Tomatillos - back from the dead

These photos show my tomatillo plants in rude health. Bushy, leafy, weighed down with little green lanterns which house the fruit, it's hard to believe that back at the end of April I was convinced the plants were dead.

I'd sown them at the very beginning of March, earlier than usual because last year they had needed a really long season to get going. By the second week of April the plants were rocketing away and had outgrown their 3-inch pots, the weather was warm and I planted them out in a newly-made raised bed. Of course, whatever the daytime temperatures, the nights were still cold and it was soon clear that I'd planted them out far too early. The three tomatillo plants (yes, there are only three plants in the bed) stopped growing and just looked spindly and unhappy.

I took pity on them and popped a homemade bottle cloche over each plant: take a 2-litre plastic water bottle, cut off the bottom, then cut off the neck where it begins to narrow so you are left with a long straight cylinder of clear plastic. That cheered them up a bit and they started growing again so that by the end of April there was foliage spilling over the top of the bottle cloches.

And then we had an overnight frost. I came up to the allotment to find my happy tomatillo plants had been reduced to green stems draped with withered, browning leaves. For a week, I left them, hoping they might recover, but nothing happened. Eventually I decided I would just have to start all over again with them and lifted the bottle cloche protecting the middle plant in order to pull the plant up, only to find that within the confines of the plastic bottle protector, there were indeed new leaves just beginning to sprout. It was only the tips of the plants, exposed to the below-freezing temperatures, which had died. I cut these dead leaves and stems away completely, replaced the cloche and went back to waiting.

After that the regrowth was fast and the plants are also even bushier than usual. They've taken over the bed, elbowing out the cucamelons behind them and hogging all the available light. So it appears that a rigorous prune early in the growing season might be beneficial to them although it seems like a rather risky procedure to carry out in springtime.

A quick tour of Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

Hampton Court Flower Show on the Tuesday - almost impossibly crowded by midday when the rain came down and everyone tried to squeeze into the marquees, but still a stunning display of plants and current garden trends. First stop as always was the Growing Tastes tent, to admire Franchi Seeds' accordion garden and to see what new herbs were on show from Highdown Nursery, Pennard Plants and Hooksgreen Herbs. Lots of Salvias this year, especially the tangerine, grapefruit and blackcurrant varieties with their flowers so brightly coloured they look almost neon, and fruit-scented leaves.

I scooped a Murraya Koenigii (curry leaf plant) from Plants4Presents (I should say 'another' as I accidentally waterlogged the last one I bought from them two years ago) and an Anthyrium niponicum, the Japanese painted fern, before setting out to tour the gardens.

Gluttony E-123, one of the conceptual gardens inspired by the deadly sins,
designed to highlight the over consumption and waste of food in western
countries.
(Designed by Katerina Rafaj, built by Purpleberry Consultants)

Wrath - Eruption of Unhealed Anger was also one of the conceptual gardens,
the centrepiece of which is the smoking volcano which produces a waterspout
every ten minutes or so, to shocked gasps from onlookers.
(Designed by Nilufer Danis, built by Landform Consultants Ltd)

In Bacchus, the designers have found a ingenious place to act as a wine cooler:
tucked under the steps. The garden includes a large specimen grapevine and
vine hedging to the rear, as well as tiered pools to represent an ever-flowing
supply of wine.
(Designed by Jean Wardop, built by Ricky Cole - RDC Landscape Design
and Construction)

I loved this bench sat squarely in the middle of a modern potager: cavolo
nero and tomatoes inside the box hedging. This is one part of the garden,
Hedgehog Street, a trio of suburban style gardens designed to be
hedgehog-friendly.
(Designed by Tracy Foster, built by Concept Landscapes with Phil Game)

One of the other Hedgehog Street gardens (I love the mosaic). Great textural contrasts
with the grasses, which give ground cover for hedgehogs; and for humans,
surely the most comfortable looking seating area in the whole show.

The ladies from Ocean Spray demonstrate how to wet-harvest cranberries.
The farmers flood the fields and let the fruit float to the surface of the water
so that they can be scooped up.

I do like a living roof. I nearly missed this one in A Space To Connect & Grow, a
garden designed as a place for performances and workshops as well as for
relaxing. It makes extensive use of recycled industrial materials.
(Designed by Jeni Cairns in collaboration with Sophie Antonelli. Built by Juniper
House Garden Design)

Fighting the slug and snail takeover

I don't know about your garden but the molluscs are taking over in mine. We had a wet winter in which it never really got properly cold and so hibernating slugs, snails and their eggs didn't get killed off in their usual numbers. Now after a reasonably fine spring, we had a warm wet start to the summer. Lots of lush green leafy growth means lots for slugs and snails to sink their teeth (oh, yes, teeth)  into. One single slug or snail can reduce a courgette or lettuce seedling to a bare stalk in one session: in addition to a rough tongue called a radula, they also have thousands of tiny denticles, or tooth-like protusions. 

