Slug Catching

It's been a while since I wrote about the garden, and in particular about the slugs.

Slug activity seemed to heighten around June/July time, probably compounded by the fact that we had another wet and not overly hot summer.

We'd initially tried beer traps but these were time consuming and messy and, over time, seemed to lose their effectiveness (though this may have been due to our change from half-decent lager to cheap bitter).  We we looked at other methods of catching them.

• Slug Hunting: Trips to the garden at night to hunt and kill slugs proved even more time consuming and messy than beer traps.  But great fun!
• Growing Success Slug Stop: Growing Success is a company that make organic garden products.  We were desperately trying to be organic!  And especially with poison, as we don't want other animals consuming it and dying.  We saw that we could buy their slug defence products in two sizes, and that the bigger size was far cheaper.  So we bought that.  What we didn't realise was that we'd bought "Slug Stop" instead of "Slug Killer"!  You put this white substance around the plants in quite large quantities, the slugs don't like it and so they don't crawl over it to the plants.  Only it doesn't work at all.
• Growing Success Slug Killer: Having realised our mistake we bought some of the more expensive organic blue slug pellets, which are also safe for kids and pets.  These seemed to work better, though we weren't sure how effective they were because we put them down at the same time as...
• NemaSlug: This is a bit freaky but these people breed nematode worms, which are natural predators against slugs.  They swim around in the soil, find slugs, bury inside them, and kill them from the inside out, reproducing as they do so.  They are all-natural, do not interfere with other wildlife, and once they've run out of food (slugs) they die back down to natural levels.  The nemaslug product temporarily increases the level of nematodes in the soil helping kill off the slug population.
  
  We gave one treatment of this late on in the season and it did really seem to help.  It's expensive but seems to be highly effective.  Perhaps we'll try it again next year!

We've also heard that there are plenty of other natural predators for slugs.  Songbirds, frogs, hedgehogs.  We will be looking at ways to encourage these slug eaters into our garden to help us out a bit next year.

It's alive!!!

It's been a while since the garden got much attention (though I'll be writing about the harvest soon), but this is a little set of observations that's been bouncing around in my head for a while.

Despite, or including, the slugs and creeping cinquefoil (this is what we thought was creeping buttercup), our garden is so alive with nature. Masses of it. It's awesome! Everyday, English creatures that exist all around us that you start to notice once you get close to the ground.

Earthworms: There are masses of them in our garden. Hundreds...probably many thousands. They're brilliantly camouflaged (yes, really, they look like plant roots!), live underground, and help to break down our soil and compost. Brilliant.

Frogs: We don't have a pond but we do have lots of clay-y soil and it's moisture rich. There's also a large patch of our garden that hasn't been weeded and has a thick layer of grass and weeds on it. This provides ample cover for the little amphibians and there's lots of them around. Also brilliantly camouflaged, they give you a real fright when they unexpectedly hop out of the grass. You have to be careful not to step on them at night though!

Spiders: If you were reading last year you'll know I love a good spider or two! And though we've moved house, we have plenty of arachnids in the new neighbourhood. Amazing co-ordination and web building skills. Awesome creatures. And there's a surprisingly large amount of them that just scuttle around on the ground too.

Bees: I'm not a huge fan of wasps (of which we've not seen very many this year), but bees are more tolerable. They seem to defy physics by flying, elegantly drifting from one flower to the next. They seem to come from far and wide in little teams to visit our plants. And, of course, we wouldn't have our fruits without their pollinating. Sadly, bees are rumoured to be in decline. We may well be setting up a little log or something next year to encourage bees to nest in our garden.

Everything else: There's beetles, ants, slugs and snails, weevils, grubs, caterpillars, centipedes. Really a plethora of different tiny creatures who make up the eco-system that is our garden. Some of them we love, some of them we hate, but they're all important in keeping the ground workable and fertile.

Nature is truly an awesome thing and when you get close to it you start to realise that even more. We praise God for the amazing things that has made, the detail of each little creature and the incredibly complex way that it all works together to bring us our food.

The Harvest

We've been harvesting for a while now.  We got:

• a good crop of onions;
• numerous, but quite small, potatoes;
• a few handfuls of tomatoes;
• leeks; 
  
• spring onions;
• peas.

Not very much of each, though, as you can see, the potatoes and onions were pretty good.

We did have quite a big blight problem, which spread from the potatoes to the tomatoes.

The stuff is good.  The onions and spring onions are strong.  The potatoes colourful and good texture.  The tomatoes burst with sweet flavour.

We've done pretty well given the state of the patch when we started, our busy lives, the minimal time and effort we put in towards the end of the season, and the fact that this year was really just learning how to do it.

