Over the course of a week, I had watched as one by one slugs attacked my pepper plants, leaving only the stubble of a stalk and a few discarded leaves. I really didn’t want to use slug pellets. I had put down coffee grounds (fertilising and supposed to irritate slug bellies) and ground mace (it works for human attackers!), and would spent half an hour every night after darkness settled creeping round with a flashlight pulling slugs and snails off tender leaves. Fortunately, my neighbour Angel suggested trying this and it works!

Step 1: I used a plastic picnic cup cup as I don’t mind if it gets ruined with slime and a tin of beer. I actually like Polish beer, so this seemed like a bit of a waste until I learned the slugs like it too. I also decided to make a wee umbrella using a jam jar lid wider than the mouth of the cup and three small stakes, to keep the sun off and the rain out.

Polish tinned lager, 1 low tray, 1 plastic cup, 1 small pretty plant pot, 3 knitting needles for staking and 1 jam jar lid

As well as the dug-in trap, I laid out two traps that I could move around the garden as needed, using an old pot tray and a high, narrow plant pot. I’ve used this type of movable trap before, although I’ve always wondered whether the trek up and over the sides put them off.

Step 2: Next I dug a hole so that the rim of the cup sits just at surface level. The hole looks enormous with nothing in it, but it is probably about 3 x 2 inches.

Be careful at this point, I’ve exposed some roots

Step 3: Insert the cup to ensure it fits. I think it’s better to be conservative in your estimates, as it’s a bit easier to dig out than fill in to get the correct size.

Nestle the cup as close to surface-level as possible, so the slugs just slip right in

Step 4: As I mention above, I was a bit worried about rainwater diluted my beer, so I devised a cover that won’t interfere with the trap itself. After inserting the cup, I arranged three 7-inch 5mm DPNs to form a triangle that will support the jam jar lid to act as an umbrella.

Angle them slightly inwards so that they form a buttress to hold the lid in place

Step 5: Adding the beer is much easier if you gently remove the cup (but leave the stakes where thy are), fill the cup with beer and carefully sink back into the hole. The other option is pouring beer willy-nilly at the wrong angle so that the foam threatens to sop all over your garden. Trust me.

Careful with that beer! You don’t want to make the plants even tastier by sloshing it everywhere!

Step 6: Top with the jam jar lid and voila!

I don’t imagine slugs like watered down beer any more than I do

You do have to be a bit diligent about removing the slugs — I’ve discovered they aren’t as interested in beer when it smells of death. It’s pretty disgusting, but worth it. I’ve been replacing the beer every few days, although once summer hits properly it’ll have to be more frequent.

Even so, it works a treat! The sheltered dug-in slug trap.

A great natural solution to protecting my baby beans

If you try this technique, link to it so we can see! In the meantime, how do you protect your garden from slugs and snails?

Radishes, runner beans, beet seedlings, strawberries, cress and the guard zebra

This year I am back to gardening with a vengeance, so I thought a little update was in order! Why did I take so much time off? The trouble with container gardening is that once the soil has been depleted there’s nowhere to move the soil. So last year I followed the old farming technique of letting my garden fallow to rejuvenate the soil.

Bell peppers, a heap of seedlings of unknown origin, peas and potatoes

It’s actually much easier than you might think, mostly because it requires more patience than anything else, and it’s more effective than I could have hoped, too! I was able to bring life back to my container soil without throwing it out and starting again following these steps:

Step 1: Much to the despair of my neighbours, I let my pots transform into a tangle of weeds and beds of moss for at least one full season (here in London that means roughly February to November).

Step 2: About 14-18 weeks before I wanted to start growing, I pulled out the weeds but kept them to one side and lay down almost 30 litres of manure — and if my neighbours had a problem with the weeds, I can only imagine what they thought of this move! For me, that horsey dankness was the smell of my soil rebuilding itself.

Step 3: Over top of the manure, I layered the leaves and twigs of the weeds I’d pulled up (taking care to remove any roots) and let them dry as a sort of mulch. Those pots with moss I left alone.

Step 4: Then I let the whole thing overwinter.

Tomatoes, strawberries and runner beans

The result was wonderful! When I lifted up the nests of dried twigs and leaves and rolled back the moss, the soil underneath was rich and full of goodness (not to mention full of happy invertebrates)! You can see the results best under the strawberries and lettuce below. That there is 100% revitalised container soil.

Strawberries and two types of lettuce

Although I have several large plants, only a few of them have been grown by me as seeds. This year I found a whole bag full of seed packets under my sink, most of them nearly two years out of date! So I did what any cavalier gardener would do and chucked them into the soil to see what would grow. So far I’ve had the best luck with cress, radish, bean, pea and beet seedlings, which have all come up like mad. I have two pots with mixed seedlings and no idea what they might be because I, of course, neglected to keep a record. Carrots, definitely, and some herbs, but other than that I’ll just have to be patient to see what comes up.

Broad bean seedlings with my new favourite garden accessory: the dug-in slug trap

In my next post, I’m going to show-and-tell my Jerry-rigged greenhouse roof as well as my dug-in slug traps. (I was so pleased with my slug traps that I drew a diagram for my secondary-school students to demonstrate how effective they are. Response: ‘Miss, no offence, but you sound a little crazy.’)

From the Lilac through the Honeysuckle to the Raspberry, there is life yet in what were weather battered pot plants!

I just had to grab a few photos and share!!!!!

I just hope the lovely weather keeps up into May so I can introduce my chillies, tomatoes and peppers!!
Fingers crossed!!!

I had the awesome elephant print linen fabric from Knitting and Stitching Show at Ally Pally last year from the great and wonderful Eternal Maker so decided to use that with some pink polka dots cotton left over from another project and green polka dot light flannel for the ties!

It’s so cute and she loved it!!!!!

On Saturday night we were in the garden BBQ-ing some Beer Soaked Bratwurst and it was pretty warm as I only needed a cardi however suddenly it has decided to become icy!!

I really love an icy, snowy winter but now that I don’t have any soil or grassy area in the garden and everything I grow is in pots there becomes a much higher risk of the roots of my plants freezing in the winter months.

As I would normally dig holes in my soil and put my pots inside them to keep them snug I knew I needed another method, so I’ve been planning for a few months in preparation for the frost in the garden by collecting as much bubble wrap as possible.

This morning I went out and put my most vulnerable plants in the mini greenhouses (the chilli, the blueberry, the pond plants and the rush) and wrapped the remaining small potted plants in the bubble wrap.

Look at my lovely Chrysanthemum in bloom!!

There were plenty of new leaves on the ground so I gathered them up and placed a light layer over the soil of each pot too to keep in any heat and hopefully the leaves will decompose and collect the frost and not the soil directly. This method is pretty much taken from my old garden where I left all the fallen leaves on top of my plants over winter!!

I really hope that my trellis plants survive (clematis, honeysuckle and vines) as they are very delicate when in pots and they were doing soooooo well. I really need some good coverage next year to deter the crazy dog!!

Fingers crossed I’ve wrapped it all up warm enough I should maybe knit them little plant hats!!

It’s been a bit of a dramatic few months.

Me and my love decided we wanted a place that was all our own, we found a flat we loved, got a mortgage, bought it and moved in! All in the space of a few months!
We are slowly getting settled, however the big move for me was, of course, my garden.

My old little garden featured heavily on loumms,

from it’s beginnings as a weed filled mess

through becoming established

to the glory of a working kitchen garden,

I photographed and blogged my way through the process.

My pitfalls and triumphs were posted here along side all the wonderful food I got to make from what I succeeded in growing.

So as you can imagine it was hard to get my head around leaving it.
However I would never buy anywhere without an outside area and it turns out that my new little garden (all mine, not shared with 18 cats, loads of slugs and a tree!) is a dream!!!

I knew that I’d never be spoilt again in terms of the size of the last place and all I really wanted was a little area to relax in and grow my veggies.
I certainly found it!

As my dad said ‘you’ve got yourself a little sun trap here!’

I brought everything I had planted, 4 trips in the car with Emmms, in pots as I now have decking, and they are all thriving!

There is always a risk when up heaving established plants but so far they are all loving their new home.

My flowers, the Rush and the Vera are all sitting on top or some lovely early 19th century bricks I got from Freecycle and my Lily flowered for the first time ever (sorry no pic but it was a lovely delicate pink flower)

Along side them is my big pot containing what I originally thought to be two courgette plants which turns our to be one courgette

and one cucumber!!

Sooooo happy as I thought all of my cucumbers had died!

Beside the big pot, along the side wall are my two greenhouses.

One protecting my fruit trees (thanks Emmms!)

and the other has my 3 tomato plants, and my peppers and chilli plants.

For the moment, until we get our new garden furniture, I have some lilies, my onions, and a couple of my old rockery shrubs sitting on top of my old green wooden chairs and huge metal bucket.

Waiting for a home of its own is the thriving raspberry bush which is temporarily sitting between the BBQ and the wooden bench.

Dotted around on top of the walls are the Periwinkle

The silver fern

some thyme

and al load of general bits and pieces including the gift from my sister for my birthday, a cute little welly boot pot!

And perched on the window sill are my other herbs waiting for a new home on the balcony with the salad leaves.

and I’ve got a tap by the back door!!

So there it is, my new garden,

I love it!!!!!

Blueberry

Gooseberry

Raspberry

Just lush!!
I love the spring time

It needs a clean, tidy and re-paint but it will work for me!

I needed a shelving unit as I’m trying to create levels and different height perspectives in the garden so it was perfect!! For the moment though it has to hold my bits and pieces while I get the garden organised

 Love it!!

The tree at the back has bugged me for years however the new trees, full of disease and aphids and ivy, growing out of the big tree have bugged me more.

Since I began the garden all those years ago, I’ve never had the time/energy to do anything about it other than cover it up, so I took the opportunity now that the rest of the garden is doing well to saw off the tree growth!

Not only was there a new tree growing there was also the ivy to tackle with trunks the width of my calf winding their way around the branches.

So I took the saw and got on with my work.

About 3 hours later I succeeded.

Unfortunately I didn’t take a pic before hand and I can’t see to see one from last year as I always avoid this area when taking pics so we only have after shots!

As you can see from the stumps there was a lot to do!

Now I have a good extra foot and a half of garden space to play with, no nasty aphid covered tree and tangly ivy to contest with!

I also have 3 bags of firewood to use with the chiminea this summer!

Since I had the saw and the shears out I decided to cut back everything else ready for this years growth.

The best thing about mainly container growing my vege every year means that at the beginning of the season I can re arrange the whole garden!

I’m going to take everything out and work around my 3 surfaces, the back patio, centre lawn and front gravel patch in the next week or so and create myself a brand new garden to fill with my newly potted veggie plants!

I did courgette, cucumber, tomato, chilli’s (3 varieties) peppers, basil, coriander, mint and squash!

Obviously there will be more to come once the garden is prepared!

I then magically wake up at around 10.30am sometimes 11am if I’m really lucky!

Probably best to say that I’m not a great night shift worker/sleeper however it does mean that I normally get quite a lot done on a Tuesday before I’m back at work again that night.

Today was the garden.

I needed to get the Pund plants out before the frost hit as it is so small it would not take much for it to freeze over, so I organised for a friend to take them in his bigger pond over the winter.
Now at least they will have a fighting chance!

Both the lily and the water soldier that survived are bagged and ready to go to their new home.

(Check out the lovely leaf-less grass, all thanks to my new leaf blower a friend gave me!)

I also took the opportunity to re pot the Yukka and bring him indoors for the winter months. I’ve managed to leave him outside for a lot longer this year as the weather has been pretty mild.
I think it’s about time for him to feel the warmth of the central heating though !

Whilst I was in the re potting mood I also did the Aloe Vera. She is staying on the window ledge in the kitchen this year, so she may get a slight bit of sun, as last year when she was in the living room she received so little sun that she nearly didn’t make it through.

After all of that, I went back inside the house to wash up just as my alarm went off at 1pm!