It has to be said that 2012 wasn't the best year for salad leaves. I started well, with a couple of small lettuces overwintered in the greenhouse and moving into the early spring we have good harvests from cut and come again salad leaves grown under a heavyweight glass cloche in a raised bed. But then the drought set in and then the monsoons started. And the salad stealers arrived... It seems that the slugs in my garden have a good appreciation of the perfect moment to harvest (devour) young salad leaves. They, as I, would check on the developing seedlings on a daily basis. And when the leaves had reached the perfect tender size to be picked, I headed out to the cloche to find....nothing. Absolutely not a trace of them. This happened a couple of times before I gave up completely on the resowing front and started buying the bagged supermarket variety again – at least that way I could guarantee I would have salad available when I wanted it.
Anyway, I have started the new year afresh with renewed optimism and have sowed my first batch of salad seeds in a seed tray in a propagator in the greenhouse. Let's see you fight your way through these, slug invaders!
 |
| seeds sown on the damp surface of a potting compost and homemade compost mix |
 |
| Seeds tucked up under a layer of vermiculite and the propagator lid |
We've sown some salad leaves indoors under our grow light. Not that they need to be inside but it uses the space left by my cyclamen seedlings
ReplyDeleteI grew some wild rocket in a unheated greenhouse bed (sowed in late February) - it suffered neglect and abandonment for 2 weeks in the summer but I just pulled it all up yesterday! Too woody to eat, but boy did it produce. Got to be worth a go? Slugs didn't bother it - which has got to be an attribute to treasure. I find that they tend to leave red leaved salads alone - stand more chance in the garden than green varieties (not that anything could withstand the onslaughts last year, I grant you.)
ReplyDeleteHello, I do agree with you about last year and salad leaves. Hope you have better results with your salad leaves this year. I think last year must have been the year of the slug, but like you, I'm determined to beat them this year..
ReplyDeleteOh good luck as a new season starts - may your salads be slug and snail free. Agree with the comments above from The Tuckshop Gardener - our little mollusc friends are not so partial when it comes to red leafed varieties :)
ReplyDeleteEvil little things aren't they? Fortunately we don't have too much trouble with them in summer - too hot for them I guess but for the rest of the year they are the bane of my existence.
ReplyDeleteI think we're all hoping for less pests this year! I'll also be happy if the weather remains steadier so that I have a fighting chance of getting some fruit - last year what the frosts didn't kill off, the aphids or slugs did! I wish you luck and hope your propagator works. Liking the tip about red leaves as well (less sugars in the leaves I suppose)
ReplyDelete