Slugs and Snails

One of the most notorious problems in any veg garden is the humble slug or snail. Slugs and snails are an important part of an ecosystem: they clear up what is dead and decaying, returning it to the earth. But sometimes they rush too fast to clear up a slightly-stressed seedling, or take a fancy to some other juicy titbit we’d rather they didn’t, and as a veg-grower it’s best to be on your guard, especially during the springtime when they're most active…

- Keep seedlings out of harm’s way – Raise seed trays up on tables, benches or greenhouse shelves if possible. 

- Watch out – If possible, keep an eye out for the presence of any slugs or snails so that you can take action right away. Check for leaf damage or slime trails, and check nice cool hiding places nearby, such as under pots and rocks, and under the rims of containers.

- Raise healthy seedlings and plant them out only when ready – Harsh weather, dry soil and other factors stress plants, and slugs and snails can tell when they are becoming weak or sickly…

- Encourage a wide diversity of life in your garden – Frogs, newts, hedgehogs and even some beetles eat slugs and snails or their eggs! To encourage a diverse ecosystem, keep a variety of flowering plants to attract lots of insects, add a small pond to your garden if possible, use no poisons, and let some parts of your garden remain undisturbed for wildlife to nest or hide.

- Barriers – Copper tape round pots is effective, though expensive. People also report various levels of success with wool pellets, scrunched up foil, crushed eggshells, grit, sawdust, sharp sand and other rough/dry/irritating materials placed around plants.

- Torchlight hunts – Go out there after dark with a torch and simply remove the culprits. You can reduce numbers dramatically this way, and quickly too. It is suggested that the most humane way to kill them is to chop their heads off with sharp scissors, but personally I don’t have the heart/stomach for that. If you prefer to release them, do so in a wild place ideally a few hundred metres from your plot – they can find their way back if you just chuck them down the garden! Or pop them in your council compost bin – or ‘slug heaven’ as I like to call it…

- Beer traps – Put cheap beer in bowls near where slugs/snails are active, and they’ll be attracted and drown in it. Be sure to refresh traps regularly as the smell gets very bad!

- Biological control – Nematodes (microscopic soil-dwelling worms) which prey on slugs and snails are available to buy and add to your garden. Search ‘Nemasys’ or ‘Nemaslug’.

- Slug pellets – The toxic metaldehyde pellets are thankfully now banned but the organic ferric phosphate ones are just as good. They should still be used sparingly however.

Slugs and snails are a fact of nature, and it’s never possible to prevent every bit of damage, but combining a few of these methods will help your veg garden prevail!

Image by Capri23auto from Pixabay
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Finding Something to Grow During Lockdown



Though the current situation means that most garden centres are closed and demand for gardening supplies, along with many other goods, has increased, there are still places you can find seeds, plants and compost to get growing this summer.

Local Shops:

Carpenters Nursery in Sandridge is selling their full garden range in addition to their farm shop range (including lots of great local produce!), so you can get your groceries and your garden supplies at the same time.

Aylett Nurseries are offering a local delivery service; email them via their website to order.

Remember, you should only go if you have an essential trip to make, but there are several essential shops (supermarkets, DIY stores, general stores such as Wilko or the Range) where you MAY also find garden supplies – and even if seeds have sold out as I know they have in some, it’s possible that seasonal plug-plant deliveries may still arrive soon. I’m told that Sainsbury’s has seeds in stock right now!

Online:

Online businesses are experiencing very heavy demand at the moment too, but it’s still possible to buy seeds from many, albeit with slight delays:

Rocketgardens.co.uk and OrganicPlants.co.uk offer organic plug plants for delivery in May.
Thompson-Morgan.com still has a very good range and promises to dispatch fast, though it’s closing the website periodically to catch up with orders so you might have to be patient. Marshallsgarden.com says they have new stock coming in all the time but to expect a longer delivery time than usual. Suttons.co.uk has a queue to enter the website but is still selling.

RealSeeds.co.uk and victoriananursery.co.uk are two excellent independent companies also struggling with demand but still selling. There are probably many more too!

Even if seeds and garden ranges are out of stock, you may be able to find something to grow in your kitchen storecupboard, or on food shop shelves…

Sprouting

Sprouts are grown from seed without compost – kept moist by twice-daily rinsing – and eaten in their entirety when they have just two leaves, or even earlier: beansprouts are an example everyone will be familiar with, but the same can be done with many, many veg and herb seeds. They’re ready in just a few days and extra healthy, especially when eaten fresh, because the nutrition is so concentrated and they’re so full of life and energy, containing loads of healthy enzymes.

