I am feeling sooooo behind with my seasonal gardening tasks, especially on the veggie front. I have to make serious inroads this week. Today's been a great start, as the sunshine, blossom & a virtuoso blackbird lured me outside by 9 a.m and I've finished my new strawberry tower.
Well, in all honesty, 'tower' is stretching it a bit. It's more sort of Soviet-era municipal block, but it has hit both my targets a) It was easy....& b) It was free. I have grown strawberries for years in a plastic strawberry barrel which held two dozen plants................& the East Midlands collection of vine weevil larvae. Did you know that vine weevils don't even need one of each to breed? No wonder there's so many of the damn things. Every year's strawberry growing went something like this: Plant up barrel. Water & feed plants. Pick delicious but decidedly stingy crop of about 2 ramekins for each of us during fruiting season. Observe blackbird commando crawling under my carefully applied blackbird-proof netting to hoover remaining berries. Keep watering plants so as to pay froward the hopes of a better crop next year. Spot that plants are starting to look rather limp & tubercular. Investigate. Discover that the Evil Weevil has visited & the entire barrel is alive with its horrible little grubs....which is the only thing it's alive with, seeing as how any last vestiges of actual strawberry plants are now dead!
OK, enough of this sorry process. Last year, I pegged down as many strawberry runners as possible so as to save some plants from Weevilly Armageddon. They almost all rooted & I transferred them to the greenhouse for overwintering while I pondered what container to use - preferably one that doesn't emit such welcoming vibes to horrid weevils. I had thought to purchase 4 large coloured plastic pots in in different sizes to stack & plant as a tower, but I didn't really want to buy yet more plastic, or indeed part with any cashola, so I decided to use some big plastic troughs which I usually use for salads.
I put crocks in the base of each trough & filled with a mixture of our home-made garden compost & bagged stuff, adding a good handful of chicken manure pellets to each one, and built up the troughs into a stable structure. A good dousing with the hose & they were ready to plant up.
I've managed to fit 45 plants in here & will have netting at the ready against naughty beaks when the time comes. If properly fed & watered, these plants & compost should be good for 3 years, so I will research use of anti-vine weevil nematodes to make sure we're in with a chance. Our tame robin will be gutted as he loves weevil larvae, but he'll have to put up with peanut nibs same as everyone else!
Still thinking about moving forward on the veggies, I cut the last of our over-wintered rocket today. I always sow a crop in the greenhouse in the autumn, re-using a growbag.
I've been cutting this rocket for several weeks & it's been a welcome addition to salads. I like the variety 'Wildfire', as it's easy & a nice spicy one, with quite large, lush leaves. The leaves are much smaller now, as it's time to bolt & set seed, so this is the last of it & a new growbag will be taking its place ready for this year's cucumbers.
No help in the garden from Albert Whiskers today. After yesterday's run-in with a staffie, he is nursing his sore paws, keeping his head down & staying out of trouble indoors. I think having such a narrow escape was a big shock for him. Doubtless he'll be back to lording it on our front wall, but at the moment he's showing little interest in venturing outside.
Hope some of you have managed to enjoy this lovely sunshine today,
Till next time,
C x
Oh the evil weevil, good luck with that. Was at Caulke Abbey yesterday talking to a gardener as there was heaps of planting going on and she said they didn't cover the strawberries! Must have very polite birds there! Love that garden. Good planting Cathy and hope AW is back on his paws soon xx
ReplyDeleteHe's ok, but not really enjoying going outside since his big scare.
DeleteI use the vine weevil nematodes Cathy, and they work really well. You apply them in early autumn, and if need be, in spring (like now). After applying last September, there is no sign of weevil grubs in any of my (many) pots. I will probably redo again in September in case any of the little horrors appear over the summer.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dawn. Will defo try them.
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