OT - Any gardeners in the house?

mudcow007

we have had our house for 2 years now bought it as a do-a-upper an basically finished the house an have moved onto doing the gardens

now i likes plants etc but everything I'm planting is getting eaten by the nemesis that calls its self "The Slug"

if i make slug traps (bury a container in the soil, half fill with bitter/ beer, cover with a rock) i get about 10 - 20 slugs a night depending on the weather

ive got a dog so reluctant to put pellets down

besides a shotgun anyone any ideas?

Wrath Rob

What you need, son, is biological warfare
I normally go out on a slug patrol as soon as it gets dark and dispatch a load too. Also try and eliminate their day-time hideaways, e.g. under plant pots, bits of garden rubbish etc. Give those SOB's no-where to hide!

mudcow007

Roger!

i think i will get me some biological agents

they have cost me about £60 in plants so far

grr

vermin

Wrath Rob wrote:

What you need, son, is biological warfare
I normally go out on a slug patrol as soon as it gets dark and dispatch a load too. Also try and eliminate their day-time hideaways, e.g. under plant pots, bits of garden rubbish etc. Give those SOB's no-where to hide!

This. All of it.

Nematodes take a while to work. In the short term just go out after dark every night, armed with a torch and a bucket of salt, and dissolve the buggers.

I also draw a salt line around the raised beds to stop encroachment. If you then place a few beer traps inside the area you have fenced off, you have them trapped in a mine field. Then it's just a matter of time...

rick_chasey

vermin wrote:

I also draw a salt line around the raised beds to stop encroachment. If you then place a few beer traps inside the area you have fenced off, you have them trapped in a mine field. Then it's just a matter of time...

vermin

Rick Chasey wrote:

vermin wrote:

I also draw a salt line around the raised beds to stop encroachment. If you then place a few beer traps inside the area you have fenced off, you have them trapped in a mine field. Then it's just a matter of time...

That'll do it.

vermin

I should add; don't put the salt on the plants or on the soil next to the plants - they don't like it much.

Jay dubbleU

Sharp sand or crushed shell works - ring round the plants
Pet hedgehog ?

rjsterry

Jay dubbleU wrote:

Sharp sand or crushed shell works - ring round the plants
Pet hedgehog ?

You need a lot of shell though - several dozen eggs worth, and it still hasn't stopped the little f***ers eating my daughters sunflowers, or our lilies, or our dahlias or making the acanthus look liked a well used bus ticket. They even broke into the cold frame and removed all trace of our lettuces. We've just gone for pellets (no pets) - not a pretty sight in the morning.

vermin

Slugs are almost extinct in our garden now, but they have been replaced by a plague of caterpillars. Now, we don't have enough butterflies these days, so I've sacrificed the greens after all. At least the evil gastropods didn't get them.

mudcow007

im not squimish in the slightest but if you ever step on one of big black slugs they make a real mess an horrid squishy noise

even worse if you step outside in bare feet

you can never get ride of the slime from between your toes its minging

bails87

Jay dubbleU wrote:

Pet hedgehog ?

Fine until:

mudcow007 wrote:

There's hedgehog poo everywhere, how do I get rid of them?

Jay dubbleU wrote:

Tasmanian Hedgehog Snakes?

mudcow007 wrote:

Arrgh, snakes!

Jay dubbleU wrote:

Nicaraguan Snake-Eating Crabs?

mudcow007 wrote:

Ouch, I'm being pincered!

Jay dubbleU wrote:

Samoan Crab Mongoose?

Then you need bears to eat the mongooses, gorillas to kill the bears, tigers to scare off the gorillas.......

UndercoverElephant

Try putting some copper tape around things too. The copper reacts with the slime and causes a small electric shock for the slug, not massive, but enough to make them about turn. Tape needs to be at least an inch thick.

rjsterry

vermin wrote:

Slugs are almost extinct in our garden now, but they have been replaced by a plague of caterpillars. Now, we don't have enough butterflies these days, so I've sacrificed the greens after all. At least the evil gastropods didn't get them.

