Metaldehyde slug pellets banned from Spring 2020

You may have heard the news that the traditional blue slug pellets have been banned from Spring 2019.  DEFRA say "metaldehyde poses an unacceptable risk to birds and mammals."  

Sales will stop in Summer 2019 (which I don't understand if this ban is in place from spring!)  and then a further 12 months will be allowed for supplies to be used up.  Only those using permanent greenhouses will be permitted to continue to use the metaldehyde pellets where birds cannot easily get them.  This in itself seems very short sighted given that slugs and snails will likely leave the greenhouse after consuming the pellets and then potentially poison wildlife.

Mr Gove said, "I recognise that significant effort has been put into encouraging growers and gardeners to use this pesticide responsibly by the Metaldehyde Stewardship Group.  However, the advice is clear that the risks to wildlife are simply too great - and we must all play our part in helping to protect the environment.  I encourage companies and growers to look at the alternatives, such as ferric phosphate, which is authorised and does not carry similar risks."

Metaldehyde is without doubt toxic to wildlife; hedgehogs, amphibians and birds have all be poisoned by eating slugs and snails that have eaten the pellets, or have eaten the pellets themselves.  The problem of course is that while the blue pellets do reduce the slugs and snails if they, in turn, poison the other wildlife then there are less predators for the slugs and snails, which let their numbers increase.  It is a vicious cycle that will now hopefully be broken.

If you want to use other barriers then growlikegrandad.co.uk has suggested the following methods.  He points out that using egg shells is not a good idea because the snails eat the shells and it helps to strengthen their own shells against predators! 

• A targeted approach to watering, to the bases of plants and not all the bed areas in between them, don't make slugs and snails a gift of damp soil which is easier to travel across 
• Wood chip paths dramatically reduce slug and snail numbers and damage at Grow Like Grandad's allotment.  He receives free deliveries from local tree surgeons which helps to keep costs down.  If your plot doesn't have free wood chip ask your committee to phone a few local arboriculture firms, one will usually be glad of having somewhere to drop off their wood chip.
• Place some old scaffold boards on the ground near your crops and make a habit of lifting those every few days and destroying the slugs you find hiding beneath.
• Make a pond and encourage frogs and toads into your allotment or garden, Grow Like Grandad has an army of toads now (transported from home) and in 2018 he found only a handful of slugs and snails at the plot in the entire year (the garden was a different matter!)

My personal choice for trying to reduce the slugs and snails was to put a pond into 85a (I'm still debating doing this in 86a).  I also have a  hedgehog house, a wood pile and a wild bird feeding station; all of these encourage the local wildlife into my plot to eat the slugs and snails.  In areas of the plot that I have barriers to prevent wildlife (brassicas under enviromesh and in the polytunnel) I sparingly use ferric phosphate pellets (also known as iron pellets).

I use Richard Jackson's slug and snail pellets from QVC.  These pellets also have some Flower Power in them so that as they break down they add nutrients to your soil.  I'm sure there will continue to be a debate about whether the ferric phosphate is safe but I'm not aware of any studies that say these pellets are damaging to the wildlife; although there are comments about the iron in the pellets being damaging to the soil structure, which is why it's so important to use sparing, as per the instructions.  You don't actually need to lay hundreds of them anyway; just 2 or 3 around a plant is more than enough to control the few slugs and snails that get away from the natural predators.

I am personally delighted with the news and wanted to share it with you all, although I'm sure many of you had already heard.  I strongly believe the the hedgehog population particularly will benefit from this ban.

Until next time - Happy Gardening x

11th November 2018 - 3 tons of topsoil

This week I have had 3 tons of topsoil delivered for 86a, I enlisted the help of Mr L to get it all moved up to the plot.  We filled the last of the beds that have been made and then ended up with 2 bags filled and waiting for the next set of beds to be made.  The soil was delivered at 8.15am, Mr L arrived around 9.30am (after I'd already prepared the bed and carried 2 wheelbarrow loads) and by 12.15pm we had moved it all up the hill.