Here’s a good guide to getting started with sprouting: https://www.growveg.co.uk/guides/how-to-grow-sprouting-seeds-for-winter-salads/ Wholefood shops often sell a range of ‘sprouting seeds’; online, try organiccatalogue.com, buywholefoodsonline.co.uk or skysprouts.co.uk. My favourites are alfalfa, broccoli and sunflower.

It’s safest to only sprout those seeds sold specifically for sprouting, as they are certified free from e-coli and other disease-causing bacteria which can breed in the moist, enclosed conditions sprouts are grown in. Observe good hygiene when growing sprouts and discard any that become smelly or yellowed. 

Microgreens

Microgreens are young shoots grown from seed in compost OR on kitchen paper/cloth, snipped at the bottom of the stem and eaten when they have just two leaves - sometimes four - like when you grew cress in school… They’re also very healthy and full of enzymes.

For example, dried peas sold for eating are a great way to grow your own peashoots at home; really tasty in salads and sandwiches and very quick to grow in just a week or two! Dried marrowfat peas are easily available in supermarkets and perfect for this purpose - and Earthworks have just shared a brilliant post about this, which we will share here! This method can also be used for sunflower shoots, lentil shoots and others – or with many garden seeds such as carrot, salad leaves and anything in the cabbage family.


Supermarket herbs

In the supermarket you can also find live herb pots, which can be planted out in the garden or into garden pots. Look carefully at the pot and if there are lots of plants close together, they can be split and planted 15cm apart, and it’s best to do this to allow them to develop properly. (The exception here is chives, which are best grown as a close clump.) Before planting out, get them accustomed to outdoor temperatures by putting them outside during the day and bringing them in at night for a week – this is known as ‘hardening off’. (Don’t plant any basil outside before mid-May – it hates cold temperatures.)

Another way to start a plant from supermarket produce is to take a stem of fresh basil, coriander or watercress and put it in a jar of water – like you would a flower – for a few days until it grows roots. Then pot it up in soil and go from there…


Harvest fresh seeds in your kitchen

You can grow tomatoes from fresh seed scraped from a tomato you have at home; just put the seeds in a small cup of water at room temperature and stir daily for 4-5 days until it smells yeasty and fermented – skim off any mould or scum and cover with a loose lid if you find it smells. This process gets rid of the gel around the seeds which prevents them from germinating. Then rinse your seeds and sow them! (The time to sow tomatoes is almost behind us so hurry up if you wish to do this!)

Regrow veg scraps

Surprisingly, many things you’d normally put in your food waste bin can be regrown for more food! The root-ends of onions, spring onions, leeks, lettuces, cabbages, celery and fennel; and the leaf-ends/tops of carrots, beetroots and turnips can all be grown on for tasty new leaves. Just place them in a tray with a centimetre or so of water, put it on a bright windowsill and wait, refreshing the water each day or two. Within a week you should see new growth begin, and a few weeks later you’ll be snipping edible leaves – OR once new roots have developed you could even plant it out in the garden! More info here: https://www.ruralsprout.com/regrow-vegetables/

You can also grow potatoes – or parts of potatoes – that have started sprouting in your cupboard. Bury them around 10-15cm deep and mound up the soil a little as the plant grows, to keep developing tubers in the dark. (Be aware however that using potatoes not certified for growing carries a slight risk of plant disease – it’s better to do this in a container if possible and discard the plant and the soil if the plant appears to suffer from disease.)


Plant pots

If you don’t have any plant pots don’t despair – you can repurpose all sorts of plastic containers from the kitchen for the purpose. Look out yogurt pots, margarine tubs, fruit punnets and mushroom boxes. You can even use tin cans! Just be sure to put a few drainage holes in the bottom. 

Lots of people like to use toilet rolls and cardboard egg cartons to start seeds in. When the seedling is ready to be planted out in the garden, you can plant the whole thing and allow the cardboard to rot away – this minimises disturbance of the plants’ roots.

