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This sounds very much like Hedge Sparrow damage to me and is a common problem here. Damage seems worse in spells of dry weather as we had a few weeks ago. Peas, Lettuce and Beetroot are all favourites. Is the damage worse nearer to hedges? They are timid birds and seem to prefer crops along the edges of the plot instead of the middle open ground. I cover crops with enviromesh if necassary. Runner Bean and Pea flowers also liked by them in summer!
Hi Teacosy, My beds are 9m x 1.2m. I plant 2 rows of tubers along the length of bed. This always for plenty of compost to be drawn up over them as they grow. Seems a bit wide at planting time but foliage will cover the whole bed and some pathway by harvesting time.
Fruit trees and bushes are tough.I planted a bare rooted Bramley Apple last year with roots frozen. It grew fine last year.
Hi Andrew, I did try the artichoke windbreak on previous garden which was very exposed. The very nature of artichokes mean they can reach 3m in height. Without very good support they will be blown over or snapped in half as happened to mine. Harvest in winter and your windbreak is gone just in time for feb and march winds battering new sowings and plantings. Grow mine now in a small corner aginst a high fence and they still get damaged! Its not the most attractive option but i would consider some decent stock posts with wind break netting instead, which would be permanent. You could espallier train apples against it.
http://www.garden-products. Try comparing against these, not sure if you will beat LBS price or not but worth a look…
Hi Craigsams, I am still learning about biochar and its alleged benefits to the soil. What i don’t understand is how is biochar and fly soot are the same? I also don’t understand why you would store let alone add to soil, soot from unknown chimneys of Hastings. Does this soot not contain many heavy metals with half lives of hundreds of years? Would not good compost be more beneficial to microbial and fungal soil life?
Hi Bogbean, you didn’t mention what fuel you are burning?? Old books advocate using arsenic on roses and killing worms in lawns. The soil is a fragile, precious resource that needs looking after. Think carefully before chucking anything on it!! A newer book called ‘Teaming with microbes’ has lots of gems.
RobinI found wild rocket sown mid July will overwinter outdoors well even without fleece in a ‘normal’ winter. I leave all leaves until about Feb then cut right down and cover with fleece to speed up growth and improve leaf quality. Seems if you don’t cut it back leaves can be odd colours and a bit rough looking. Growing a lot more rocket for the bags this autumn and less orientals. CN seeds do loads of good rocket seeds Kate, including fast growing salad rocket which looks to the demanding customers just like wild rocket! I tried Serrata last year and it grew ok. So much too do…!
This year has been a challenge for all of us. Reminds me of 2007 which was previous wettest summer on record and first year I started commercial growing. Salad transition time is always a nervous time. One day there is so much and the next everything is bolting! I prefer to sow second round of lettuce third week of May to overlap slightly just in case of problems, also sow early Endive first week of May and only lightly pick so there are plenty of leaves as backup for the changeover week, next week. All new lettuces under enviromesh and enviromesh ultra fine for Lettuce root aphid experiment ready to pick next week. Sounds like you are doing well despite everything the weather throws at us! Spain would be too hot for Lettuce anyway…
RobinHi Kevin, I constructed a new 14×28 tunnel this winter and managed to get it covered in the one hot week of March. I ordered a base rail kit instead of burying the polythene in a trench this time and it made covering a lot easier, no more digging trenches which is good on a no dig garden! You need to have used concrete or base plates on foundation tubes otherwise the structure may lift in wind. Might be worth a look a first tunnels site if you haven’t already.
RobinI also grew Amethyst Radish this spring. Thought i’d try them in modules. Between 8 and 10 seed per cell and planted out under fleece with wild rocket @ 20x20cm. Grew very well. Very uniform, very purple and good flavour. Remember few years ago at place I used to work someone sowed Radish on different biodynamic days to see if there were differences. Root days did seem to produce best results. This is something i need to try again sometime when there is a spare 10 minutes.