As a reminder, I completely covered the whole plot with membrane and then as I was ready to fill each bed I cut it out and stapled the overlap to the inside of the bed.  This has created a barrier against the wood, which I hope will go some way to preserving it, and means that I don't have to worry about making the ground even because the membrane creates an extra side to the bed.  I was also able to fit the cardboard right up under the sides of the bed.  Again, I'm hoping this will help to suppress the weeds that will try to make their way through.  I have ended up with a good layer of cardboard and about 8" of soil so this should suppress a lot of the weeds as well.  

I mentioned last week that I was working on my plan for 86a.  I decided to go ahead and put both plots onto one plan.  I haven't included the path between them so it does look like they're back to back when in fact there is a 4' gap between them.  The 3 big beds at the right of the shed are already in place and filled.  The 5 smaller beds opposite those beds are next on my plan.  My friend has offered me some wood so I'm going to use that to build the 3 compost bins (scrapping the temporary one I've got next to the shed at the moment).  I want to use the same matting and gravel as a base for the greenhouse and put it to the left of the shed.  It will be against the hedge on it's left side but otherwise it should get a good amount of sunshine.

The bed immediately in front of the shed, (that is perpendicular to the rest of the beds) is the one that I'm not sure of yet.  The space in front of the shed is quite big and I don't want to waste the space but I'm not sure that putting a bed there is the best option.  I would like to have a fire pit and seating area so this is potentially where it could go.  Having said that it's a waste of growing space and perhaps it would make more sense to have the bed or maybe a fruit tree.  I'd be happy to hear any thoughts you might have about this space.

Until next time...

Happy Gardening x

4th November 2018 - Another bed in 86a

Here we are at the end of the season but there's still loads to do for me, particularly in 86a.  This week it was littlest L's birthday and so I didn't get up to the plot at all yesterday, which was a shame because we had the Bonfire Night party and from what I hear it was a brilliant night with around 100 people coming along.  We have a second bonfire in December for the Winter Solstice, so I'll be hoping to go along to that one.

Up at the plot today I wanted to get my second bed finished because I had planted all of my onions into the bed on 85a and the extra ones I'd put into individual cells.  Some of them had started to sprout and so I really wanted to get them into a bed before they got too big for the cells.  I hadn't counted them but I actually had 112 onions the needed to be transplanted.  I also had 3 garlic bulbs that I wanted to get planted, I didn't count them but I did manage to get them all in.  This year I decided to try soft neck garlic because while my bulbs grew well last year I struggled to keep them and I read that soft neck keep better than hard neck - I have no idea why (if anyone does please feel free to let me know).


I also had some leeks that I was hoping to fit into this bed but they wouldn't fit and so I've put them into root trainers.  I have no idea if they will be OK but they were unhappy and getting root-bound in the pot they were in.  I'm hoping that they'll be OK in the root trainers because they'll have more room to grow and because they're now planted individually when I do have room to plant them they'll be easier to put into the right place without disturbing them too much.  I'm also going to add toilet roll to help blanch the stems, it's not something I've done before but I'm hoping it will work.

I now have 2 beds actually growing things in 86a.  I'm getting 2 more bags of topsoil delivered (hopefully) next weekend to fill my last large bed and then the leftover will have to wait until the other beds are made.  I'm hoping to get 10 more scaffold boards for Christmas and 5 more bags of topsoil.  My plan is to have all of the beds in place and ready to go for next spring. 

I have used the Grow Veg garden planner for 3 years for 85a and I am going to set up a plan for 86a.  I haven't decided yet whether to do it as 2 different plans or to put both of them together on one plan.  I think it will be easier to do it as one plan but I don't know if I can extend current plan.  If you don't use it, I would very much recommend it.  You can get it as a free trial to start with but it's worth the £19 per year subscription.  As part of the planner you can get a list of plants/seeds that you need to make the beds but it also tells you where you can plant things, based on your previous planting to help you with your crop rotation.  You also get regular news and offers.  