Brassicas: why the f*** do we even bother? If the slugs don't get them, the cabbage whites will. We can just about get Purple Sprouting to survive, but a handful of caulis were decimated before they'd even grown. Seem to have a knack for spuds though, and runner beans seem pretty resistant to attack. How are everyone's tomatoes this year? Last year was a write off; the year before we had so many we had enough green ones left in October to make a six month supply chutney. So far not too bad, but need a bit more sun to ripen them up.

vermin

rjsterry wrote:

How are everyone's tomatoes this year?

Only one ripe one so far (which was tasty, if a little floury in texture), but a really good crop in the offing.

mudcow007

i didn't do toms this year, apple tree is doing good though

could this be the start of Silly Commuter Horticulture?

optimisticbiker

While we're on to trees.... any tree surgeons in the house?

I have a mature chesnut (about 14m tall) in the garden and it has surface roots about 50mm+ dia. just where the base of my new workshop/bike store is going to be... about 2m out from the trunk on one side. The roots have to go... no two ways about it... but whats the likely effect on the tree? Will it survive?

rjsterry

mudcow007 wrote:

i didn't do toms this year, apple tree is doing good though

could this be the start of Silly Commuter Horticulture?

Ooooh yes please. I look forward to DDD posting on carbon fibre lawnmowers

Think it'll be not a bad year for fruit. Our cherry sapling did pretty well, and we managed to harvest before the pigeons spotted them (unlike last year, when the fat ba$tards broke one of the branches trying to get to the fruit). Had a half decent crop of strawbs earlier on as well.

One good thing about all the rain: the lawn is still green, rather than the usual coconut husk.

beverick

Re Slugs/snails, the best approach is to identify what the little slimey bu&&ers don't like and plant those. From my experience they tend to avoid shrubs and hard wood but they prefer soft succulent plants, and especially bedding plants and veggies. Plants they like include petunias and tagetes (especially african marigolds). Plants they don't like include pelargoniums, fuschia and begonias.

OptimisticBiker wrote:

While we're on to trees.... any tree surgeons in the house?

I have a mature chesnut (about 14m tall) in the garden and it has surface roots about 50mm+ dia. just where the base of my new workshop/bike store is going to be... about 2m out from the trunk on one side. The roots have to go... no two ways about it... but whats the likely effect on the tree? Will it survive?

Hmm. You really need professional assistance here - either the local planning or tree officer.
There may also be a tree preservation order on a tree such as the one you describe, in that case your workshop will have to go somewhere else.

Irrespective of what planning concent you may need (and you may need planing concent anyway), and very generally based on my understanding (we're surrounded by about 30 mature trees!) you can build quite close to a tree providing you put in specific foundations. Generally, the closer to the tree, the deeper and more robust the foundations are (1.75m of concrete for our conservatory 8m from the nearest tree instead of the anticipated 60cm).

Cutting the roots will perhaps not have a detrimental effect on the tree itself but it may destabilise it depending on the remaining root system - so cut away if you want the tree to be laid on its side one day, just work out what's within 15m of the trunk and whether you can afford to replace it 'out of pocket' as you'll probably have invalidated your insurance by cutting the roots.

As the roots will grow back over time, if you don't get the foundations right in the first place they'll just move your workshop out of the way!

Bob

Wrath Rob

Brassicas: You really, really need to net them. I made a cage with bamboo poles. No slugs, snails, pigeons or cabbage whites. And lots of cabbage and purple sprouting

Toms: Lots of green, ripening nicely just in time for me to be away for a week

Apples: None. Last year was a bumper crop but this year we've not got any. Shame as I was looking forwards to making chutney again. Still, we had a great crop of Victoria plums, which was unexpected as we had a big crop last year too.

the_fuggler

My plums are magnificent.

What else can I say?

Tomatoes have been very good. Everything else has been dreadful. Except weeds. Doing really well this year.

Headhuunter

Build a small pond and get some frogs... Natures way of reducing slug and snail numbers (as well as other garden pests)... Might take a few generations before they make an impact though....

rjsterry

The Fuggler wrote:

Everything else has been dreadful. Except weeds. Doing really well this year.

Tell me about it! we have borage growing everywhere. Apparently you can use it in cooking, but as a plant it is wildly invasive, can only be dug out - leaves just snap off leaving a massive tap root, then grow back - and the leaves sting on contact with skin. With that and rampant nigella and Aquilegia (and those are the pretty ones) some days I just feel like glyphosate-ing the whole f***ing garden.

I have a love/hate relationship with my garden.

Wrath Rob

rjsterry wrote:

The Fuggler wrote:

Everything else has been dreadful. Except weeds. Doing really well this year.

Tell me about it! we have borage growing everywhere. Apparently you can use it in cooking, but as a plant it is wildly invasive, can only be dug out - leaves just snap off leaving a massive tap root, then grow back - and the leaves sting on contact with skin. With that and rampant nigella and Aquilegia (and those are the pretty ones, some days I just feel like glyphosate-ing the whole f***ing garden.

I have a love/hate relationship with my garden.

Wait till you get bind weed. That's never coming out...

Jay dubbleU

OptimisticBiker wrote:

While we're on to trees.... any tree surgeons in the house?

I have a mature chesnut (about 14m tall) in the garden and it has surface roots about 50mm+ dia. just where the base of my new workshop/bike store is going to be... about 2m out from the trunk on one side. The roots have to go... no two ways about it... but whats the likely effect on the tree? Will it survive?

It will probably survive - however be aware that you may affect its stability in high winds

notsoblue

I wonder what bike Bob Flowerdew rides?

jds_1981

beverick wrote:

Irrespective of what planning concent you may need (and you may need planing concent anyway), and very generally based on my understanding (we're surrounded by about 30 mature trees!) you can build quite close to a tree providing you put in specific foundations. Generally, the closer to the tree, the deeper and more robust the foundations are (1.75m of concrete for our conservatory 8m from the nearest tree instead of the anticipated 60cm).

1.75m? :shock:

If nuclear war beckons I know where I'm digging my shelter.

Jay dubbleU

jds_1981 wrote:

beverick wrote:

Irrespective of what planning concent you may need (and you may need planing concent anyway), and very generally based on my understanding (we're surrounded by about 30 mature trees!) you can build quite close to a tree providing you put in specific foundations. Generally, the closer to the tree, the deeper and more robust the foundations are (1.75m of concrete for our conservatory 8m from the nearest tree instead of the anticipated 60cm).

1.75m? :shock:

If nuclear war beckons I know where I'm digging my shelter.

Bear in mind that the soil type and depth of groundwater can also affect the depth required for foundations close to trees.

mudcow007

Wrath Rob wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

The Fuggler wrote:

Everything else has been dreadful. Except weeds. Doing really well this year.

Tell me about it! we have borage growing everywhere.

I have a love/hate relationship with my garden.

Wait till you get bind weed. That's never coming out...

i have more marestail/ horsetail than grass an plants put together.

weed killer doesn't touch it, so i keep having to pull it up hoping it will eventually kill the swine

the only stuff effective the EU banned (ammonium sulphamate - you can still buy it as a compost accelerator, i just hope i dont trip an pour any on the weeds on the way to the compost bin )

tgotb

Slightly OT, but I've just (this week) taken over an allotment. Most of it is getting glyphosated, but there are some raspberry bushes I'd like to keep. Only problem is that they have been allowed to go fairly wild; they're about 9 feet tall, and are encroaching on communal paths, neighbours' allotments etc. Anyone have any advice on when/how to prune them?

Wrath Rob

TGOTB wrote:

Slightly OT, but I've just (this week) taken over an allotment. Most of it is getting glyphosated, but there are some raspberry bushes I'd like to keep. Only problem is that they have been allowed to go fairly wild; they're about 9 feet tall, and are encroaching on communal paths, neighbours' allotments etc. Anyone have any advice on when/how to prune them?

Wait until the canes (not trees) have finished fruiting and then cut those ones off right at the bottom, i.e. only the ones that have had rasberries on them. This will in itself be a pretty vicious pruning but trust me, it grows back next year. If you need to prune the remaining canes, wait until October when the plant is more dormant and won't be put at risk by a heavy prune.

Next year, put up some posts and wire to tie the canes to and keep them a bit more ordered.