Seedlings, the greenhouse and a book
Finally the rain stopped for a couple of days and I was able to get out into the garden to do some serious work. In early April I had planted out some vegetable seeds in the small allotment just outside our garden fence (ever the optimist). Not surprisingly weeks of heavy rain and increased numbers of snails and slugs had combined to destroy my work.
Only the Perpetual Spinach (Leaf Beet) had survived as a complete row. The Turnips and Komatsuna (Japanese Mustard Spinach) had disappeared. Only a small number of Beetroot seedlings could be seen. I resowed the rows, covered them with small branches to stop the cats digging there. and crossed my fingers. In the same plot the Rhubarb is doing wel lin a slightly shaded spot up by the compost heap. I transplanted it last year from the border by the fence because it was too dry and the poor plant was wilting in the sun.
Allotment May 2012
The frame is for the climbing Snap Peas and behind it is last year’s sowing of Perpetual Spinach which will be removed once it bolts. The frames protect the salad crops from marauding cats and passing Badgers. The empty spaces will be filled with Outdoor Cucumbers, French Beans and Courgettes once the plants are big enough to go outside.
Allotment May 2012
In the greenhouse the Tomatoes, Chilli Peppers and Cucumbers have been transplanted into their final pots and I’ll erect supporting canes once I have taken down the plastic bubble wrap.
Tomatoes, Chilli Peppers and Cucumbers in pots
I still have some flower and herb seedlings in the greenhouse and while checking some Cosmos seedlings I noticed about five had suffered damage, stems still there but no leaves. They were on a shelf five feet off the ground….the culprit must be agile and not afraid of heights.
Damaged seedlings
Or perhaps not so agile but slow, steady and persistent! On a pot to the left of the seed tray I found the culprit. I carefully removed it and put it into a clump of Achillea in the garden where it could do less damage.
Sleeping snail
I quite like snails but for such slow moving creatures they can do a lot of damage. Nevertheless I admire their resilience and ability to turn up in unexpected places despite having no legs and only one foot.
Those of you with a Kindle and a relaxed attitude to snails might like to read a lovely book called “The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating” by Elizabeth Tova Bailey. The author suffered a long period of debilitating illness and a friend brought her a pot of violets which was home to a small snail. This snail became the focus of her attention while she was bedridden. I highly recommend the book. It is available as a download from Amazon. You might also like to visit the author’s website too which has some lovely photos and videos.
Book
Of course her snail is a delicate little thing while mine is more like the King Kong of snails….. but I say but live and let live…..just do not come back into the greenhouse.
7 comments
This looks so promising for a great harvest all year long. I love it so much to see all the growth from tiny plants.
I’ll bookmark this for whenIhaveaKindle. I still prefer real books, but I can see a Kindle looming in my future one day. That book is familiar from an earlier positive review. My sort of book.
It’s been difficult this spring for most of us. The slugs are driving me to distraction, having mauled my beautiful sweet pea plants, beetroot, lettuce and irises. Aaaaarrrrggghhhh!! I found some snails yesterday, nestled happily on a leaf of my centaurea chomping away. I’m afraid to say I’m not as kind as you are when it comes to molluscs, especially when I found out that they just return if you chuck them over the fence. I wouldn’t mind if my garden was pristine with no rotting vegetation in sight but it isn’t, there is plenty of plant matter they could eat that wouldn’t bother me. It’s when they crawl the whole way up a trellis panel to devour my clematis flowers that I get angry. Anyway that got that off my chest. Your tomatoes, chillis and cucumbers look great. I only had one cucumber germinate so may need to buy some from the garden centre to replace them.
Sorry about your seedlings – I hope the new ones do better. I use copper tape and slug stoppa granules to try to keep the snails at bay, but there’s not much that can be done about the weather.
Thank you for recommending The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating – I’ve read reviews of it on ME sites, but not got around to reading it myself yet – good to know it’s a book which will appeal to people who don’t have the illness as well as those who do. For those without a kindle, it’s also available in tradional paper format!
Easygardener: Juliet – Thanks for the info about the “real book” format. I should have mentioned it in my post.
You have quite the vegetable garden planned out! I find growing vegetables to be trickier than flowers. The book sounds very interesting.
Am struck with the neatness of your allotment -shame about the crops so fare but there is plenty in the pipeline I see (and even some good weather!) I too move my snails to places where I think they will like to stay and do less damage – not convinced that they don’t travel back though
p.s. I used to think perpetual spinach went on for ever!
p.p.s. intriguing book – will wait for my local library to have it unless it is shut down first
I’ll have to check out that book. I think our snails sounds like chainsaws when they’re eating ;) I just pull them off the veg, and relocate them to a weedier part of the garden!
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