by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Growing your own food is becoming once again more and more popular though, while in some areas an allotment cannot be had for love or money in other boroughs they go begging.
I have just come to that conclusion with regards to my food growing in my at home allotment as some things just will not do well here. There are the slugs and snail to contend with and then the location of this garden – with the property being surrounded by trees – lacks the right light condition for some foods.
Potatoes do well, as do Jerusalem Artichoke (aka Sun Chokes). Beans of all types seem to do fire as do carrots, as long as they are grown “at height” to be safe from the root fly. Some abandoned shopping carts do invaluable service there.
Cucumbers, courgettes (zucchini), marrows, etc., also do well. Tomatoes on the other hand do not and brassicas time and again fall prey to the pigeons and the snails and slugs of all types and sizes.
So, I will be, for the next year, chose carefully what I will bother with and what not, as wasting my time I do not wish to do, as I did with the brassicas this year, once again.
While I know that nets would be fine to keep some things at bay, such as the pigeons and the cabbage white butterfly, etc., the snails and slugs seem to be a great menace that even nematodes and slug pellets have problems dealing with.
One the positive note, as said, growing your own is beneficial in many ways and taste, as far as I am concerned is a great reason, aside from the fact that you can save some money.
One skill I advise anyone to learn who thinks of starting or who has started to do his or her own food growing and that is preserving the harvest in which way ever. Pickling, canning, and all the other ways of old – plus freezing – are the skills to have to not waste the harvest.
So, get to it and touch the soil.
© 2012
