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May has been a very changeable month. It has been warm most of the time
with some good spells of sunshine although winds have
been severe, reaching gale force at times. This, combined with heavy rain,
caused havoc with climbers and tall perennials such as delphiniums.
At the start of the month, I transferred some courgettes from
the cold frames and planted them out on the compost heap. Although protected
within a ring of Slug Stoppa, slugs and snails managed to breach security and
made off with two out of eight plants. I have renewed the Slug Stoppa in a wider
band, but to no avail. The enemy has managed to cross a barrier 4" wide and
decimate all but three of the plants. There are also holes appearing in the
original lettuces that were planted out in the previous month and I have found a
fair number of slugs on all the plots that are allegedly protected by the Slug
stoppa. I have also lost several rows of perennial seedlings and a newly sown
row of lettuces seems to have suffered particularly badly.
Key:
Slight predation....
Heavy predation
The Brassica patch is still being decimated by pigeons and I
have had to resort to growing plants on in the cold frames until they
are big enough to fend for themselves. Peas are just beginning to emerge but at
the moment have not suffered from predation. In the flower borders, I have never
seen so many slugs or snails but so far I have managed to plant out sunflowers
and morning glory without casualties. I would imagine that this is due to the
fact that there are so many tender morsels to choose from, rather than the
protection afforded by the Slug Stoppa.
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