Compost

If you don’t have access to fresh compost, you could consider growing microgreens on kitchen towel as mentioned in yesterday’s post. But there are other options too:
 
If you have a compost bin in your garden – even if it’s old and neglected – look there. It might not look ready on top, but if you poke around at the bottom you’re likely to find at least a little bit of good compost waiting for you.

Though fresh, light compost is the best medium for new seedlings, you can still use garden soil in a pinch. Scrape away the top layer with any big pieces of debris and use the stuff just below the surface, breaking it up as much as you can with a trowel, fork or rake. If possible, leave the soil in a tray in the sun for a day or two before sowing to allow insects to leave and to kill off a few bacteria. If you’ve got some compost but not enough you could also use garden soil to bulk it up.

Don’t miss out!

Finally, don’t miss what’s already under your nose. Many gardens have a long forgotten apple tree or rosemary bush. Why not give it some love this year and pledge to make the most of its produce?

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Have you made your One Plant Promise yet? Click here to join in, be counted and receive a monthly email full of growing advice! And see our social media feeds (links at top) for more tips and to share your progress.
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Make the One Plant Promise

We're challenging as many people as possible in St Albans and District to grow just ONE edible crop in 2020. More info and registration HERE!

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Spring 2020 newsletter


And so the growing cycle begins again, welcome to the new season!

 
 The March Vegetable Box & Rhubarb at Hammonds End

What a very different winter to last year, warmer with very few frosts but much, much wetter (last years spring newsletter mentioned “an incredibly sunny February”, this year it has been an incredibly wet one). That hasn’t stopped us harvesting fortnightly with recent boxes containing: leeks, kale, spinach, chard, rocket, mizuna and land cress.

Storm Ciara and Desmond blew all the crop covers off and knocked over some of the Purple Sprouting Broccoli, but it has been so mild a fennel plant not harvested last year has survived the winter!

 
Wild Weather: Storm Damage & Fennel in January

Hopefully we will have enough veg to keep us going through the UK “hunger gap” before our spring sown crops are ready, though mice have been a real problem in the polytunnels this year and we lost our early sowings so now everything is growing under mesh.

 
 
Polytunnel 4 lettuce protected from the mice

At Hammonds End we have sown the first of this season’s crops: 300 Broad Bean seeds, 350 parsnips along with the first of the cabbage, lettuce, spinach and beetroot. In addition, we have sown 50 tomatoes, 30 aubergines, 30 peppers and 8 chilli peppers which members have at home to bring back to site once the last frost has gone.

We have also started to prepare the vegetable beds for spring sowings. At FoodSmiles we try to operate a 'no-dig' plot, as it is better for the soil structure and microlife. Weeding is done by hand, and compost or manure is added to the surface and left for the worms to incorporate. We do this because whilst it is easy to think of soil as inert matter, in fact it's a complex and active ecosystem, with innumerable processes taking place all the time. 

Soil is earth's most vital organ, supporting all life on the planet. Just a single teaspoon (one gram) of garden soil can hold up to one billion bacteria of thousands of types, several thousand protozoa, complex fungal structures, and scores of nematodes, not to mention the odd millipede, spider or earthworm.

When you dig soil it can destroy all that's going on, harming small creatures and exposing them to predators, killing microbes by exposure to light and air, disturbing ground beetles' pathways, mixing up the natural structure of the soil and forcing many of its cycles to begin again at square one. Digging also makes soil more susceptible to erosion by wind and water, more susceptible to leaching of nutrients, and less effective as a carbon sink. In short, soil is best left alone to get on with it as much as possible! 

So to prepare our beds we first remove large weeds digging out the deep tap roots from dandelions and docks and try to remove as much of the root as possible on weeds like bindweed or thistles.  We then use a Broadfork to break up the soil without turning it over or mixing the layers together. Air and water can get in again when soil has been compacted at the surface, but we don't cause so much harm to the soil's microbiology. The Broadfork is like an enormous fork, plunged into the soil to loosen it but not to turn the soil over – fun to use and a great workout! 
  
 
 Bed 6: weeded, with a layer of compost on top ready for the Early Potatoes & the Broadfork

In the next few weeks (including our spring sowing day on Saturday 21st March) we will plant out potatoes and sow calabrese, cauliflower, leeks, celeriac, beetroot, chard and spinach. We will also be running some members training sessions.

Our repair crew have also been busy this winter and our wheelbarrows now have lovely new wheels and the newly covered polytunnel 3 has had a good tidy (how long will it stay like this?) and we have added some new raised beds.