I must have tried every single slug/snail barrier or killing method known to mankind over the years. The problem is that there is no one ideal solution for all situations. Not everyone likes the idea of killing the pests in large numbers. One of the easiest ways to get rid of slugs and snails is to scatter slug pellets around your precious plants, yet it's well-documented that slug pellets will harm other wildlife as well. I only use them when the slug numbers are overwhelming and only under netting or in the greenhouse to try to minimise the danger of anything else ingesting them. I wish I didn't use them at all and I dislike dealing with the messy slimy death the pellets cause.

You don't, however, have to kill your slugs and snails: there are various ways to deter them, whether through physical barriers, or what I think of as diversionary tactics. I've found that repelling them without killing them tends to work well in years when the slugs/snails are not around in huge numbers; in very sluggy years like this one, they will just slope off to eat something else. I don't, for example, usually bother with slug protection for my chilli plants: slugs and snails don't tend to find them very appetising. This year, I've lost several chilli seedlings to slugs and snails: there are so many more of the pests and if they can't get at the salad leaves, or the young courgettes, they'll chomp down on whatever they do find. It's tempting just to pick them up and throw them over the fence, but both slugs and snails apparently have a homing instinct and they will just come back, even if somewhat slowly.

Caught in the act: young courgette and squash seedlings are a
favourite target, also salad leaves, brassicas, and my wasabi plants,
which I have to keep almost hermetically sealed away from
both slugs and snails.

One of the most attractive options (to me anyway) is to biologically control them with nematodes: near-microscopic organisms which live in the soil, and will eat into slugs and kill it. The nematodes do not interact like this with anything else, so are harmless to other wildlife, and the slugs are eliminated (good), yet the killing happens remotely and invisibly to me (even better). But even this is no cure-all: it's expensive, it needs to be done every six weeks or so throughout summer, and is really only effective against slugs, because the nematodes work in the soil, and snails tend to live above ground. 

The best solution of all, if available to you, is to create a slug/snail-hostile environment as naturally as possible. A pond with frogs, a resident hedgehog family and a population of thrushes and other slug-eating birds will help to keep numbers to a minimum. And one thing I've learned recently is that I shouldn't really be aiming to eliminate the molluscs altogether: only some of the 30 different slug species that live in the UK eat your tender vegetables, they and the rest will also feed copiously on decaying vegetable matter and so are an important part of your overall garden ecosystem.

In a dry spell, the slugs and snails seem to disappear. But if you overturn
pots, peel back black plastic or look underneath decaying wood, the
chances are you'll find them hiding in the dark and damp.

The trick, I think, is to use methods in combination. I've resorted to using copper tape to protect pots and individual plants such as brassicas and squash on the allotment, plus a good watering with anti-slug nematodes when the conditions are right and I can afford it, plus using organic pellets in very specific closed environments where there is no danger of other wildlife ingesting them, plus morning and evening inspections around the garden and allotment when the weather is damp and after rain (when I will despatch the slugs as quickly as possible by snipping them in half with scissors). It's time-consuming, but slightly less stressful than losing all your squash or salad seedlings to a fat, but still hungry slug.

I've collated the methods I've used (some more successfully than others) into the table below. I'd love to know about any other effective ways to remove, deter or eliminate slugs and snails and make this as comprehensive as possible.

The Method	Advantages	Disadvantages
Pellets	Kills slugs and snails	Harmful to other wildlife
	Easy to apply	Requires reapplication
	Inexpensive	Messy corpses
	Effective

This is what happens when a slug ingests a slug pellet: the methiocarb
in the pellet causes the slug to over-produce mucus and it dies of dehydration, 
leaving you with a nasty slimy mess. Any predator that tries to
eat the dying slug may well be poisoned in turn by the methiocarb
in its system.

Beer traps	Kill slugs and snails	Messy corpses to dispose of
	They die happy	Ineffective against large numbers
		Requires maintenance
		Waste of good beer
Other traps, eg, grapefruit halves	Does not kill, pests congregate in grapefruit halves	Live slugs and snails to dispose of
Copper tape	Non-toxic	Does not kill; the pests will go elsewhere
	Environmentally non-invasive	Relatively expensive
	Effective	Risk of trapping pest INSIDE the pot
	Taped pots can be reused

A simple copper collar made out of a section of plastic water bottle
lined with sticky copper tape

