Sunday 20 May 2007

Allotmenticity - Sunday 20th May








Welcome back to Allotmenticity. My apologies for the gap but what with celebrations for Man U winning the Premiership and Her Cissyness celebrating her birthday it's been difficult to fit it all in of late. (The hangovers haven't helped either!!!)
However it's all looking pretty good down on No87. I've got the first flower on the new spuds as you can see and all the others are now flying up.
I've managed to transplant my Hispi and Greyhound cabbage and the Calabrese and Purple Sprouting Broccoli are now in situ. I've also started to use the abundance of stones that have appeared to create paths in between the beds. My motto, "Waste Not Want Not" or in Latin " Wastus Nada Wantus Nada"!!! I've also raided to 99p Shop for bent bamboo canes and nets to protect them all. I've transplanted some Cos Lettuce in between the rows of cabbage as a catch crop.
I'm trying various slug protection remedies. One is the obvious pellets which I'm sprinkling around the seeds, but a couple of other newer ideas. One is to use crushed eggshells which I baked in the oven and then mashed in the pestle and mortar. Evidently you can use bran or grit. The reasoning being the little b*****ds don't like the texture. My other trial is the "copper bracelet" method. As the pictures show I stripped some old wiring that you would use for mains and cut it into lengths about 20 mms long.(8 ins in old money!) You then wrap it around a container such as one used for slug pellets and wind the ends together. Then you slip off the bracelet, bend the straight join at 90 degrees, slip it over the lettuce or cabbage plant and press into the soil. Supposedly the copper reacts with the soil and gives them a tingle through the slime. Better than the back of my spade Winston I suppose! The jury is out so watch this space.....
I also found this moth in the shed. Just thought it had really cool markings.
Finally Happy Birthday to Tongo Jnr.
So until next time,
Happy Allotmenteering.
The Captain

1 comment:

frogprincess200 said...

Can't get the image of exploding slugs out my head now, I'd say go with the spade!!!