Last week I was on a business trip in Switzerland for a couple days and we also had several days of rain. These two factors left me scrambling to get the garden back in order on Saturday when the weather cleared.
I did reduce the slug population significantly during a couple of the rainy days. I use the time proven, but by some considered brutal, method of walking through the garden with shears and severing the life of the little beasts. On my first stroll, I found 219 slugs, the second day 53, last night only 14. I guess I won round one, but I’m sure they set out lots of eggs, so the battle is not over.
Last year I had very little problem with birds, but this year they are a real problem. The first time I sowed peas and spinach, only a couple seeds grew, the others are gone, highly likely from birds. The second time I sowed peas I covered them with fleece and almost all of them are growing. The cabbage, kohlrabi and other leafy plants that I planted were all eaten, I thought at first my slugs, but a watchful neighbor informed me the birds were eating the plants. The second time I set out the plants I put them in my minibed area and covered them with fleece, they are doing fine so far.
Our red currents, raspberries and strawberries are all starting to ripen, on Saturday I want to add bird nets over these areas, otherwise I think the birds won’t leave us any.
In our smaller L-Garden I have only lost one cucumber plant, everything else is growing fine. We have already begun eating radishes and claytonia, the kohlrabi should be ready in another week or two.