Coffee grounds	Does not kill; the pests will go elsewhere	A LOT of coffee grounds needed for more than one or two plants; you will need to befriend local Starbucks or similar
	Environmentally non-invasive – grounds good as mulch	Ineffective against large numbers
Sharp grit, etc		Does not kill; the pests will go elsewhere
		Do you really want your beds full of grit?
		Risk of trapping pests inside the barrier
Torchlight patrols	Non-toxic	Now you have to kill them
	Environmentally non-invasive	Disposal of corpses
		Effectiveness depends on your vigilance
		Morale-draining in face of large-scale invasion
Encouraging or introducing predators: birds, frogs, hedgehogs, geese, etc	Non-toxic	Easier to achieve in a rural environment
	Potentially highly effective	Requires maintenance at least initially
		Potentially expensive outlay (digging out a pond, acquiring geese)
Introducing predators: nematodes	Non-toxic	Not nearly as effective against snails, only slugs
		Expensive
		Requires reapplication

There are around 30 different types of slugs that live in the UK,
only around 4-5 of which will out of choice eat your vegetables.
These are two of the bad guys: the imaginatively-named
black slug, top, and the red slug, above.

Further reading

http://eartheasy.com/grow_nat_slug_cntrl.htm - US-based article on natural methods of curbing or eliminating slugs and snails.

http://urbanvegpatch.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/a-slug-is-slug-no-matter-how-small.html - some more ideas for getting rid of slugs and snails and a photo which almost makes them look pretty.
http://secret-garden-club.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/as-soil-warms-up-and-new-spring-growth.html - how to buy and use nematodes as a biological control.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardeningequipment/8675592/The-war-on-slugs-starts-at-home.html - how to make your own nematode soup (warning: the method is somewhat icky)
http://adlib.everysite.co.uk/adlib/defra/content.aspx?id=178456 - know your slugs: an identification table to UK species.

Salads in a box - reuse the recycling bins

Mixed leaves in an old recycling box: red mustard, green-in-snow,
tatsoi, mustard frills and komatsuna

I’m always on the look-out for different containers for plants. I’ve grown oriental leaves in the wooden crates used to deliver veg to the supermarket, I’ve raised microleaves in the shallow plastic trays used for packaging fruit and veg, I’ve grown herbs in a makeshift vertical garden using an over-the-door shoe-holder, and as an allotment owner, I am well-versed in the art of making raised beds out of pallets. Often these containers are more convenient than conventional pots: round isn’t always the best shape if you’re growing a mix of things in the one pot.

Last year our local council gave us wheelie bins to use for throwing out items for recycling, to replace the two 55-litre capacity boxes we’d had previously – one for newspaper and bottles, the other for everything else. No-one appeared to be responsible for taking away the old boxes, so I collected up the ones in best nick and have found they make excellent seed beds (I started off both leeks and chicory in a recycling box this year), and are particularly good for growing cut-and-come-again salad leaves. With a box kept just outside the back door, I have a variety of leaves available whenever I want them.

If some of the plants start to bolt or if they just look straggly, I’ll pick one last harvest, uproot them and sow the next batch.

Right now, with the long days and the night temperatures beginning to warm up, they will germinate quickly and give you edible leaves in about four weeks. But you can sow seeds for salad leaves at just about any time of the year. In winter, growth will be much slower and to keep your salad box going you will probably need to protect the box with a cloche or fleece.

Carrots grown in a box - seeds sown in March directly
into seed compost, then covered with vermiculite.

To start with you need to source your box. Choose one in reasonably good nick and wash it thoroughly. Next you will need to make some drainage holes in the bottom. Then it needs to be filled with compost. Our recycling boxes are 40cm deep – rather deeper than the salad roots will go down, so rather than waste good compost buried at the bottom of a recycling box, I spread gravel or small pebbles along the bottom, to help with drainage, and then add a layer or two of leaf mould, spent compost or mulch – any good organic matter to fill the box up halfway. Then I top up with fresh seed compost.

Before sowing, water the compost thoroughly. Then scatter the seeds thinly on top of the compost – you can mix seeds randomly or sow different varieties in blocks or thin lines, as I have in the photo. Finally sprinkle a very fine layer of seed compost over the surface so the seeds are just covered. At this time of year, you don’t need to cover the box to keep the seeds warm, but if you’re sowing late in the year or in early spring, you can cover with a clear plastic propagator lid if you have one, or with horticultural fleece (I have also improvised with an insulating cover of clingfilm in the past, when I haven’t had either a lid or any fleece to hand).

You may also need to protect your salad seedlings against slugs and snails if these are a pest in your garden. I run a strip of copper tape along the rim of the box: the molluscs won’t slide over copper as it reacts with their mucus. My particular pest in recycling box beds is my own cat, who likes to either sleep on them, flattening the seedlings, or, worse, using them as a litter tray. A square of plastic mesh over the top, fixed with net pegs, keeps him off.

Gone to pot - unusual containers

Spotted in Cong, Co Mayo, Ireland.

There's no need to stick to conventional plastic or terracotta pots for your garden. While terracotta pots can look appealingly rustic, plastic pots lack a certain charm; yet decorative pots can cost a fortune.

