It’s a Slug Invasion!
Well, we’re over a month into our community garden project. Since my last update we’ve had sun, we’ve had rain, sun again and today - rain. If I’m being honest, I definitely lost some momentum last week. I had finally planted out the seedlings I had grown at home, I was excited to see if my new guttered “potting table/rain catchment” increased the amount of water collected in my water tank (more on that later), and I stayed away from the allotment for a few days after the rain to catch up on my own neglected garden and house. But when I went back, I was disheartened. The slugs had eaten most of my transplanted seedlings, the grass was out of control and growing in places I didn’t want it to be, and my allotment just felt chaotic and messy, not at all functional.
R.I.P Mr Courgette
So went back to the drawing board and got redesigning my garden. For the millionth time. And as it turns out, most of the plants I’d put directly into the ground (not within a specific garden bed), were now right in the middle of my future pathways. Of course they were.
Thankfully, my husband got some preloved formwork for me and erected it around the edges of my plot. This way I can continue attempting the berm and swale no-till method right up to my allotment edge without worrying about grass at the edges or eroding into the neighbouring allotments. So far, I have used the berm and swale method along with some pallet beds, and am a bit unhappy with the amount of grass that is now coming out the sides of my beds. What I was doing was digging the sod out of my pathways, then using the overturned sod in my new garden bed with some soil and compost on top. The idea being that the grass and roots, now deprived of sun, will decompose, and add organic matter to my garden bed thereby improving the soil quality.
Today though, I stumbled across an interesting video which showed me exactly where I went wrong. It seems, this method is actually a traditional Irish method of raised bed building, long used for growing potatoes. But the way it was historically done was to cut the sod next to proposed garden bed, but only on 3 sides, so not cutting the part that joins to the garden. Then the sod is flipped over into the garden like a hinge which prevents weeds growing out the side. It looked simple, but I guess I’ll find out when I start my next garden bed.
So, my “potting table/rain catchment” does seem to be working. This is just a wooden table that my husband built for me that’s on a slight slant and has a gutter along the low side. The gutter drains into my water tank and seems to be working as well as such a small rain catchment can. I’ve also been topping up the tank each time I visit the community garden in anticipation of summer.
A lot of the seeds I planted a few weeks back are growing well. They were a random mix of marigolds, calendula, field beans, daikon radish, garden peas, red clover, sunflowers and nasturtium. I don’t really know what’s what, but some of it seems to be hardy and resisting the slugs to provide bit of a cover crop for some of the initial garden beds I made.
Further afield, there’s been a lot of activity on many of the other allotments. I’ve spotted potatoes coming up and seedlings somehow avoiding slug damage on other allotments despite no visible slug deterrents. Plus, the construction of the chicken coop is underway, the car park has been fenced and the enrich soil enhancer finally arrived. Its amazing to see what a difference a month can make.