I will share my plan once it's done but until next time...
Happy Gardening x

28th October 2018 - autumnal pots and clearing the polytunnel

Over the last couple of weeks I've been focused on clearing and planting new pots for both the garden and the allotment.  Despite having 2 allotments my garden at home is a bit of a disgrace!  Mr L doesn't want to have a proper garden and so at the front it's covered with slate and while I did have some pots I forgot to water them during the summer and they all ended up drying up.  I decided to use grasses as my focal plant and build around them.  I love the ornamental cabbages and used them across all the pots and I added solar lights to brighten it up in the evening.

I'm really pleased with how they turned out, I think they're really pretty; the purple in the cabbages and the purple fountain grass (them main grass in the top left picture above) really compliment the slate in the garden.  Both of these arrangements are close to the house and I'm thinking about moving the one in the top right closer to the fence.

In the allotment I have planted the table outside of my shed with a heuchera, some Christmas roses, 2 white cyclamen and some ivy.  This table already has a hellebore in it but I think that one is pink, rather than the white of the Christmas roses but it should still look nice against the heuchera and I could add some pink cyclamen to balance the colours if I think it needs them.

In front of the table I have 2 pots that I've again planted with a mix of grasses and ornamental cabbages.  I've used primula to fill the gaps and ivy to spill over and mirror the planting table; I've also used a yellow capsicum for colour; I don't know if it will overwinter but I think it's really striking and the clashing colours against the purple grass.

I have moved the fig, peach and lemon trees into the polytunnel to overwinter.  I know the fig is hardy but I think it fruits better if I've had it inside and the peach needs to be inside to avoid peach curl in the spring.  I'm also assuming that the lemon tree would be better indoors.  I've also brought in my wisteria which is still quite small and in a terracotta pot so again, while I know it's hardy I wasn't sure if it would survive the winter outside.

Every year I also give the polytunnel a good clean.  It's always amazing to me how much dirt is collected on the floor; I usually sweep it up but it's usually quite hard.  This year I tried using a trowel and dustpan which was very successful.  I also gathered up the old and broken pots to throw them out.  Unfortunately they can't be recycled and so I can only throw them away but I have used them until they're beyond being used any more.  I have still got a big stack of pots under the staging that I'll use or give away.  It's very difficult to keep use of pots to a minimum when every time you buy a plant it's in a pot that can't be recycled.  

A nationwide pot recycling scheme is being launched, garden centres can join to recycle pots and many of the plant=carrying trays for reprocessing into other products.  You can find out more information about it in the following link.  http://tinyurl.com/y7pplrxz

I've also been busy planting my winter onions in the bed that I had my potatoes in.  There is still a pepper plant in there that has 1 last pepper on it.  I don't know if it will ripen, or survive if there's more frost but I didn't want to pull it up while it was still growing and healthy.  I may try potting it and putting it into the polytunnel to see if I can overwinter it.

Along the side of the bed I've also planted approx 50 more onion sets in pots ready to be planted into a bed in 86a when it's ready.  I have some garlic that also needs planting into that bed and I think I'm going to have to put them into pots for now to get them going or it will be too late to plant them.

I still need to spend time clearing the paths and generally tidying up.  I've neglected some of the weeding this year and I want to try and get back on top of it before next season starts.  I'm also keen to sort out the fence between 85a and 84, which is extremely overgrown and because it's multiple layers of chicken wire it is impossible to clear.  I want to take the whole lot down and re-do it with a single layer of chicken wire; which will be much easier to manage.  I will have to wait until the perennials have died back and then I can get in to cut back the brambles before taking out the fence.  This winter I need to get 86a sorted so this might end up being a job for next winter but we'll see how it goes.

I'll try to do better at blogging over winter and especially as I'm hoping to get things down on 86a, hopefully I'll have more to update you on that I have in previous years so until next time...

Happy Gardening x

7th October 2018 - Topsoil and clearing

Well here we are again at the end of the season.  I had an interesting surprise when I got up to the plot yesterday; my neighbour had ordered herself some topsoil and ordered some for me too 😊 I wasn't expecting it but I do need it so it was a good surprise!  I had to persuade Mr L to come up today and help me get it up the hill, I prepared the bed (cut out the membrane, stapled it to the side, covered the bare soil with cardboard) while Mr L brought the soil up.  It took a whole bag to almost fill one of the beds so I'm going to order a couple more and fill the other big bed and top this one up.  