Reusing or repurposing other containers is a great way to personalise the garden. Be imaginative - plant up your herbs in a tub that fits in better with your colour scheme, perhaps, or something that says something about you.

The only hard and fast rule is that your container needs to have drainage holes punched or drilled into the bottom so that your plants don't get waterlogged. You should also consider whether your container will stand up to outdoor weather (you don't want it rusting away, for example) and whether it will provide any frost protection for your plants. Apart from that, be adventurous.

Spotted in Cong, Co Mayo, Ireland.

Spotted in Holborn, London EC1.

Growing potatoes - frost and other dangers

The rain stopped, the sun came out and all around me at the allotment everyone started getting their potatoes in. At the beginning of March. This seems very early to me - this time last year there was snow on the ground. In the three previous years, we've had frosts in April, in London. Just because we've had next to no frost at all this winter so far, doesn't mean there's none to come. And while potato tubers in the ground are protected against a light frost, the stems and leaves, once they develop, are very vulnerable to even  an air frost as I've discovered to my cost more than once.

Lady Christl potatoes, planted in the third week of March, damaged by frost in April. This plant recovered - 2-3 others were lost completely.

Potatoes (along with tomatoes, now I come to think of it) seem to attract more than their fair share of folklore about the best way to cultivate them. There are people who swear by planting potatoes on Good Friday. This would make more sense if Easter didn't move. This year, I might well plant some potatoes over Easter weekend, but they will be the last lot to go in, the maincrop Pink Fir Apples which won't be harvested until late August. The earlies will be planted around the end of March, weather and temperature permitting, and the ground covered with straw. Any sign of a cold snap coming and the fleece goes on.

Then there's the old canard that growing potatoes in a new bed will break up the uncultivated ground. I've long argued this one. I don't dispute that potatoes can be a good crop to grow in a new bed since the bed will get well and truly dug over (although it's also said that eelworm is more prevalent in uncultivated ground), but to my mind there is nothing magical about the potato itself that breaks up the soil and makes it workable. It's all down to your hard work. First you dig the ground over, then you dig a trench to a depth of six to eight inches, plant the potatoes, cover with soil and possibly some organic matter mixed in, then as the haulms grow, you rake or hoe up the soil to earth them up. No wonder the soil gets broken up.

Earthing up. I sure I read somewhere that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall doesn't bother. I get lazy about it too. Covering the stems can protect against late frosts (see above) and keeps the growing tubers in the dark, so that they don't turn green and toxic. But sometimes drawing up the soil can be hard work, especially if it's the first year the bed has been cultivated. Most years, I earth up somewhat perfunctorily to start with and then top up by piling organic matter over the plants: straw, leftover compost, grass cuttings - grass cuttings work particularly well because the lawn starts to need regular mowing at the same time as the potato plants put on a growth spurt. The job is done - stems protected, tubers kept in the dark - and the organic matter then acts as a mulch to enrich the bed for the next crop. 

Using straw to help earth up the potatoes.

I've often been told that you should harvest potatoes once they're in flower. Possibly, if you want potatoes the size of a grape. I've found that external signs - flowering, the plant yellowing and dying down - can be unreliable. Plunging your hand in to check the size of tubers works better for me (and is another reason for not earthing up obsessively), and yes, I usually tentatively try this for the first when the plant is in flower.

Mayan Gold potatoes in flower  - but probably not yet ready for harvesting.

Of course potatoes don't have to be in the open ground at all. You see bespoke potato cultivation sacks for sale in Sunday supplements and garden catalogues, but to me this is another piece of unnecessary advice. If you are going to grow potatoes in a container, a black-lined binbag will do just as well - see here for details.

Charlotte potatoes growing in a black binbag.

Rainbow veg - Orange is for Physalis

Physalis, or Cape Gooseberries, or Inca berries, (Physalis peruviana) taste infinitely better when picked fresh from the plant then when bought from the supermarket. The taste is sweeter and more complex than the fruits imported from, usually, South Africa and stored before going on the shelves.

Although most of our homegrown physalis gets eaten as an allotment snack, my ambition is to get enough fruits to make physalis jam, which I've heard a number of people say is their favourite.

I’ve been growing physalis for two to three years now and discovered that in the UK it needs a loo-o-ong season. The plants actually did better in the cool summer of 2012 (when we had a bright warm spring) than the long warm summer of 2013 (when the temperature didn’t get much above freezing until well into April). This year I’ll be sowing the seeds indoors in early March and will keep them cosseted and warm, transplanting into decent-sized pots before they go outside once all the frosts are done. I’ve also got a new raised bed lined up for them – hopefully they will reward me for this five-star treatment by producing some beautiful golden fruits come October time. 

Sown in pots in March and kept at an even 20 degrees temperature
until ready to be hardened off and planted in a sunny sheltered
spot outside.