Andy Hunt11/12/03 12:43
Greetings all!!!!
And what a nice bunch of people seem to be on this forum. Paradise regained!
I was wondering if anyone could advise me. I'm planning on growing some veg
for the first time next year, but it's going to have to be in pots in my
back yard. I live in Bury in the Frozen Northern Wastes (Lancashire), and
I'm not really sure which veg would be best a) in pots and b) in the North.
I was thinking of growing some peas up a trellis, but I'd like to do some
root veg too. It's probably a bit cold for tomatoes etc unless I get a
lean-to greenhouse. Another thing is, I have a lot of slugs and
(particularly) snails. I'm a vegetarian so I can't eat the snails!!! ;-)
With regard to tomatoes, you could probably try growing the variety
'Tumbler' in a pot or hanging basket. They are quite early here (Devon) and
might be later with you but they're very prolific and deliciously sweet and
juicy.
To counter the slugs, it's up to your whether you use a chemical remedy but
on food crops, you might prefer not to. You can try several other things,
stand the pots in rings of small, sharp gravel, sprinkle the slugs with salt
or chuck them in a bucket for heavily salted water. Sink e.g. yoghurt pots
into the ground, leaving them just a millimetre or so above the surface, so
that other good bugs don't fall in. Slugs love beer!
Encourage birds and frogs into your garden. (Start feeding birds now with a
good mixed bird seed offering plenty of variety) Smear a liberally coated,
wide ring of Vaseline round the pots - slugs can't get past it. (Remember
to renew the beer and the Vaseline after heavy rain!)
--
Sacha
(remove the 'x' to email me)