The greenhouse, half-filled with tall, leggy lettuces and cabbages mixed with equally tall weeds, mocks me, and the slugs have broken me down - as has the persistent rain. I slacked off the past weeks in going out every night to exterminate. The rain has made the grass grow fast and thick (and no chance to mow it), thereby providing sanctuary for the slugs. I haven't cleaned up the old pots, pieces of wood and other miscellania that needs to be thrown out, further exacerbating the problem.
I had thirty melon sprouts up in the greenhouse. Slugs took down close to ten. I sowed three and a half packs of three varieties of beets in the front bed. They were coming up wonderfully. The slugs have mowed them down like they were M&M's. I sowed two kinds of carrots. They were coming up; the slugs took them all down.
This is also due to my fault in not paying attention to the weather. The rain brings on the slugs. I didn't need to sow the beets so early; I was following what a book said. You really have to wait patterns out. Plants can miraculously make up for the "lost time": if they get the perfect warm start they can grow faster and more vigorously than something planted early that had to slog it through cool wetness.
So I've decided not to grow beets, and where the beet seedlings got eaten, there I'm going to plant all the crap from the greenhouse. The pole beans and pumpkins have been lingering in the back of my mind as to where they are going to go.
At this point I've learned simply not to plan it yet, but just deciding that I will plant them is good enough for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment