Advice for a hopeless gardener

[Frnc]

Courgette seedlings vanished without trace overnight. Very strange, that there's no sign they were ever there. Yesterday I was sure there were. Either they got 100.00% eaten, or they were actually a small pair of leaves that got blown there and blown away (my eyesight isn't great), or I'm going mad. Back to square one, either way. Not sure whether to order some different seeds or what. Copper strip arrives tomorrow. Only £2.50 for 4m, which is almost enough for the raised bed. Think I'll order another and use the extra as a little free standing wall around seedlings.

[GillyBee]

I think you would spot courgette leaves. They are big. Maybe 2 cm long so if the leaf was tiny it wasn't a courgette.
Poppy meanwhile is miniscule when it comes up. They self seed in my garden which saves me sowing them. I would like the breadseed version but am not sure how it will cross with the existing "opium" poppies which I rather like .

[jennyjj01]

Courgette seedlings vanished without trace overnight. Very strange, that there's no sign they were ever there. Yesterday I was sure there were. Either they got 100.00% eaten, or they were actually a small pair of leaves that got blown there and blown away (my eyesight isn't great), or I'm going mad. Back to square one, either way. Not sure whether to order some different seeds or what. Copper strip arrives tomorrow. Only £2.50 for 4m, which is almost enough for the raised bed. Think I'll order another and use the extra as a little free standing wall around seedlings.

LOL. I feel your pain. You sound like me, digging the seeds out every day to see how they're doing. When mine popped through, even with my eyesight, they were conspicuous, bright, light green and smooth with the rather large husk of the shell clinging to the leaf.
I'm guessing some critter had yours. Maybe a bird?
I recently got a security camera which i haven't got round to fitting yet. It's got infra red and night vision and pings my phone if anything moves. if I thought any critters were getting near Curtis, I'd have him on 24/7 surveillance. I'm thinking of having it guarding my 7 green strawberries. Last year's crop of one got 1/3 devoured by ants.
I've just looked up copper tape on amazon. £7 for 25 metres. Reading reviews, lots of people saying that the snails love climbing over it.!!! https://www.amazon.co.uk/product-review ... filter-bar
So, onwards to Youtube, where experimenters seem to show that copper tape is not effective.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=copper+tape+f ... MlbXXYvkpw

Further research and even the BBC Gardening site recommends using pinking shears to give the tape a spikey edge.
https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/m ... pper-tape/
https://www.gardenmyths.com/how-to-get- ... th-copper/
The Royal Horticulturist Society flat out asserts that copper tape and even eggshells don't work... Or at least there's no evidence.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... and-snails
https://www.rhs.org.uk/science/articles ... and-snails

So...... I'm inclined to give up on the idea of copper tape. but I like the idea of beer traps. Also one or two sites say to leave some bits of leafy greens at a feeding station to tempt them in, and keep kidnapping and murdering them. Sites say to kill them humanely, by freezing.... Sorry, but that's a no from me. Snails get thrown. Slugs get salted.

[jansman]

poison! I stocked up on metaldahyde ( don’t think that’s spelt correctly ) pellets before the ban. I don’t use many,but they work. My reason is that come SHTF, slugs and snails could wreck a crop. I didn’t protect my newly germinated beans,and I lost half to snails. Fortunately it’s early enough to re sow.

[jennyjj01]

poison! I stocked up on metaldahyde ( don’t think that’s spelt correctly ) pellets before the ban. I don’t use many,but they work. My reason is that come SHTF, slugs and snails could wreck a crop. I didn’t protect my newly germinated beans,and I lost half to snails. Fortunately it’s early enough to re sow.

Interesting.... So those old blue slug pellets Limacide got banned in the UK, and immediately lots of manufactures came out with blue slug pellets that claimed to kill slugs and snails, but not with that ingredient?.... Something smells of snake oil in the products currently on sale.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaldehy ... macide.JPG

snake oil???

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=slug+kille ... tvtqtjdz_b

" Alternative pellets containing ferric phosphate have been proven to be just as effective, and are suitable for use (sparingly) in the organic growing area. "

[jansman]

poison! I stocked up on metaldahyde ( don’t think that’s spelt correctly ) pellets before the ban. I don’t use many,but they work. My reason is that come SHTF, slugs and snails could wreck a crop. I didn’t protect my newly germinated beans,and I lost half to snails. Fortunately it’s early enough to re sow.

Interesting.... So those old blue slug pellets Limacide got banned in the UK, and immediately lots of manufactures came out with blue slug pellets that claimed to kill slugs and snails, but not with that ingredient?.... Something smells of snake oil in the products currently on sale.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaldehy ... macide.JPG

snake oil???

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=slug+kille ... tvtqtjdz_b

" Alternative pellets containing ferric phosphate have been proven to be just as effective, and are suitable for use (sparingly) in the organic growing area. "

They were banned as birds were picking them up, and they basically got into the food chain. Mine are sown under tiles. Incidentally, farmers can still use them , as long as they are buried ( ploughed in) to kill Keel slugs , a real enemy of spuds. My farmer neighbour told me that he can let me have some when my stash depletes. As long as I supply a brace of rabbits and keep my gob shut locally.

[GillyBee]

The ferric phosphate ones do work but I hesitate to say use them sparingly. The only year I made a big dent in the slimy population was when the lid came off the pellet dispenser unexpectedly and I found myself having to pick them up and spread them as I could. (Half a box in one go is not sparing...)

[jennyjj01]

The ferric phosphate ones do work but I hesitate to say use them sparingly. The only year I made a big dent in the slimy population was when the lid came off the pellet dispenser unexpectedly and I found myself having to pick them up and spread them as I could. (Half a box in one go is not sparing...)

LOL. you're not supposed to bombard the slugs or crush them under the weight, or build a pellet wall.

[Frnc]

When mine popped through, even with my eyesight, they were conspicuous, bright, light green and smooth with the rather large husk of the shell clinging to the leaf.
I'm guessing some critter had yours. Maybe a bird?

So...... I'm inclined to give up on the idea of copper tape. but I like the idea of beer traps. Also one or two sites say to leave some bits of leafy greens at a feeding station to tempt them in, and keep kidnapping and murdering them. Sites say to kill them humanely, by freezing.... Sorry, but that's a no from me. Snails get thrown. Slugs get salted.

I do have netting over, but it's only just above the surface so a bird could have pecked through. I have some courgette seedlings that have survived so far. Built an eggshell wall around those. I'll plant some more courgette seeds today, and raise the net. Also I'll add some soil, it's mostly compost, not very well rotted. Gonna earth up the spuds, 3rd time. And plant my onion sets.
Slugs seem to have started to go after the peas, but they are growing well so not too concerned. Nearly 3 ft tall, to the top of the netting. Will be through the roof soon.
Not sure I'm, gonna bother with tomatoes this year now.
Lettuce, planted twice, no sign. Ditto kale. Broccoli grew but got eaten by slugs. Carrots sown twice, saw one seedling that vanished.
Good job I like peas.
My garden has loads of green stuff that's not veg. Why can't the slugs eat that?

[jennyjj01]

I do have netting over, but it's only just above the surface so a bird could have pecked through. I have some courgette seedlings that have survived so far. Built an eggshell wall around those. I'll plant some more courgette seeds today, and raise the net. Also I'll add some soil, it's mostly compost, not very well rotted. Gonna earth up the spuds, 3rd time. And plant my onion sets.
Slugs seem to have started to go after the peas, but they are growing well so not too concerned. Nearly 3 ft tall, to the top of the netting. Will be through the roof soon.
Not sure I'm, gonna bother with tomatoes this year now.
Lettuce, planted twice, no sign. Ditto kale. Broccoli grew but got eaten by slugs. Carrots sown twice, saw one seedling that vanished.
Good job I like peas.
My garden has loads of green stuff that's not veg. Why can't the slugs eat that?

We're both doing well I think it's really helped to coax each-other along and compare notes.

Funny you say it's a good job you like peas.... I'm going to struggle to get my crops eaten by family There's only me that likes fresh veg and there's a limit to how much I can eat. Looks Like I'll have two years worth of parsnips after all the trouble I had getting them started. Even peas could be a problem and it would upset me to go to the trouble of shelling them, to have my tasting panel leave them on the plate.
Know what you mean about tomatoes. For all my efforts, I have only two big bushy ones out of about 50 sown. Peppers, aubergines and okra are still tiny. Maybe they'll catch up when it gets warmer.

I must say the kratsky hydroponics looks to be working well. I wish I'd tried it sooner. Definitely a great learning year so far. But rather expensive.