Hay bale veg

Chasingmytail · Jul 21, 2016

Im not convinced at onions and slugs over the few weeks we had real wet weather the slugs could be seen in mass on many stalks. Even though my husband keeps banging on about companion crops when I met Charles Dowding last month he said he couldnt confirm they worked for him either. He did confirm that long grass and being surrounded by hedges and fields does exacerbate the situation. Yes I agree about the bare soil some areas should have a layer of fresh compost to boost it and some areas will be replanted however things like lettuce may suit the poly better. Winter crops are mainly brassicas and I done have a few rows so will be covering these with the compost and having to weed again before the spring. My point about bare soil really was on starting beds off last year I had to leave the whole thing as it was a disaster on the growing and the weeds took hold and I wasnt around.to sort. What I wouldnt do is start a bed and grow the same year - better leave it at least 6-12 months for the muck to break down and weed seeds to stay dormant. Even though I'm not a fan of carpet I have a friend who can supply used strips which are ideal to suppress the weeds around the paths especially if you havent got the time to make up paths. Clay here so when wet its a mess to walk around. I used the weed suppressant fabric and wood chips however the nasty silverweed still crawls through whereas carpet will really kill it off. Best keep to quality wool carpets over poly thats really full of chemicals plus the wool ones are really heavy.

Woolgatherer · Jul 22, 2016

I've got very little problem with slugs and snails and I think it's my hens to thank. I empty my veg garden every late autumn and let the hens and ducks in. They eat any left over veg, weeds, beasties slugs and snails. In the spring I lock them out again ready for sowing and planting. This year is a very bad one for slugs and snails here, but so far I've only had 3 snails and no slugs in the veg garden. Hens love snail and slug eggs too so the whole cycle is broken and after a couple of years the mollusc population has been decimated here!

KMA · Jul 22, 2016

I keep trying to find the time/money to secure the garden, make a decent run and get some Sussex chooks, 'maybe next year Rodney'.

Blaithin · Jul 22, 2016

Slugs aren't really an issue here ever but if they're as bad as they sound there. "Leaving the path slimy"

Then one method probably won't cut it. Beer traps won't get them all, alliums won't keep them at bay, copper wire wouldn't keep them all out and powder probably wouldn't kill them all. You'd need to use multiple things.

It'd be like having a mouse infestation and then just relying on traps. They can only do so much!

I adore my chickens for pest control. Until they come help me weed and scratch stuff up

One day I will have a fenced garden where the dogs can't go sleep in the beds and the chickens can only go in on my terms and the calves don't pick everything and toss them around like little plant meteors.

Chasingmytail · Jul 22, 2016

ducks are the best particular runners I did have some but the fox had them. The plan is to get more.

KMA · Jul 23, 2016

Ducks would certainly feel at home in my swamp/garden, regularly get toads and frogs paying us a visit in the house :scratchhead:

. My bit of ground needs some serious drainage put in and the level raised between 1' at the top end and up to 3' at the other, never come across 'soil' like it, soon as water hits it it seals itself I've tried tried mixing in 1 part soil, 1 part sand and 1 part compost and it still seals itself

Decided this morning I need a potting shed to free up space in the greenhouse and so I have a workbench at a level that doesn't leave me feeling like the lunchpack of Notre Dame.

Pasty · Jul 28, 2016

Woolgatherer said:
I've got very little problem with slugs and snails and I think it's my hens to thank. I empty my veg garden every late autumn and let the hens and ducks in. They eat any left over veg, weeds, beasties slugs and snails. In the spring I lock them out again ready for sowing and planting. This year is a very bad one for slugs and snails here, but so far I've only had 3 snails and no slugs in the veg garden. Hens love snail and slug eggs too so the whole cycle is broken and after a couple of years the mollusc population has been decimated here!

Every night this year I take the dogs out and the lawn is crawling with slugs. Never seen anything like it. I hatched a plan to set up some floodlights and have a crew of hens on the ready. Midnight, turn on the lights, release the hens and play Dambusters at full volume.

Dan Powell · Jul 28, 2016

Pasty said:
Every night this year I take the dogs out and the lawn is crawling with slugs. Never seen anything like it. I hatched a plan to set up some floodlights and have a crew of hens on the ready. Midnight, turn on the lights, release the hens and play Dambusters at full volume.

Apparently hedgehogs are voracious slug eaters and they work at night. Could you release some into your garden?

Pasty · Jul 28, 2016

Dan Powell said:
Apparently hedgehogs are voracious slug eaters and they work at night. Could you release some into your garden?

Where would I get them from? Would love to see them about. Used to see them in Totnes where I lived years ago. None here. Hmmm. There should be.

Dan Powell · Jul 28, 2016

Pasty said:
Where would I get them from? Would love to see them about. Used to see them in Totnes where I lived years ago. None here. Hmmm. There should be.

