Meet the veggies

[kaliha]

So the year is progressing and our veggies are growing. Not as good as they should be, but not surprising considering the vast amount of rain we're having at the moment. As a side effect of the rain the slug population in my back garden has exploded and they are eating everything they can get to.

The tomato plants are going great guns, they look ace considering they were seeds only a few months ago. A couple of the plants are flowering now which bodes well for cherry tomatoes at the end of the summer.
I'm having to put them outside during the day (when it's warm enough) to get the flowers fertilised. Next year I'd plant them differently as they are way too close together.

The Courgettes are a bit triffidly. I think I'm allergic to the plants though as I get rashes up my arms every time I carried them outside. They're hardened up now so they are living outside full time. I've not planted them in the vegetable patch due to the slug plague. Hopefully they'll do nicely in these deep pots, that I'm propping up to try and prevent slug access.

The veggie patch. Not looking as good as I hoped it would. The peas are very well established, the right-hand set are about 3 weeks older than the left hand set. All the rest of the space should have been filled with lettuce, but it didn't happen (thanks for nothing slugs) I do have one courgette plant in between the peas (there were three, again gone thanks to the slugs)
As you can see I put copper tape around the vegetable patch to try and prevent the slugs (and it did stop the big ones) but the little ones were getting under the wire. So I jerry-rigged some slug traps which has definitely slowed down the damage but we've not got much in the way of leafy food.
Next year I'll be planting things like turnips in the hopes the slugs won't eat them all up.

I know the patch is terribly weeded, but we've had a week of rain so I've not been able to get out. I spent half an hour out there yesterday and it's about 90% less weedy.

my new growing adventure: sunflower seeds for the small child and garlic for me. I used just normal cloves from a garlic in the fridge. I took that photo yesterday and today I've got half a dozen little shoots. Yay garlic!

Not pictured: two planters (similar to the courgette ones but three tier) full of my back up lettuce, again propped to prevent slug access and growing great. Every time we go into the back garden the small child helps herself to a handful.

And that is exactly why I wanted to grow veggies in the first place. I want her to know where her food comes from and I want everything in the back garden to be edible. She's not been too interested in the whole growing this this year, but as she gets a bit older she will and she's going to reap the benefits (and eat her body weight in plums again this year as the plum trees are full of fruit again).

Comments

[spiralsheep]

Growing veggies is always worth the effort, especially after you work out what suits your family and your garden. Rae (now 6) still ADORES her sunflowers. She's learned to plant them next to the tallest fence so they zoom up in search of more sunlight.