It’s remarkable how each and every growing season has been so different for us, from the weather to pests. Our first year in the veg, apart from slugs, was plain sailing. In subsequent years we’ve had to overcome different challenges.
This year, the summer has been pretty lousy. It’s been cold and overcast for prolonged periods and certain vegetables just haven’t been growing as quickly as they should. We’ve also had to contend with more attempted rabbit break-ins and the rabbit defences around the veg garden have received some upgrades.
We’ve successfully kept the slugs at bay using Nemaslug, which quite honestly is the most effective way of keeping them under control. We’ve provided a short video at the end of this post if you’d like to see how we use and apply Nemaslug.
We’re still using Ecoworm as our organic fertiliser and it continues to deliver great results.
Because the weather has been quite cool, we’ve seen a significant decrease in the number of butterflies this year – consequently, the brassicas have hardly been affected by caterpillars so far this year.
So let’s see how our vegetables have been performing. This year, all our vegetables have been from grown from seed, and we’ve exclusively used seeds from Thompson & Morgan.
Swiss Chard ‘Celebration’ – a star performer which has been slow to bolt. We’ve been consuming chard in vast quantities this year in stir fries, curries, soups and as a sautéed side veg.
Kale ‘Nero di Toscana’ (National Trust) – my favourite kale for curries. Took a while to get going, but it’s looking strong now and should provide us with harvests throughout the winter.
Cabbage chinese ‘Natsuki’ – another star performer. Quick to germinate and a ridiculously fast grower that offers a lot of delicious greens. We’ve been consuming a lot of it in our summer stir fries.
Cauliflower ‘Veronica’ (Summer/Autumn) – coming along nicely, and I cannot wait for this to be ready to harvest.
Salad Leaves ‘Cut ‘n’ Come Again’- Kew Collection Seeds – absolutely terrific. It’s been quick and easy to grow and we’ve had dozens of salads already. Slow to bolt. Winner.
Rocket ‘Sweet Oakleaf’ – Kew Collection Seeds – took a while to get going, but it’s looking strong now. Kirsten’s favourite on her Saturday night pizza. A nice gentle peppery flavour.
Potato ‘Maris Piper’ – our potatoes are looking healthier than ever. Should be a bumper harvest.
Squash ‘Sunshine’ F1 Hybrid (Winter) – looking healthy and full of fruit.
Pumpkin Zombie F1 Hybrid – also looking great and full of small fruit.
Cucumber ‘Mini Munch’ F1 Hybrid – has finally started fruiting, and the cold weather has not been kind of this plant. Had the first cucumber this week. Very tasty with a thick skin.
Pea ‘Jumbo’ – starting to grow quickly now after a slow start. Full of large, very sweet peas.
Globe Artichoke ‘Green Globe Improved’ F1 Hybrid – Kew Pollination Collection – coming along very well, but I don’t think we’ll get any fruit from them this year.
Tomato ‘Romello’ F1 Hybrid – growing quickly, and full of fruit. Hopefully we’ll start harvesting soon.
Tomato ‘Oh Happy Day’ F1 Hybrid – also growing quickly, and full of fruit. They just need a long warm spell now.
Cucamelon ‘Melothria’ – has not loved the weather and is growing incredibly slowly.
How to use Nemaslug
We’ve received some comments and messages about Nemaslug and how we use and apply it, so we made a short video explaining it.