Grow with a Pro, October Edition
3rd Oct 2022
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Overview / what’s happening this month
It’s been gratifying this month to be able to supply fresh organic greens to friends and family, such is the amount coming out of the glasshouse (I can’t keep up with eating it all). I’ve planted pineapple, been dealing with slugs and snails, trained the recently planted tomatoes and been propagating lot’s of plants from cuttings. I’ve also removed half the shelving (as a lot of plants have gone out on jobs) and this has allowed more light to the ground floor which the silverbeet is appreciating.
Slugs and snails
There are a few ways of dealing with these unwelcome critters who seem to gravitate towards the kale and jackfruit first. One is to don the head torch and pick them off after dark (they are very easy to spot). The other way which is also highly effective (and less work) is to fill a small dish or jar lid with beer and leave dotted amongst the plants. Slugs particularly like beer and will drown themselves in the dish. I can’t vouch for the effectiveness of different brands of beer as I only tend to have craft IPA lying around. I’m guessing all kinds work though. I push the dish down into the soil a little to make it easier for the slugs to climb in. Within 2 days and with 3 of these dishes on the ground floor my slug problem was completely gone.
Training tomatoes
I planted cherry tomatoes 3 weeks ago (purchased seedlings from Mitre 10) and already have my first baby tomatoes forming. Growth is quick and I’ve had to train these plants already using Yates garden twine. Winter Gardenz supplied me with hanging brackets that attach / screw to the bolt channels in all of the upright and roof ribs of the glasshouse and contain holes to tie twine to. It’s a very simple but effective system.