With the wetter and warmer weather a lot of the trees and shrubs are rushing into leaf and the recently dormant herbaceous plants are bursting through the ground, some to be instantly grazed close to extinction by the usual suspects. I am very loath to use slug pellets out in the garden although I do use some in the greenhouse and cold frame. This year I have started using a commercial garlic spray on some outdoor plants mainly the roses, fruit and some of the early veg. It will be interesting to note the results, if any, but it is very easy to convince myself that anything that takes time, effort and cost works; in the meantime the rose garden has a distinct smell of Chicken Kiev once a fortnight.
There was a report recently about a large number of gardeners admitting lobbing snails over into the neighbours so beware if you are driving along Elstree Road. I have sown most of the veg seed now and usually thin out the seedlings as the last job in the afternoon so I can use the thinnings to liven up my salads. I also took a few cuttings out of a bag of watercress which are now growing nicely in a pot stood in a bucket of water and seem to taste stronger.
30 April 2014
