This May has been super challenging, the weather has been unseasonably cold, windy and rain has been all or nothing. I am also still trying to clear the site. Last year I got so far behind and the couch grass took up the slack. I also found that in area which had never been dug, the ground was too impacted to do no dig. So I am digging over these problem areas once. I know it is going to take some time, so I have covered a large area with black plastic, so that when I get around to that part, the weeds will have been killed off.
The challenge I am having is not panicking and thinking that I am failing. It is really helping to take lots of photos so that I can see the progress I am making. As always, some things are doing well and some are not. I still have a big slug problem, I believe this was partly due to the amount of cardboard I have been using as a mulch, although it kept the weeds down and helped with water retention, it also harboured lugs which have thrived. This is why I wanted to put in another pond. My original one was teaming with tadpoles last month, hopefully I should have an army of frogs developing, to balance the slugs out.
I have a table of plants in waiting at home. I am planting some out at a time, to see how they fair. It has been helpful to have so many, because if they fail, I have back ups. The slugs ate all the beans I planted out in one area, so I have planted some more in a pot in the greenhouse. My first batch of cabbages were eaten but my second are doing ok. It would be so much easier if I just put down slug pellets, but I wont because I don’t want to use chemicals at all. I have put down wine traps- lets see if they favour that over beer. My neighbour brews gallons of the stuff, so he gave me his wine rejects.
It is easy, at this time of the year to feel overwhelmed, there is so much to do, and until the plants are established and growing well, you have to keep a close eye on everything. My philosophy is to sow lots of what you need, to cover losses and little batches of things to spread your luck in successive sowings.