 
Wheelbarrow wheel repairs completed and inside Polytunnel 3 (beds filled with lettuce & cabbage)

At our Hixberry Lane site seed sowing in the polytunnel is well under way.  We have also been coming up with ways to protect the seeds from mice which love eating them, especially the broad beans and beetroot.

Seeds Growing Under Protection to keep out the mice in the Hixberry Lane Polytunnel

Working on the land is out of the question at the moment as it is completely waterlogged with several patches of standing water.  The rhubarb however doesn’t seem bothered by this and we hope to start harvesting soon.

We were delighted to be selected by Waitrose as a recipient of their Community Matters fund this January.  We plan to use the money to buy a fruit cage to protect our newly planted blackcurrant bushes and strawberry plants.

New Members?
We still have a handful of memberships available this year if you want to join or know someone who might want to become a member. Why not come along to one of our sessions on 11th, 14th 18th or 21st March to find out a bit more about Foodsmiles.

At Incredible Edible Russell Avenue this spring we have built two Hugelkultur beds – well, we say built, but it’s really just a very simple matter of mounding soil on top of logs! This is a new experiment for us, but we hope that they will help us to combat dry conditions in the summer. 
Hugelkultur Bed at Russell Avenue

At Incredible Edible Civic Centre there is loads of winter purslane and lambs lettuce to be picked at the moment – please help yourselves as it will flower and die soon – plus lots of herbs, sorrel, sea beet and more.

 
Lamb's Lettuce & Winter Purslane at the Civic Centre Garden

We’re really pleased that RSPB St Albans have put up bird boxes at both the gardens to help increase their value to wildlife – we’re not sure if any birds have taken up residence yet but they have certainly shown some interest! We’re also grateful to Aylett Nurseries, who have donated chippings from their Christmas tree recycling scheme to top up our paths again this year.

As always, feel free to come along and join us pulling a few weeds and spreading a few seeds at any of our sessions – we’d love to see you. All our dates can be found on our webpage – and we will of course have some events at the gardens as part of SustFest20 (details below) so don’t miss those!

 
 Russell Avenue Site & the New Bird Boxes

Upcoming Events (n.b. current events may impact these events - please check social media or contact us if unsure)


Hammonds End Spring Sowing & Members Training
Saturday 21st March from 10am (training session Part 1 at 10:30am, repeated at 2:30pm)
Sowing the early season crops and planting out the early potatoes

Hammonds End Spring Sowing, Planting & Members Training
Saturday 25th April from 10am (training session Part 2 at 10:30am, repeated at 2:30pm)
Sowing the later season crops and (hopefully) planting out the early season crops sown on the 21st March

One Plant Promise from April 2020
Take the One Plant Promise this summer and pledge to grow at least ONE edible plant - every one makes a difference! Register on our webpage from April:
www.foodsmilesstalbans.org.uk/p/st-albans-one-plant-promise.html

Come and Grow! Saturday 23rd May 10am-1pm
St Albans Incredible Edible Russell Avenue garden, Russell Ave, St Albans, AL3 5EB
Sowing, planting and weeding at this open-to-all community food garden. Join in (no experience required!) or take a tour and explore the garden.

Permaculture Garden Tour:  Sunday 24th May 12-4pm
Incredible Edible Civic Centre, outside Alban Arena, Civic Centre, St Albans AL1 3LD
Visit our community garden in the city centre and learn about permaculture with our printed tour guide. See how we make good use of permaculture’s principles.

Market Takeover Stall - Sunday 24th May
Come and visit the FoodSmiles St Albans stall at the Sustainable St Albans market takeover

FoodSmiles Open Day - Saturday 30th May 1-3pm
FoodSmiles, Hammonds End Farm, Hammonds End Lane, Harpenden AL5 2AY
Find out more about FoodSmiles St Albans. Explore our large organic veg plot, where members learn to grow food together, sharing harvests in a weekly veg box.


Friends of Foodsmiles are welcome to come to work informally at the farm whenever they need some hearty exercise and company (and probably cake too)! It would be great to see you so please come along and say hello - there is always plenty to do! If you are interested, please contact us and we can let you know when we are working on site. You can also go on our 'active friends' list and receive our site newsletter if you wish to do this regularly (membership@foodsmilesstalbans.org.uk).


