The Scores on the (garden) Gate
Tue Oct 21 22:29:36 BST 2008
Ah, the naive enthusiasm of March! And how much the fate of fledgling vegetable experiment has foundered in the interim!
As I (partially) predicted, the single biggest challenge of the year has been the beastly slugs. I was doing fine during the relatively dry spell in the early summer, but as soon as the rains came in the slugs did too, mowing down everything green and tender within chomping range. It has proved a test of endurance: anything tough enough to take on the slugs and survive has been a winner for me this year.
Things that worked pretty well were:
- Potatoes. I went to the Potato Day at Shipley College this year and snagged a few seed potatoes from the experts there. I grew them in a tub trug of perhaps 75cm diameter. They were a bit confined, I think, but I still pulled up a good bagful of the little beasts -- and they were lovely! I'd like to give this a try again next year, but possibly in a larger container (or the ground!).
- Kale. It is more or less indestructible. I grew four plants, one of which got sacrificed to the slugs. The other three are still going strong, and I'll probably harvest from them a few more times this year! I may grow kale again, but to be honest it isn't my favourite vegetable.
- Tomatoes. I grew some Gardener's Delight in large terracotta pots of around 40 cm diameter, three plants per pot. My cunning plan for staking them was to create a pyramid of three bamboo sticks in each pot, allowing me to train a plant up each stick. This worked reasonably well, but in the end it was insufficient for the weight of the fruits. Nevertheless, I still got four or five big bowls full of nice tomatoes out of the two pots. I'll definitely try this again, but probably with one plant per pot and a better staking arrangement.
- Onions. They grew pretty well, and were very tasty. However, a few bulbs fell to the slugs, and I suspect the dark corner I had them in wasn't ideal for them to really flourish. I'd try it again, but only if I had some more space to play with.
The things that didn't work out so marvellously were:
- Salad of any kind. This was just wolfed up before it'd even sprouted.
- Radishes. I thought I'd got them hidden in a pot well off the floor, but as soon as one slug found them the rest of them piled in pretty quickly and it was all over bar the (my) shouting.
- Spring onions. Munch, munch, gone.
- Perpetual spinach and chard. Gulp, munch, burp!
All in all, it's been a mixed bag. I'm really pleased I did some growing, and I do start to understand the joy of gardening. It really is a pleasure to watch a plant grow and prosper.
At the same time, I do think the challenges of my plot make it hard for a complete amateur to get started. The poor layout, dilapidated bitmac and slug population combine to create a bit of an uphill struggle for the aspiring "21st Century Smallholder".
With this in mind, I'm very much looking forward to the opportunity to renovate our yard over winter. We're completely pulling up all the hard surfacing and redoing it with some nicer paving, in addition to redesigning the space. The Mactaguester has put her not-inconsiderable design talents to work and has come up with what I think is rather a corking design.
More on this next time, though.