and they are a few cm high. I'm surprised as they didn't seem to be doing anything at all, unless they are actually weeds I'm nurturing.

[Onoff]

Today I acquired:

4 bags of manure free from here:
 

Kent Equine Facilitated Learning CIC

A greenhouse frame with no glass from my brother.

A frame for growing runner beans made from galv CHS Tubeclamp and fittings. I made it for my Dad 20+ years ago but he can no longer garden.

I'm planning on "growing things"! At 55 I'm a later starter.

Next to get a bean trench dug in a sunny bit of the garden.

[Cpd]

8 hours ago, Onoff said:

At 55 I'm a later starter.

Never to late to start ! 
biggest problem I have is dealing with slugs ! 

keep us informed on your progress.  

[SteamyTea]

37 minutes ago, Cpd said:

slugs

Rory Mc Donnell interview: The slug hunter with a strange new weapon

Invasive slugs and snails are not only troublesome for gardeners – they cause millions of dollars’ worth of damage to crops every year. Ecologist Rory Mc Donnell is on a mission to find evidence-based ways to get rid of these pesky gastropods

 

LIFE 2 March 2022

By Brendan Knapp

Jennie Edwards

SLUGS and snails may not look frightening, but don’t be fooled. Poking out from beneath their slimy bodies is a tongue-like appendage called a radula, covered with thousands of tiny teeth. As gardeners know to their cost, this is a tool of extreme destructive power, which can shred stems and leaves like a grater. From dandelions to dahlias, few plants are safe.

Native slugs and snails are a vital part of ecosystems. They provide a food source to other animals, digest dead and decaying matter and eat pests. But invasive species can throw things off balance and it can be tough to control them.

Many gardeners have their own tried and trusted methods of attempting to make their plants safe from these gastropods, from the classic technique of circling the stem with crushed eggshells to the application of copper tape to flowerpots.

 

For professional growers, it isn’t just their plants that are eaten up, but their profits too. Six years ago, grower communities in Oregon had had enough and representatives from the grass seed, vegetable and Christmas tree industries demanded the state act immediately to stop invasive slugs and snails.

In response, the state called in ecologist Rory Mc Donnell, one of the world’s foremost slug and snail experts. For the past few years, Mc Donnell, now based at Oregon State University, has been looking for ways to control invasive slugs and snails and has developed an effective method.

He tells New Scientist about the toll of invasive slugs and snails and why the best way to control them is almost certainly already in your kitchen.

 

Brendan Knapp: How much damage do invasive slugs and snails cause?

Rory Mc Donnell: Without question, it is billions of dollars every year. There was a study done by the Oregon Seed Council in 2012 that showed slugs alone cost the grass seed industry about $60 million a year at the time. That is due to direct crop loss, the cost of molluscicide and the extra labour needed to sow more seeds. It’s just mind-blowing to me. But that’s the reason I have my position. And one thing that people often neglect about slugs and snails is that the damage they do isn’t limited to just eating crops. Snail mucus or slug faeces on the crops decreases the quality rating, which in turn reduces the overall price of the produce when it goes to market.

And that’s before we take into account the damage to people’s gardens…

If you’ve got a nice vegetable garden, if you’ve got lettuces, carrots, potatoes, even peppers, they are definitely going to be taken out by slugs and snails.

It is coming up to spring in the northern hemisphere. Are slugs and snails going to be emerging to eat plants soon?

Over the winter, most slugs and snails hibernate and, yes, as it warms up in the spring, they come out to feed. Then they activate a summer hibernation phase called aestivation, where they seek shelter again – slugs below ground; snails above ground. And then they come out again in the autumn. Here in Oregon, once we get the first fall rains, that activates them to come out again. This pattern is pretty typical for here in the US, western Europe, the UK and Ireland. In more tropical areas, like Hawaii or the north of Australia, slugs and snails are active all the time.

How do people generally deal with invasive slugs and snails?

No matter where you go in the world, the number one approach is to use chemical pesticides, mostly metaldehyde. The trouble with this is that it is a neurotoxin and has caused a lot of deaths in dogs and cats that eat the pellets. In the UK, metaldehyde-based pellets are going to be made illegal in early 2022, though we can still legally use them in the US. Then there’s iron phosphate, which is approved for use in organic systems. It’s a fertiliser that kills slugs and snails, but there’s some evidence it’s also lethal to earthworms, which you really want to keep in your soil.