The British Hedgehog Preservation Society? In Ludlow apparently.

Chasingmytail · Jul 28, 2016

you cant get hedgehogs by post - I really cant see them here at all we came to the conclusion that badges must be having them. I never see them apparently they are all in the towns now where they have the best food and cover. I found that the hens werent that bothered by them and just too big to peck. Its the runners you need as they seriously mow them up.

martian · Jul 29, 2016

I watched a blackbird (or brown hen strictly speaking) stab a slug the other day. She really went for it, lacerating the poor mollusc multiple times, before carrying ithe carcass off, presumably to feed her lucky brood. They have quite a thick coat, those big slugs, not that easy for birds to eat. I don't imagine that they taste that good either...

Osca · Aug 8, 2016

I'm learning lot from this thread. This will be me next year. Not living on site and having limited time there has meant that I have postponed growing veggies, though I've done it in the past (courgettes were always very heartening - they looked difficult and exotic but grew like stink) - but I'm going for it seriously next year.

Beer traps though - I learnt about them accidentally as I once lived in a permanently damp council house with a permanently sodden garden into which the local yobs would chuck their beer cans. The ring pull cans only had to have a couple of spoonfuls of alcohol left in them to fill up with slugs overnight; the drunken slugs couldn't find their way out. I grew runner beans while I was there in defiance of the despair of the place - but I couldn't bring myself to eat them when I saw the slugs on them - just the night before I had seen the slugs out on the pavement sucking up dog sh!t. Ugh ugh ugh!....

Edited to say I'm sure I put sh!t with an i..

Tim W · Aug 21, 2016

The key to raising veg yourself has to be detail ?

Every morning I take 10 mins to weed/slug hunt/assess progress in the garden
Do the same in the evenings and you have half a chance
Slugs---hit them any and every way possible !

(I only have 1/4 acre in veg)

Chasingmytail · Aug 21, 2016

I popped out last night as it was very wet and there were a lot of slugs out I managed to pick a few. Caterpillars are the next thing.

Pasty · Aug 23, 2016

Well we haven't failed totally. Our onions are magnificent! 3 Tom plants are producing lovely fruit like crazy and we have a lettuce which survived and keeps going. So we got something and learned a lot. Strawbs have grown well but in grow bags on the floor, the fruit is gone by the time we see it. So they need to be up high. Hopefully the plants will live through. If we are still using the same beds next year I am deffo going to plant everything with a row of onions in between. Plus, will pen some chickens in once we have finished this year to decimate everything.

KMA · Aug 23, 2016

Same story here, got quite a bit of some, some others very disappointing. I'd say garlic, onions and runner beans have been the successes. Verdict on the parsnips and leeks will have to wait.

Lots of lessons learned, could/will do better in 2017, mainly through better pest prevention.

Discovered that washing powder is

for slugs

jade35 · Aug 30, 2016

Some ideas to keep slug numbers down

http://www.slugoff.co.uk/information/list

Old McDonald · Aug 30, 2016

Blaithin said:
It'd be like having a mouse infestation and then just relying on traps. They can only do so much!

That sounds to me like you have experience of a mouse plague.

My Australian equivalent:-

In addition to rabbits, which were an ongoing problem, there are sporadic influxes of equally problematical pests in various parts of Australia. Plague locusts occur from time to time, and although we never suffered much damage from them there were severe infestations in the locality. It is quite a fascinating sight to see the air filled with them at the flying stage, and when driving through them it is similar to being in a snowstorm, except that they stick to the windscreen and make quite a mess.

We did experience a mouse plague on one occasion. It was fairly widespread and the numbers were unbelievable. I first noticed the problem on our own property when I went to pick up a hessian sack that had fallen off the rail it had been on and was lying on the ground folded in half. I could see movement underneath, and of course the immediate reaction is – snake! It was wintertime therefore a snake was unlikely and I knew the plague was moving in our general direction. I flattened the bag as best I could with my feet, and although a few escaped there were still 27 bodies underneath the half sack.

A neighbour decided to keep his young son and a friend out of mischief for a while and gave them an ordinary mousetrap and a lump of cheese, offering them 10 cents for every mouse they caught in the woolshed. They came back with a straight 100 in less than an hour. The kids reckoned the mice were taking the cheese from their fingers.

Mice are disease carriers and we lost about a dozen calves that were infected from a waterhole the mice were using, but other than that our biggest cost was keeping our bait stations supplied. We never got a single mouse in the house, which we considered quite amazing.

Blaithin · Aug 31, 2016

I wouldn't say I've experienced a plague of them no. Just years higher than others. The house was usually managed fine with traps and a cat but outside there was no way to control them. Any bale you picked up had numerous nests under it. Dogs loved it anyway

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