I should also say that the first bed, which I mentioned last time, I planted with spring bulbs last weekend.  I wanted to have a bed filled with mostly daffodils and tulips that I can use as a cut flower bed.  I do want to think also about what I can plant for summer flowers that will fit in between the bulbs but my plan is that this bed will be for cut flowers.

I've been thinking about what I'm going to do with the rest of the plot.  I think I can fit 5 more beds along the top.  They will be smaller than the three I have so far because there won't be enough room for the same length and the 2' paths that I like to have around my beds.  This means that the beds will be around 9' x 4'.  This means that I'll need 10 more boards to get the beds reads for filling.  I think I'll then need around 5 more bags of soil plus the manure to add nutrients for planting.  

As you know I currently have a compost bin next to the shed but I've decided that I'm going to put the greenhouse there and then I'll move the compost bins to the opposite side of the plot.  I will introduce a 3 bin system again, which I've found is very successful and produces a good amount of compost for the size of the plot.  As a result of the way I've placed the shed and where I'm going to put the beds I'm going to have a big space in front of the shed.  My thought at the moment is to make it a seating area with a fire pit; I do like having a fire and having a space to sit will be really nice.  Alternatively I could put a flower bed there but it will be perpendicular to the other beds. 

In 85a I made a start clearing some of the beds this weekend.  The onions that I put in over the summer haven't done well (I suspect because of the drought) and so I decided to pull them up and clear the bed.  This bed will be for peas next year and so I thought I'd move the supports I made to the new bed.  I've also placed bamboo canes along the whole bed because I'm going to use the same system again to grow the peas in the whole bed.

I'm not sure you can see very well on the picture but I've managed to get  or 4 lines of bamboo between each blue hoop.  Some of them will be right up against the hoop and the one at the bottom I've actually fastened to the hoop to stop it from leaning into the path.  The first 3 have chicken wire to the top of the bamboo but then the next 2 only have it halfway; it will depend on the variety of peas that I choose for me to decide if I need to extend the chicken wire or if I can manage with a shorter support.  I will also think about putting toppers on the canes to avoid any eye injuries; I'm very careful about toppers on canes because they can be really dangerous, especially some of the shorter ones.

I also started my annual clear up of the shed.  I don't know how I manage it but this table particularly seems to end up covered and unusable for the majority of the season!  I have tried to be a bit more organised this year; I've cleaned out an old tub and put all my plates and cups in it to protect them from anything that might seek refuge in the shed over the winter.  I've also put a lot of my netting into some of the old bird seed tubs to try and stop the mice from shredding them again!  I need to decide what can go into the new shed in 86a to try and clear some space and then I can clear the shelves in 85a.  I also want to think about maybe putting a shelving unit in 86a so that I can share the plant food and bits like that between both plots; which will help me avoid having to come backwards and forwards between them for these things.

I have been working on a project for the allotment society.  Some pieces of wood were cut from some trees that had been felled and I'm using a pyropen to make lane markers and a sign for the gate at the clubhouse.  

I made a decision not to smooth the wood itself before I started writing on it because I think it looks really good with the cut marks from the chainsaw, even though that did make it slightly more tricky in some areas for me.  I have 6 more to do for each of the lanes that originally were just called A to G and we've named after various flowers or vegetables.  I will treat them with some teak oil and then I think we'll also have to varnish them but I think they look really good; I'm pretty proud of myself if I'm honest!

To finish off this week I want to mention the coffee morning for Macmillan Cancer research that my lovely allotment neighbour put on.  She got an extra piece of land behind her plot and she, with her husband Mike, have worked really hard to clear it, after it had been left to get quite overgrown.  She borrowed 2 of the gazebo's from the society and raised £145 from everyone who came along.  Mike guessed that around 30 people had come along and Sian had been super busy baking some really tasty treats, that were all vegan and gluten free so that everyone had the opportunity to eat everything on offer.  Well done Sian and Mike! 💗

16th September 2018 - Building beds and compost bin

A couple of weeks ago I built my first bed for 86a; I had bought 8 13' boards with the intention of making 3 large beds (13'x4') that will go next to the shed.  I needed to clear around the edges of the plot because the brambles had snaked across the plot from the outside and looked like they'd never been cut back!