We approach next year with a better plan, and a better plot! We have experience, tools, less preparation to do, and the encouragement of next years harvest to look forward to!

Gardening and Gods

I quoted from the Bible's book called "Exodus" only yesterday - here's a bit again from the 10 commandments: "You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below..."

It's hard to see what this might mean in modern times. We try to turn it into idolising things like wealth, fame, or work, and I'm sure that these are things we need to be careful not to become the focus of our lives, but somehow it doesn't quite seem the same. These don't feel like Gods somehow.

There are people out there that really do have other "Gods". Maybe they worship mother earth, or the rain gods, or the sun gods. Lots of gods have been created to symbolise things that we can't control and people ask them to control the things that we can't control. If I sacrifice a lamb to the rain God maybe he will send the rain we need for our crops? Is our scorching weather and drought because I've been a bad person and the weather Gods are looking down on me

As a new gardener lots of things start to take over your life. Weather is one of them. And it's getting personal! Who's in control of all this, and how do I get them to send the weather I need?!

It's annoying when it doesn't rain. I fear drought and our one 120l water butt will only last us a week or so. But it's also annoying when it's cold, or cloudy. Our plants love water, but they love heat and light too.

Gardening really puts you in a position where you depend on the weather. And it feels sometimes like it's having a go at you. I can clearly see how people saw drought and floods as punishment, prayed for rain, or for it to stop raining. I can understand the anthropomorphisation of nature. I can understand the relationship that people have had with the elements.

I can understand why these people had weather Gods, and that, somehow, makes the commandment all the more powerful.

I'm not a 7-day creationist, but I love the imagery of the creation story in the book of Genesis in the Bible. A book which clearly asserts that God, the God of Israel, and now the God of the world, made everything and has it all in his hands. I love the little details intended to dispell the myths of other Gods, such as the storytellers throwaway comment that "He also made the stars" (Gen 1:16) - you know, just while He was at it, might as well make a few little stars too.

And Jesus confirms both his deity and his power over nature in the calming of the storm and other such miracles.

So, I have a new understanding of other Gods. But I also have a continued faith in the one true God.

General Update

I've not written much lately but have some free time so it's a catchup kinda day. We've been on holiday (write-up of holiday thoughts to come) and feel a bit out of things, but we're slowly returning to normality.

Cycling

Continuing long rides into work and doing my 8.5 mile route most days now. Having new gear (the race blades and heart-rate monitor - review to come) has inspired me a bit and fitness has been getting up along with my mileage.

Fuzzy just had a good clean, but needs a couple of repairs after I took a fall in the rain not long ago, and crashed into a girl the other day. He continues to be my trusty steed and probably my third love in the world!

Of course, with the warm weather and long days, cycling is highly enjoyable at the moment.

Garden

Not getting as much attention as it should but doing well. We continue to fight slugs (beer traps have become less effective but we've taking to night-tie garden trips to kill them and are now using certified "Growing Success" stuff to keep them at bay) and harvest strwaberries. The strawberries have had no attention but have cropped first and delivered lots of tasty fruit already. Excellent!

Here's the garden a couple of weeks ago:

The potatoes, in the foreground, continue to grow well, and the onions are looking good too:

General

Generally we're pretty well. Sal is busy with work, I'm ticking over nicely in the office and not getting stressed - a far cry from last years troubles.

The church plant thinking is pretty much on hold while we wait for God to speak or for things to happen. And there's lots of exciting news from friends with babies being born, people going off to become vicars/ministers.

I also led worship for the first time last week, which was very exciting. For those that don't know what this means, I basically led the music for a church service; I picked the songs, did a little bit of arranging, made sure everyone knew what they were doing, organised the rehersal and introduced and led the songs themselves. It's important that this wasn't something great that I did, I love my God and it was all about getting other people to connect with Him and show their adoration for Him. But it was an important event for me too, so I mention it here state that it went well and that I enjoyed it, and then I leave it.

Life is good!

Garden Progress

Still way behind on the blog (I have lots of back-dated posts to write up), but it's just not a priority right now.

I did want to quickly give an update on the garden, as this is something that IS taking up a lot of our time and IS a priority.


We now have three rows of potatoes growing and three rows of onions, with a fourth of each planted. We're fighting the weeds off a bit at the moment too and I suspect that this will be a daily activity over the summer.

The spuds are awesome. These photos were taken about a week ago, but now that they've got leaves above ground they're growing at a phenomenal rate. You can see the difference from day to day. It's quite incredible and exciting.

While they've been growing we've been clearing more weeds and Sally's been planting Leeks, Celery and Tomatoes under plastic indoors. These came up REALLY quickly but are not yet strong and established plants that we can plant outside.

