Mrs Frugal Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 I don't know about the beer, Karen, it's not something I've ever tried before. I also read about making little slug houses out of the scooped out halves of oranges or grapefruits. The slugs use them as shelters and you just scoop them up and throw them in the bin afterwards - again, not something I've tried yet but cheap and easy to try, I suppose. We don't have too much trouble with slugs and snails. I put that down to vigilante frogs at night! You can always pick them off if you're not too squeamish (which I am ). I sprinkled all our old coffee grounds round my little seedlings when I transplanted them into the veggie garden and didn't lose any - until the chickens arrived when they were uprooted with their enthusiastic scratching!! Needless to say, the veggie garden is cordoned off now! My biggest problem is caterpillars though and the girls just won't eat them. Once you've seen that your broccoli is teeming with the little suckers, it kind of puts you off eating it so that's why I've given up on brassicas. We grow peas in window boxes really successfully and tomatoes like Gardeners Delight in pots on the patio. Runner beans and climbing French Beans grow well in those carry tub things for moving compost around the garden as do first early potatoes - if you put around 4 tubers in a pot, you'll end up with 20-30 new potatoes in a few weeks! Magic!! I tried leeks in window boxes this year and they aren't much bigger than chives but we grow very good parsnips for some reason! Carrots never get very big and tend to get attacked by carrot root fly no matter how much I try to disguise their smell when we thin them out so they've gone this year in place of some maincrop potatoes instead. We have herbs galore in pots and chives all along the edge of the veggie garden (although the hens have eaten most of them so I'll need to replant this year!) At the bottom of the garden, we have about 20 raspberry canes, a Boysenberry, a blackberry, 3 blackcurrant bushes, 3 gooseberry bushes and a cherry, a pear, a plum and 2 apple trees. I've got around 20 strawberry plants too and am on the lookout for a replacement for my rhubarb which has bitten the dust. It's amazing how much you can find room for in a tiny suburban garden if you try! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 Hi Karen, you can also use a product that works like coffee grounds in that it is made from a baked clay which draws moisture out of the slug if they touch it and you use it to surround things and when it gets dug into the soil it helps with the drainage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola H Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 Louise that sounds like a good idea........just got to find some now. Well while searching for Kitchen Garden mag. I found a new mag called grow your own, it is the launch issue and you get lots of free seeds and also lots of free things to send off for, it looks good not had time to read it all yet but there is also an article about keeping chickens in your back garden............... It is aimed at people wanting to grow fruit and veg in there garden and there are lots of articles on self-sufficiency, have a look I think it will be useful. The seeds on the front cover are carrots to grow in a container and brocolli Romenesco worth it just for the seeds. I am not on commission by the way it just looks a great magazine.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 Someone had mentioned that magazine on the River Cottage forum but hadn't made it sound nearly as interesting as you have, Nicola. I will look out for it on Thursday when we do our big shop! I love free seeds!! Thanks for the tip . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola H Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 I have just nearly fallen off my chair after reading the new mag I see you can win one of two Eglus just by sending your name and address to the magazine now you really do have got to buy it........... Just off to fill in my postcard can't miss out on a fre Eglu............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 Might have to look out for that one when I go shopping. The slug stuff Nicola I bought in a small hardware and then found it in a big box in B&Q so it should be easily found its called slug stop as it is a barrier rather than a killer although if they do go on it they will dry out and die but like the coffee they tend to steer clear of it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola H Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 Thanks for that Louise, the magazine gets better I have only just started to read it and I am already hooked............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen1 Posted March 16, 2005 Author Share Posted March 16, 2005 I'll try to find that slug-stop stuff. Although I drink filter coffee sometimes, I probably don't drink enough of it to get enough coffee grounds. I must get that magazine - it sounds great! Is it widely available? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen1 Posted March 16, 2005 Author Share Posted March 16, 2005 Kate - it sounds like you are a real expert gardener! It must be wonderful to be able to grow all that stuff. I hope I'll be able to grow things successfully Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola H Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 Karen it is right up your street and mine for that matter it explains everything so clearly even I may get a decent crop of something this year. I found it in WHS................. Good luck with the gardening I am also learning a lot from this topic so thanks for starting it Karen, we should start a seed exchange........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen1 Posted March 16, 2005 Author Share Posted March 16, 2005 That sounds like a good idea, Nicola I'll be off to WHS first thing tomorrow to get the magazine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 Kate - it sounds like you are a real expert gardener! It only sounds that way Karen! You haven't seen my garden !! Let's just say I'm enthusiastic but keep falling at the first hurdle when I try to grow anything adventurous!! I live in hope! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola H Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 Sorry it is me again with an update on the magazine I have finished reading it now and right at the back in a section named ask the expert guess who the chicken expert is, no not Katie Thear but our one and only Johannes Paul..............that is obviously why you can win an Eglu good advertising ploy boys................. I like your style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen1 Posted March 20, 2005 Author Share Posted March 20, 2005 I went into WHS to get the magazine, and they told me it wouldn't be out until 1st April. Funny that some of you have been able to get it already Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola H Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 Karen don't know why you couldn't get it , the next issue is out in April maybe they have sold out....................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen1 Posted March 20, 2005 Author Share Posted March 20, 2005 Maybe that's it. I'll have to keep looking to see if I can get a copy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola H Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 Karen I am sure you will manage to get the next issue it is out on the 1st of April......free chilli and coriander seeds with the next issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 Is anybody else a member of the Heritage Seed Library? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motherhen Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 Yes to the Heritage Seed Library. For those who don't want to trail through past messages the magazine in question is 'grow your own'. The big question is - are there any of the March issue left in Newcastle - at meetings all day tomorrow so will have to wait till Tues to find out. Now if I were to win a 2nd eglu?............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 There weren't any copies anywhere in Stamford on Friday. I'll have to miss out on the chance to win another Eglu . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Couldn't find it in Galashiels either Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leanne Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 i found a copy here last week, and it is a good magazine, worth picking up each month. on the subject of slugs, if you have a wilkinsons hardware shop near you- i bought some slug traps last summer, think they were only £1.99 each , which you sink into the ground to soil level and fill with beer. and they just topple in and drown, my OH wouldnt let me waste good guinness so we used lager which the slugs seemed to like. they worked well keeping the little blighters off my courgettes which had been suffering mass slug attack! (For some reason my chickens arent that interested in slugs, a nice juicy worm or crunchy beetle yes, but slugs they seem to have to be in the right mood for!) and for beginners at veg growing, I bought another book a few days ago, newly published, called the Real Good Life from the soil association, have only flicked through it so far, but it looks very promising. it has a forward written by Hugh F-W, a favourite of mine. hope this is helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 The book sounds intersting Leanne. Thanks for that. I shall have a look for it when I've got some spends . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen1 Posted March 29, 2005 Author Share Posted March 29, 2005 I managed to get hold of a copy of the magazine - Grow Your Own. It's very good. I need as much help as I can get when it comes to growing veg. I've planted some seeds in my garden now - onions, leeks, carrots and beetroot. I've also got tomato and chilli seedlings doing very nicely on my windowsill. I've got lots of other seeds, so I'll plant them as soon as I get the chance. I need to build a fence first to keep the chickens off the veg patch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted March 29, 2005 Share Posted March 29, 2005 Well done Karen. Sounds like you're doing very nicely. Don't be too keen to get everything in at once though. I try to remember the old motto "Cast ne'er a clout till May is out" - we still get frosts right up to the end of May round here and it's death to tiny seedlings. Make sure you've got some horticultural fleece or even bubble wrap to cover over delicate little seedlings if frost is forecast. Also it's sometimes a good idea to sow seeds every couple of weeks for things you'll use a lot of so that you don't get a glut of vegetables then nothing afterwards. I sow trays of lettuce every few weeks to keep us going over summer and the same for peas. I'll do a large windowbox full every couple of weeks until I've run out of places to sow them! That way, you can guarantee a longer eating period. We had a busy weekend in the garden and it's actually starting to look like a garden again now!! We put in the first early potatoes and sowed tomato, basil and lettuce seeds. I bought another gooseberry and blackcurrant bush so I've now got 4 of each plus another rhubarb, a Tayberry and 2 blueberry bushes. Hopefully next summer, we'll be self sufficient in soft fruit as we've already got about 20 raspberry canes and countless strawberry plants!! The herbs also needed a bit of a seeing to. Some of them had died over winter and have had to be replaced, others just needed repotting but they all look smart in new pots which are full of compost for a change!! The girls won't be going near them this year!! Gardening's a wonderful hobby especially when the weather's lovely this time of year. Makes it so much more fun to be out in the early spring sunshine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