Once I'd sorted all the brambles I moved the bed I'd made into the corner and then cut the membrane out of the middle and stapled it up the inside of the bed.  My thought process here was that if the membrane is on the inside it should stop the problems I've had in 85a of weeds (mostly couch grass) growing up between the membrane and the board.  86a is also not very flat and so rather than having to dig down to flatten the bed bringing the membrane up inside means that when I put the compost in the membrane will hold it in place without it spilling into the path.

I removed the roots of weeds that had come to the surface (they often do this when you cover them) and put cardboard down to continue to supress the weeds.  My intention is then to fill the bed with compost, which should be around 9" (the depth of the board).  That should be more than enough to continue to supress the weeds under it.  At the moment I've put a thin layer of compost down because I ran out of time.  I manage 6 wheelbarrow loads but I think I'll need at least 12 more to fill it.

The compost I'm using is the free stuff that's available from our site; it comes from the council and it's basic garden compost.  It isn't the best quality though, it's full of stones and there are weeds growing over the top of it so there's a possibility that by using that I'm transferring weeds up into the beds; which is frustrating but unavoidable as I'm working on a budget so I can't buy bags of sterilised compost to use instead.

Mr L came up to the plot today to help me build the additional beds, unfortunately the flipping drills both gave out on us and so he was only able to build one more bed and help me to build the compost bin.  It makes a big difference having him there, not just because I can get on with other jobs but also because it's nice to have someone else there with me to talk to, and it motivates me having someone else to work with.  He wasn't up for helping me getting the compost from the pile though so he left me to that!

As a result of having to clear the edges of the plot again I ended up with a big pile of green waste that needs to be composted.  The compost bin in 85a is overflowing because of the stuff I've already cleared from 86a so I decided that I needed to build a new compost bin.  I had some pallets that had been used as a fence for a couple of years and I removed a few weeks ago.  I covered them with some leftover weed membrane and fastened them together into a basic bay.  I had to use some of the wood that I'd removed from the plot originally to fasten it together and I'm going to use a bit of old scaffold board that I'd removed from the old beds to hold them together; either across the top or along the front on the bottom, which will make a lip at ground level.

At the moment I've positioned this immediately on the right as you enter the plot but I'm not sure that will be its final resting place.  I like to run a 3 year composting system which requires 3 bays and unfortunately this space doesn't have any more room for any more bays.  It is a temporary measure because the pallets really are scratty so they won't last very long but it keeps the stuff I've gathered contained in one place until I can sort out some proper bays.

In 85a you might remember that I have this little planting table in front of the shed.  I have some hellebores in there but with the hot weather they really didn't fare well.  I did end up with lots of little clover-like weeds covering the majority of the surface.  It was a nightmare to clear but I pulled most of it up before effectively raking over it with my fingers and clearing it.  I think it looks so much better and now I need to decide what to do with it.  My plan is to look at a bench to put in this area so I'm going to have to move this to somewhere else if I do that.  If I do put a bench in this area (and in front of the other shed in 86a) I'm going to use a block of wood on the inside of the shed and fasten a bolt through the bench and shed and into the wood on the inside to stop it being stolen as the last one was.  I also want to look at ways to put more seating in both plots in different areas but I will be more thoughtful about security if I do that because it's really annoying to have them stolen - even if you've got them for free from Freegle!

We're also at the end of nesting season and so I've made a start on cutting the hedges.  It's important to remember that hedges should not be cut between March and September to avoid disturbing nesting birds.  It is illegal to knowingly disturb nesting birds and even by inspecting the hedge you can do that so you shouldn't do anything until September when you can be sure they're gone.