The digging and weeding has been hard and slow work but we are getting there. The photos below show you what we're dealing with.

Here's the whole plot:


And here's before and after shots of a patch that we've cleared (actually different patches but you get the idea...this is what we're going from and to):





So, it's hard work but rewarding, and on a sunny 27 degree day like today, not really what you want to be doing for several hours.

My new least favourite plants

When we moved to our first rented place in Swindon, we gained a garden! Something we'd not had for years. So it was novel and fun...especially watching the wildlife.

But there were downsides too....weeds!!! In that garden my enemy was Himalayan Balsam. A hollow, spineless plant. Not hugely ugly but lacking character. Shallow roots and hollow stems that snapped with a chilling crack. I loathed it and relished pulling it from the ground.

Now we're clearing our vegetable patch in the new house. It's bank holiday weekend and we're behind with planting so we had a long day of digging today. And I have two new least favourite plants.

One is Creeping Buttercup.

"Buttercups", you say, "how quaint!".

NO...how HORRID. A low, pervasive, ground-creeping plant with deep roots that's taken over most of our vegetable patch. It's the bain of my gardening life. It's one redeeming feature is that the roots spread down and not out, so it's easy to pull them up without having to dispose of great clods of earth at the same time.

The other is the dandelion. We now have a lawn, but it's in a bit of a state, and with our energies going into the veg patch, it might not see some attention for a while. And the dandelions are taking over.

From a distance they look quite nice. The view from the kitchen window is almost meadow like with a thin carpet of yellow flowers blooming. But closer inspection shows them for what they are...nasty, evil, deep-rooted, zombies of flowers with jagged leaves and spiny petals.

I'm gonna get rid of them. I don't know how but I will.

Pictures of the job at hand will follow soon!

General Easter Update

It's been a while and we're off on holiday tomorrow so here's a few thoughts to jot down before I go.

Easter and "The Passion"

It's Easter Sunday. Easter is obviously a hijacked pagan festival - witness the eggs and bunnies that symbolise new life as spring approaches - heck the date of easter even changes with the lunar cycle! But, regardless of that, this is the time when Christians celebrate that Jesus rose from the dead and brought us a new and different sort of life. God has forgiven us of the wrong we've done and we can follow Jesus in faith knowing that he died and was brought back from the dead to live forever. I join with the many today who shout "Hallelujah" - Praise the Lord!

It's been a good time of reflecting on what Jesus did and why it means so much to us. It
saddens me that people have so little understanding of the man at the centre of the Christian faith. I'm not the sort to ram it down people throats, but if they ask I'll happily explain, and highly recommend, my faith, that I have come to see as the truth. But the
occasions to explain to people are sadly limited, even at this time of the year.

Encouragingly, this year, the BBC has done a screening of a 4-part film of "The Passion" - the events of the last few days of Jesus' life. This has been very interesting to watch. Many have tried to interpret the events in their own ways down the years. I like the BBC's attempt. It feels quite real and give you a good sense of what Jerusalem was like at the time, and some insight into why certain people may have done what they did on that first Easter. What it lacked for me was a spiritual element - little prayer, no angels, no miracles, no fear of God. I thought the pharisees more interested in what was going on that then disciples. It felt earthly, lacking a heavenly God. A tale told, but somehow lacking the essence of what was really going on. A political revolution was definitely going on, but the "kingdom of God" seemed relegated to little more than a nice-to-have desire of the heart. I think it lacked...well...passion!

But good on the Beeb for showing such a thing. And don't get me wrong - it was a REALLY good re-enactment of what happened - captivating and compelling. It was just very non-committal too.

Oh, and there seems to have been a lot of chocolate around. Not sure what that's about.

Small Group Leading

I attend a thing called a "Small Group". This is a group of about 10 people from church who meet during the week to chat, pray, study the bible and share news together. Small groups are an important part of church life as they enable people to connect and meet in God's presence in a deeper way than you can in a larger group on the Sunday.

This week I led the group in a study. It was the first time I'd done this for a long time and it seemed to go down well, but I'm not entirely sure. It's always hard to judge how these things look from the other side. I really enjoy preparing and leading groups like this and I hope I'll get to do it again.

Garden

With 3 days off before our trip away, we were meant to be gardening. Both digging and planting. But the weather's been AWFUL. Snow, sleet, hail, rain, gales, freezing temperatures. So that'll have to wait. Longer days are coming so I suspect some evening digging may be required. We've not planted a thing yet and only have a small patch of weedless garden.

House

So instead we've been concentrating on the house. Sally's a star with painting and has made great progress on the dining room. We've committed quite a lot of the last couple of days to tidying up the edges and we're VERY nearly done. Here's the before and after:

As well as painting we've also put up another nice light. I confess, I thought this was a bit over the top for the small room, but Sally loves it and it is a beautiful thing and we got it for half price.

