Nematode nemesis of slugs

Uh-oh.  It had to happen.  After the rain broke the recent dry spell last week, out came the slugs. My quick growing early pak choi has been ravaged.  An allotment neighbour and I have been using anti-slug nematodes for a couple of years and it really makes the difference between getting in the crops and despair.  

Generally you buy the nematodes in packets sufficient for an area 40 or 100 metres' square.  It's worth shopping around on the internet and always check the postage costs.  Put the package in the fridge when it arrives 'til you are ready.  Ensure it will be sent in a padded envelope that will fit through your letter box.  One supplier once sent it in an oversized box so it went to the post office and I couldn't get there for a few days. Check the use-by date.

The nematodes come as a springy powder.  You need to use the contents of the packet all in one go.  I divide it into eighths, as this corresponds to the square metrage of my raised beds. First I clear the beds of weeds and longer grass growing round the edges of the bed where slugs love to hide. You need to use the product on damp soil.  Although it was quite damp on this occasion, I watered over the top of it as the surface was dry in the wind.  I put an eighth of the nematodes in a watering can with a rose and make sure the coverage of the bed and edges is even.  I try to make sure I water under the 'canopy' of plants.

The producers recommend topping up the soil with nematodes every six weeks.  The slugs seem to die underground so you don't see lots of dead bodies. The nematodes breed in the body, so the more dead slugs the more nematodes.  I tend to keep an eye on whether the slugs are back and then order the next packet.  In the meantime I use a two or three organic slug pellets around each plant.  The nematodes don't kill snails but I can keep an easier eye on them. That's one pest down - anyone know a way of getting rid of flea beetle?

 

Watch this space...

Finally got to the allotment (work and never-ending winter) to have a think about what to do this year.  I focused on last year's cutting border, taking out Cosmos and Zinnia stems I left for overwintering insects and to deflect winter rain from the soil.  The weathered stems are interesting, you can see the strengthening structures, collenchyma ridges.  They are piled on the communal bonfire, which won't get done for a few weeks so plenty of time for insects to hatch. There are bound to be a lot of seedlings coming up, though, and they aren't such good colours a generation down from F1and so will be weeded out.                                                                     I gave the bed a light weeding (I'm trying to do the no-dig method so as not to disturb the soil fauna, just add mulch and keep the soil covered with crops or green manure), a scattering of Calseafeed (calcified seaweed, organic) and mulch with Croypost (amenity compost and not bad). Now I've covered it with a black textile permeable membrane which a) warms the soil, b) smothers weed seeds prompted into growth by disturbance and c) mitigates driving spring rainfall while allowing some water through.  Last year I did something similar and saw that worms had been busy. I've come up with a scheme for a decorative edible border with dark and purple leaves, orange flowers and some lime green through it and at the front and will sow them in modules. I've grown half of these before but the scheme is new and partly inspired by a combination I saw in Westminster Abbey Gardens in the summer.

Red orache or mountain spinach - Atriplex hortenis var. rubra - up to 120cm - edible (RHS Harvested Seed Distribution Scheme) - edible 18cm lance shaped leaves, and a decorative border annual with purple flower spikes.

Hare's Ear - Bupleurum rotundifolium (sourced as above) - to 60cm lime green clusters of flowers, bright green perfoliate leaves and reddish branching stems, purely decorative and insect friendly

Bronze Fennel - Foeniculum vulgae 'Purpureum' - up to 200cm (free with Gardens Illustrated) - feathery, edible leaves and seeds

Black Tuscan Kale Brassica oleracea 'Cavolo Nero' - to 60cm (Growing Old Heritage & Seed Heirloom Seeds from Pennards Plants) - deeply savoyed strap leaves, choc-full of vitamins and minerals

Pot marigold - Calendula officinalis 'Orange Porcupine' - to 60 cm (Johnsons World Botanics range) - a big pompom variety - petals in salads

Zinnia 'Fireworks Mix' - to 75cm (Suttons Seeds) - for the vase, long-lasting flowers (seeds have some bottom heat in a propagator)

Frisee and escarole mix - Cichorium endivia var. crispum and var. latifolia - to 20 cm (Franchi sementi)

Yellow Pak Choi - Brassica rapa 'Santoh Round Leaved' - to 20cm (The Real Seed Catalogue) - really quick to be ready and possible to sow this early and hopefully it'll avoid flea beetle.

Seed compost, vermiculite, modular seed tray, labels.

Trug shots

I was given this trug a long time ago (it had a ring in a box in it , ah). Anyway, I've only just started using it and it is perfect for going to and fro the allotment - seedlings on the way out and produce on the way back.