I still have work to do on the inside of the plots and to reduce the height but they at least look better from the outside.  You can see from the left picture that all of the stuff I took off of 86a is still there and needs to be taken to the tip.  Most of the bricks that had been left on the plot I put outside and invited other plot holders to help themselves and thankfully the majority of them have now gone; so that's one less thing for me to have to deal with.

It was a slow start getting things sorted on 86a for loads of reasons but I feel like things are really starting to come together and hopefully by next season there will be enough beds in place to have a really good return from both plots.

Until next time

Happy Gardening x

2nd September 2018 - Jobs on 86a

In the last couple of weeks I've been working on getting jobs done to get me properly prepared for a good first growing season next year in 86a. 

I had managed to get a free shed pretty early on but the roof was completely shot so what little roofing felt was left I removed and then I had a while before I could get it fixed.  I got a brand new roll of roof felt from freegle, which was slightly damaged but easily cut out.  I've never done a shed roof before but because the roof isn't too big it only needed 2 pieces and I think it looks good.  Because it's an apex roof I'm going to put guttering at both sides and then bring it together at the back.  I have another wheelie bin that I'm going to convert into a waterbutt and then I need to think about doing one at the back of the greenhouse when I get that up to the plot as well.

The picture also shows where I've removed the pallet fence that was a bit tatty and replaced it with chicken wire.  I will need to keep on top of the weeds that will try and grow up it but I'm going to try and train the brambles along there (while keeping the bindweed down) to get a good crop of blackberries.

Today I was focused on starting to make the beds.  I have enough scaffold boards for 3 beds but I didn't have enough screws and blocks to make them all.  I have made one 13'x4' bed and my plan is for all of my beds to be that size although I'm going to have to think about the space in front of the shed because that will be compromised by the shed being there.  I might end up putting a bed along the front or I might take the opportunity to extend the seating area and maybe add a fire pit to sit around.

The beds are a bit bigger than the ones in 85a, which are 3' wide.  I had some really good boards but a couple had rotted at the end and when we measure them they weren't quite 13' long so it was easier to cut three 4' lengths and discard the rotten end.  I've also found with 85a that while I can lean across the whole bed I tend not to and would rather go all the way around.  I therefore didn't see any reason that 4' beds would be a problem.  I did consider putting chicken wire at the bottom of my beds to deter the moles from digging in the beds but over the last couple of weeks I've noticed holes in the top of the beds and I think the main culprit is currently voles, rather than moles and as such putting chicken wire in the bottom won't help me.  

A funny thing I noticed the other day is that a sunflower had started to grow under the bird feeder.  It's obviously from a seed that a bird has dropped so I've left it to grow.  It's going to end up under the squirrel baffle so I'll have to tease it out to let it grow.  I'm sure the birds and squirrels will eat all the seeds but I just thought it was funny that it had started to grow and decided to leave it there.  



I have got another bird feeder for 86a but I'm going to think carefully about where I'm going to put it.  I want to try and avoid having it somewhere that the squirrels can easily jump to it from something else.  I'll put a squirrel baffle onto it and I'll probably end up with squirrel proof feeders but one of the things I've seen with my current feeder is that they actually jump from the wooden arch to the feeders!  Since I've introduced the squirrel proof feeders the food has definitely lasted longer because in addition to the squirrels not being able to get to it, the bigger birds can't get it either.  

I have made a slow start in 86a for very many reasons.  I do think it's important that the many years of weeds are properly suppressed; many people don't really understand the no-dig principles and think I should have dug the whole plot over properly.  I have stuck to my guns and left the plot covered.  I still have the edges that I need to clear again but it's much less work that it would be to try and keep strimming the whole plot.  I do have lots of dips and troughs on the plot; and in hindsight I wish I had rotivated the whole plot.  In most cases I would say not to rotivate a very weedy plot.  However as I was planning to cover the whole lot it would restrict the re-growth of the weeds and have sorted out the uneven ground.  I'm going to have to try and sort it out after the fact now, probably by using bark chippings.  If anyone has any thoughts on how to fix it, without lifting all the membrane.

Until next time...

Happy Gardening! x