slug proof veg

Posts

• Lyn Posts: 23,190

  August 2019

  Try slug nematodes in the Spring. 

  Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 
  
  

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• amancalledgeorge Posts: 2,736

  August 2019

  I used to have huge amounts of slugs and snails but night raids have helped hugely this year. Patience and diligence pay dividends...and of course nematodes as it has been suggested can help. 
  
  Growing your veg in 9cm pots until much stronger can also helps as they can resist attacks better and not be decimated.

  To Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow

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• raisingirl Posts: 7,093

  August 2019 edited August 2019

  amancalledgeorge said:

  Growing your veg in 9cm pots until much stronger can also helps as they can resist attacks better and not be decimated.

  I have a lot of, er, wildlife in my garden. That has it's upsides, in that the birds and toads limit the slug population to some extent, but the downside is other birds and creatures (mice and voles, especially) do their own share of veg crop damage.
  
  As amancalledgeorge suggests, I grow most things in plugs and pot up to quite big plants before planting out.
  Brassicas will be in 1 litre pots before they go in the ground, by which time they are usually big enough to cope with peripheral nibbling. I net them against the butterflies. Apart from spring greens which suffer less because there are fewer slugs about through the winter, so I grow them on in pots until late - October - then plant them out without any extra protection. 
  Runner beans I start in root trainers and pot on to 4" pots (I have a few extra deep ones) before they go out.
  French beans seem to be less troubled by slugs (though preferred by the rabbits) so they stay in root trainers just until they are tall enough to start twining round a cane, to keep them off the ground. I also grow a bean called 'Greek Gigantes' which is like a runner bean but super vigorous so it usually goes faster than the slugs.
  I never plant broad beans or peas in the autumn. They don't ever live past Christmas so there's no point.
  Parsnips I can direct sow. Nothing seems to want to eat those.
  Carrots I grow a few in pots. Everything wants to eat those.
  Beetroot and chard do fine grown in plugs up to 9cm pots then out. The outer leaves get a bit ragged but the roots and the central leaves survive.
  Florence fennel doesn't seem to get eaten much.
  Salads are a waste of time apart from rocket and sorrel (both can be grown as perennials, which helps).
  I use nematodes on the potato bed and a four bed rotation, so every bed gets treated every 4 years. It's definitely reducing the local slug population.

  Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
  
  “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 

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• bookmonster Posts: 399

  August 2019

  Maybe I need to try parsnips! I've never been organised about nematodes before. I find beetroot and chard are medium. Fordhook giant chard and albino beetroot I have grown for years but the sanguina and golden chard got gobbled up this year, I'm growing fordhook inside to go out when bigger and the golden is in pots. @raisingirl what got the broad beans, cold or slugs?

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• raisingirl Posts: 7,093

  August 2019

  bookmonster said:

   @raisingirl what got the broad beans, cold or slugs?

  Not the cold, certainly. I think slugs were munching for a while, then they disappear when it gets properly cold, so if your only problem is slugs, they may be worth a try. Come the spring, they are up and growing away early so may be ahead of the slugs.
  
  In the depths of winter, mice dig the peas and beans up here - not much else to eat at that time, presumably

  Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
  
  “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 

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• bookmonster Posts: 399

  August 2019

  Ha, we certainly have mice. I guess I don't have much to lose, I'll give them a go

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