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Henry's Garden Hints & Tips 6

Guides to growing vegetables, hints & tips to help you get more from your plot from forum member mkhenry

Defeating the Slug

Winter is the best time to help yourselves in the ongoing slug battle. Tidiness and good garden house keeping can help at this time of the year as well as in the growing season.

Clear any areas that are slug heavens, slide your hoe down the inside of your raised beds holding it at a slight angle and open up a small gap. Then, dare I say it, sprinkle a few slug pellets in the gaps you have created and push the soil back.

Look around for any likely slug hiding areas and remove them such as old plant pots, sacks, poly bags.

Most important look under your garden shed, but not if your local hedgehog is in residence, and give it a rake out.

Place a few tiles on the soil and next time you are on the plot lift them, you may remove a few extra slugs this way and maybe even a snail or two. Warm weather may bring out the odd little snail who knows no better.

You may not see them about now but they are there somewhere. Find them and they will not be eating your produce next season.

Harvesting Carrots in Sandy Soil

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If you grow carrots on sandy or loose soil, when it is time to pick them, first push the carrot gently but firmly down into the soil. The reason is that this action will break all of the fine hairs that make pulling carrots a little harder then it need be. By breaking these threads the carrots will simply slide out of the ground and being less tugged and bruised will store even better.
Sorry this will not work for heavy or clay soils.

Planting Early in Spring

When spring arrives we are all champing at the bit to get some seeds in. We all know not to plant when its too wet or too cold, but when we have had a few good days its very difficult to resist popping in a seed or two.

How can we be a little more certain whether or not its ok to start sowing?

Well one sure test is the" baby water test". Yes, place your elbow in the soil and if it's too cold you will soon know it. Just like baby's bath water your elbow makes a great tester to check if the soil is suitable or not. Your fingers and hands are just not suitable for either task.

So on your knees next spring and bare your elbows before you plant anything!

A Use for Feathers in the Garden

If you do happen to have a lot of feathers to dispose of then instead of dumping them try the following.

Put them in a water butt and fill with rain water. Then place a wire grid over them and weigh this down with a couple of bricks. Keep in shade for around 2 months and you will have a free source of nitrogen. It will become a soft mash which you can place around chosen plants etc. as a slow release mulch. Better than just trying to dump them.