Wiring the new light in was interesting (as are most thing involving the electrics in our house). We have "loop in" wiring, so three cables come in from the ceiling; power in, power out, and the loop to the switch. This makes for a complicated bit of wiring to get the light connected up. However, in this fitting, the live and neutrals seemed to be wired backwards. All the black cables were where the reds should be, and vice versa. A quick chat with my dad and a few diagrams later and it appeared to be safe. After all, the previous fitting worked!

It seems that normally you have the three live wires tied together with power coming back from the switch to the light on the "spare" neutral cable. In our case, we had the three neutrals tied together with the spare live coming back from the switch. From a "logical" circuit point of view this means that the switch is on the neutral side of the light, rather than the live. There was no reason why it shouldn't work. And, indeed, it does!

I'm sure I should be more scared of electricals than I am. I'll get a nasty shock one day.

Rats!

Darn it. The rats are back. We've heard vague scratchings recently and dismissed it, but they were definitely up there last night. I can only see one little hole outside that they might be getting in. We've put fresh poison down and some proper rat traps in the loft. Grrr....

Cycling

Not much going on on the cycling front. I've been doing longer trips into work and back and generally enjoying being out on the Felt. Both bikes need a good clean which I was hoping to do this weekend and haven't got around too. Oh, and I had to replace another spoke on the Raleigh. Not sure how this one broke but fixing it was easy having done it before.

Had other transport problems too when the car started spluttering a bit on the way back from the outdoors show. Kwik Fit fixed it with a new clamp on the exhaust - the existing one had come loose. They charged me £2. Bargain!

Other Developments

There are some other interesting developments going on that I can't really talk about too. These are very much connected to our spiritual and church life and involve some interesting changes that are going on around us. Some of this is stuff that we thing God has been telling us might happen in some way over the last year so it's very exciting seeing how that might come to fruition. Please, if anyone's reading, don't ask us any questions because we can't answer them. I probably shouldn't even be putting the teaser out.

More will be apparent in the coming months, I hope!

Holiday

And so to probably our most anticipated holiday so far. We're only going to York and the Lake District, but we've both had such a hard few weeks at work that we REALLY need it. We're looking forward to our first bit of fell walking on our own (how will we get on without a more experienced guide?), and we'll hopefully have a rest in there too.

I will probably be quiet for a few days, both Blog and Twitter-wise. Back with some photos on Saturday!

Digging it.

Mud

Glorious mud.

That's what's at the end of our fairly large garden!

Oh, and weeds. Creeping buttercup apparently. The queen of weeds in the Wintle garden.

Our Garden

One big reason for buying the house that we bought was the c. 100ft garden. For a nearly-town house this is HUGE! And it's nicely split with some lawn, some patio and a vegetable patch.

There are numerous reasons why we think a veg patch is great:

1. It's OH SO ENGLISH!
2. We believe in buying locally
3. We're trying to be sustainable (might not achieve that this year but hope to in future years!)
4. We hate supermarket food packaging
   
5. Gardening is fun, and a good team-building opportunity
6. It will help us keep fit
7. Food will taste better
8. Eating vegetables will be SO much more satisfying knowing that we've grown them ourselves.
   

Oh and we've already decided that there's no point resisting the fact that we're turning into our parents so there's not real excuse NOT to get into gardening.

Preparing the Soil

Now, we bought the house in October and it took us a while to move and unpack and settle, so we've only really just seriously started thinking about the garden and from what we gather, all the weed killing processes (mulching, rotavating, poisoning and so on) start in the autumn and progress over the winter.

Failed Cardboard Mulching and so on...

We DID originally try laying lots of cardboard over the patch. This would remove the light and air and kill the plants and they would then rot into the ground! But this has only been a little bit successful. We didn't really have enough cardboard and it kept blowing away - you need LOTS of BIG boxes and heavy things to hold them down - fabric pegs are not strong enough. This probably works if you have lots of old carpet or something but just cardboard boxes really didn't do it.

The idea with rotavating is very similar - you chop everything up and over the winter it rots into the ground. We didn't do this. It would probably have worked better.

We didn't try herbicides as we're TRYING to be organic and not cover our nice veggies with nasty chemicals.

Digging

And so we find ourselves in the spring with a garden full of weeds. The only route...manual eradication! Yes, down on our hands and knees pulling up us much as we can, roots and all.

It's slow, back breaking work. But it's working. We're adding in some compost to our very-clay'y (?) soil and it's actually looking like something might grow in it! In fact, I'm quite encouraged by how much the weeds like the soil!

And our veggies will taste all the better for it!