Anyone who grows their own fruit and vegetables will already
know that it is a constant learning curve, sometimes quite a frustrating and
disheartening one! In my own garden I
have found through bitter experience that I have to cover the brassicas with netting,
otherwise the cabbage white butterflies lay their eggs and the resulting
caterpillars munch through the lot.
I now also have to net off the peas as the local sparrow
population seem to have developed a taste for the young shoots and can destroy the
years crop before they’ve even managed to flower. Considering that pea shoots are now served in
the top restaurants, its obvious that the sparrows know when they are onto a
good thing. This year instead of
watching them destroy the plants we have watched them trying to eat through the
twine holding the netting in place and picking off any shoots that have managed
to grow through.
Unhappy at not being able to get at the peas the sparrows
have now started taking dust baths in my onion bed and as a result have started
filling in all the holes left for the young leeks to grow into. So now I am having to put twiggy pea sticks
across the area until the leeks are more established. Slowly the vegetable beds are starting to
resemble a maximum security prison!
As for fruit, the blueberries also need to be netted off,
usually from mid June until they stop cropping. Not the sparrows this time, but
the blackbirds, which will quite happily eat them before they are even ripe. So far they have been so busy trying to
figure out how to get to the blueberries that they haven’t noticed the
raspberries yet, which are just on the other side of the path. One important thing to note however is that when you are
using netting in the garden you have to ensure that it is taught and is tied
down so that no birds can get into or trapped by in it.
This year has been testing in the kitchen garden, not
because of the birds (I’m prepared this time) but the weather and the amount of
slugs which seem to be enjoying the damper climate. The first peas that were sown around
March/April never germinated so I had to sow another batch in root trainers and
planted these out in May. The unexpected
cold weather then meant that I had to cover them with fleece until conditions
improved. I’ve picked my first crop of
peas this week and having got them this far I’ve now got to prevent my other
half from eating them before they make it to the pan, there is no better taste
than a fresh pea straight from the pod, and netting isn’t going to hold him back. The courgettes that I planted out in May have
started fruiting later than in previous years and so far the fruit have been
small, hopefully this warmer weather will see them on their way and I can look
forward to better cropping during August.
I am now on my third attempt at growing climbing beans, which are
usually no bother. The slugs and snails
have destroyed the last two attempts, so similarly to the peas, this time I’ve
grown them in root trainers, and planted them out when they were a reasonable
size. Fingers crossed this time they
will take off and we’ll enjoy a good crop later in the year.
Just about every seed that was direct sown this year has
been a disaster they have either drowned in the amount of rain we have had or
the erratic temperatures have meant that they haven’t germinated, those that
did have had a battle for survival with the slugs and snails. Having said all of this we are now enjoying
the onions and garlic planted last autumn, their space has now been taken by
the leeks mentioned earlier. Elsewhere the
tomatoes and peppers are starting to form fruit and the mangetout is cropping
well.
There have been plenty of birds in the garden over the last
month, with quite a number being new fledglings with their parents. Our
resident blackbirds had a new addition to their family and the blue tits that
were nesting in the bird box also had two youngsters. We have also had young
sparrows and starlings. These birds may not be anything out of the ordinary,
but as our garden starts to mature more birds visit on a regular basis. This in
turn helps to keep the garden in balance with pests and the reason why I don’t
use slug pellets to kill the pesky slugs.
Meanwhile the garden itself is starting to bulk up and
despite the weather is looking good for what is only its second year in flower.
Although the planting is geared to be at its best later in the year there is
still plenty in flower now that can be enjoyed.