 

Snails have a tongue-like appendage called a radula, covered in sharp teeth, that can damage plants

GAP Photos/Jonathan Buckley

 

In parts of Europe, there’s a nematode species that growers can use to get rid of slugs and snails. These nematodes are microscopic parasites that live in partnership with a particular type of bacteria. The nematodes find and penetrate slugs and snails and then literally vomit up a bacterial soup that’s lethal to their hosts. The bacteria reproduce on the slug or snail and the nematode feeds on those bacteria. People in Europe can buy these nematodes in packets and sprinkle them around the garden – it’s a good option because they kill slugs and snails very specifically.

Why aren’t the nematodes used more widely?

That nematode was thought to only be found in Europe. If you’re to introduce that to an area outside of Europe, there’s a chance that it could become a pest as well. But my colleagues and I actually found this exact same nematode in California in 2014. We found it again in 2017 in Oregon. We’ve been doing a lot of work testing the lethality of these nematodes on slugs and snails to see if we can potentially use them as a biopesticide here in the Pacific Northwest. We want to be sure that pest species are killed and native non-pest species are not harmed.

You have another idea for slug control that uses something they find hopelessly attractive.

“We collected more than 18,000 snails over two days. That was really a moment for us”

We have tested many different attractants: potatoes, lettuce, cabbage – we even had decomposing fruit and cat food extracts. We tested lots of different beers: Guinness, two IPAs, red ales and non-alcoholic beers. We found that hands down the best attractant is bread dough. During research last year in Oregon, Hawaii and Montana, we found the dough remained attractive for at least eight days and was significantly more attractive than a widely used metaldehyde-based bait. We see bread dough as a very simple and non-toxic approach to managing slugs and snails. Most people have flour and yeast in their homes. You just mix it together with water, leave the dough balls in your garden to attract the slugs and snails and hand collect them.

How effective is it?

In Montana, there’s something called an eastern heath snail. It’s a European snail, first discovered in the US in 2012, that is accidentally being brought into the country on railcars and shipping containers. We previously had contact with some scientific collaborators in Montana and tested cucumber there as an attractant and it worked very well. Then we reached out to them again to test our bread mix. We were blown away by the results. My associate went back the next morning expecting to find maybe a handful of snails in each of the traps. She opened one trap and it was just full of snails. We collected and terminated more than 18,000 snails over two days. And I would say that was really a moment for us. We knew we were onto something.

Why does bread dough work so well?

We suspect it is something to do with the fermentation process. It’s probably some volatile compounds being given off that are attracting the slugs and snails. Like many invertebrates, they communicate via chemicals, and have only basic vision. Chemistry rules their world. They’re constantly picking up chemical signals in their environment, be it a food source, a snail or slug that’s ready to mate or a predator. We don’t know exactly what compounds in the dough are responsible though – we would like to get some funding to try to find out.

Can anyone use this at home?

We don’t have a patent on this research. We want to make tools that people all over the world can use and help them with their pest management as well. I think bread dough is definitely a move in that direction. In places like sub-Saharan Africa, flour is widely available, as is yeast and water. Farmers can make up a batch of dough easily.

Do you have any slug and snail-hunting contraptions in your own garden?

I guess my yard looks like anybody else’s, except, yes, I now use bread dough to attract the slugs. It seems to be working great, though the real test will be when spring arrives. Apart from that, one thing we have used out in the field is a camera to spot the snails in the dark. When we bought this in the early days of our research, we ended up getting it from a ghost-hunting website. That was an interesting thing to put on the expense form: a night-vision camera for ghost hunting.

[saveasteading]

I will try that dough idea. otherwise I have to stick with the sacrificial lettuce plan.

the slugs come out at night and crawl all over the lettuce, in full view, including tiny ones, and they are easy to remove by torchlight. after a week there are few left...for a while.

 

I read that slugs will not crawl (?) over sheeps' wool due to barbs in the surface. this was in an advert for expensive wool pellets.

As a whole fleece sells for about £3 it would be handy if farmers could provide the garden market and perhaps get more.

 

Also, the principle of intermingling the veg and flowers (not all carrots in one spot etc) works quite well, and marigolds/ citronella/ herbs can disguise the scents that pests home in on.

 

 

[Onoff]

15 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

I read that slugs will not crawl (?) over sheeps' wool due to barbs in the surface. this was in an advert for expensive wool pellets.

As a whole fleece sells for about £3 it would be handy if farmers could provide the garden market and perhaps get more.

 

Could you not grow lettuce on the backs of sheep...

[joe90]

I tend to use old tins buried in the ground with old beer, they drown happy 🤔