Foodsmiles AGM 2019: we had a well-attended AGM in February where we celebrated a fantastic growing year with a vegetable box 46 weeks of the year containing over 44 different types of fruit and vegetables. In 2019 we grew 2,157kg of vegetables an increase of 39% (610kg more). Hixberry Lane was amazing with a 172% increase up by 324kg to 512kg of vegetables, contributing nearly 25% of the annual Foodsmiles production. At Hammonds End we grew 1,645kg an increase of 21% (286kg more). The biggest Hammonds End crops (by weight) were potatoes, courgettes, chard, tomatoes and lettuce (all producing more than 100kg). Top growing crops at Hixberry (by weight) were potatoes, squash, beetroot and leeks.

Special thanks went to the Site Managers, Treasurer, Secretary and Committee Members who will all be serving again this year. If you would like to be more involved in Foodsmiles and join the committee, please contact us (membership@foodsmilesstalbans.org.uk)


Seasonal Recipe Suggestions (2 this time):

Allotment Pie (no Shepherds) recipe - completely meat-free
Serves 4-6
2 medium red onions
1 celery stick
FoodSmiles veg such as parsnips, kale, chard, spinach can be added to the mix.
3 garlic cloves
4 sun-dried tomatoes, plus 2 tbsp oil from the jar
1 sprig fresh rosemary
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 large carrot
500g mushrooms
2 tbsp tomato purée
1 tbsp yeast extract (e.g. Marmite)
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
250ml red wine
100ml vegetable stock
400g pre-cooked puy lentils, or tinned beans such as borlotti, or cooked lentils or just cooked FoodSmiles borlotti beans
Salt and black pepper

Potato Topping:
1.2kg Maris Piper or other floury potatoes
40g dairy-free butter
150ml plant-based milk
1 tbsp Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 180°C | Fine grater or Microplane | 2 large saucepans | Food processor | 20 x 30cm lasagne dish | Piping bag fitted with a wide star nozzle, optional

Make mash potato with added mustard

Now to the filling | Peel and finely dice the red onions and celery | Peel and grate the garlic | Finely chop the sun–dried tomatoes | Remove the leaves from the rosemary and thyme by running your thumb and forefinger from the top to the base of the stems, then finely chop | Peel and finely chop the carrot | Put the mushrooms in the food processor and blitz to mince

Put the second saucepan over a medium heat | Pour in the sun-dried tomato oil | Add the onion and a small pinch of salt | Fry for 5 minutes, stirring | Add the garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, rosemary and thyme and cook for 2 minutes | Add the carrot and celery and stir for 4–5 minutes | Add the mushrooms, turn up the heat slightly and stir for 2–3 minutes, until the mushrooms start to sweat | Add any extra veg and reduce the heat and cook for 5–7 minutes, stirring occasionally

Stir the tomato purée into the pan | Add the yeast extract and balsamic vinegar and stir for 1 minute | Add the red wine, stock, and lentils, turn up the heat and simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 10 minutes | Taste, season and take off the heat

Spread the filling over the bottom of the lasagne dish | Spoon the potato into the piping bag, if using, and pipe tightly packed walnut-sized whips of potato all over, otherwise spoon over the potato and spread it out with the back of a spoon, then drag over a fork to make rows that will catch in the oven

Put the pie in the oven and bake for 25–30 minutes, until starting to crisp and turn golden brown | Remove and serve!


Beans & Wilted Greens

Another great way to use up the spring greens, chard, kale and perpetual spinach

450g cannellini beans, haricot beans or chickpeas (soaked overnight)
1 onion
1 carrot
1.5 litre water or stock
Large bunch of spring greens/ chard / kale / perpetual spinach (or a mix of all) - chopped
3 cloves of garlic
5-6 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp chopped Rosemary

Drain beans and put in a heavy bottomed pan with onion and carrot, cover with water/stock and bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer, season and leave for 45 minutes until tender (might need longer for chickpeas) and then remove from the heat removing the carrot and onion.

Sauté the garlic and rosemary in olive oil for 1 minute. Add beans and a cup of the cooking liquid and simmer for 5 minutes until some of the beans have crumbled apart.  Add the greens and stew together, uncovered, until the greens are wilted and tender.

Season with salt and pepper and serve drizzled with a little olive oil. Serve and Enjoy.
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