Patio Produce

hermum

Vaseline around the pot in a wide band is supposed to work you can also buy tape in garden centres or try ebay, that I assume does the same job & they can't get a grip. They also don't like grit, maybe try putting that around the pots. I wonder if crunched egg shells would stop them???????? Very MSE

bushie_2

Hi,
I'm also growing in my yard for the first time this year, bit nervous about it, have grown in a garden before with good results 3 years ago, but the garden was my sacrifice for finally getting onto the mortgage ladder at last!

Just wanted to share I will be growing potatoes in tyres, not sure what my neighbours reaction will be when tyres appear in the yard though :eek:

There is a trye place near to me, they are more than happy to provide for me, they get charged for having them taken away so win-win!:j

RHYSDAD

Apparently wood ash from a fire sprinkled around pots discourages slugs. They don't like to get their 'foot' dried up

boultdj

all my stuff grown in pots hanging baskets,i use broken up polistire in bottom of pots including my AutumBliss raspberries,just have to lift and repot every other year,same with my rhubarb.hope it helps.

Emma_whitnash

Greatgimp wrote: »

Has anybody tried raising the pots (if not too big) and making them an 'island' in a pot dish (saucer shape) of water? At least the cursed things would have to swim or hire a slugmarine to get a meal!

Beer works a treat. Put some in cups or saucers (cups lower into the ground slightly), slugs & snails are attracted by the sweet smell and die happy! Cider also works (sweet smell). I'ved used this method the last few years and zapped loads of em.

Also for growing, black binliners work for spuds!

ixwood

You're supposed to raise the lip of beer slug traps above ground level, so beetles don't get trapped too.

Amarillo

Little barricades from copper pennies saved my parsnips from being munched.

Mange tout did very well in pots last year and I have the seeds for a runner bean called Hestia that I think is supposed to be good.

Last year I had success with aubergines and cucumbers in one of those plastic greenhouses. Did well with tomatoes, peppers, chilli. Our one courgette was in a plastic tub and gave us loads. Had a melon in a pot under a cloche which gave the grand total of one melon.

Carrots were rubbish. We had some tomatoes in hanging baskets which worked well. A friend is going to do strawberries in baskets this year which sounds like a good plan as you won't need to worry about putting straw under.

Blueberries do well in pots but are a long term investment and you don't get many at first, plus you need erricaceous soil.

Be inventive with containers. Plastic storage tubs are very handy, flower buckets, old buckets etc and our local garden centre has free pots outside which was very handy. I got my DS to make lots of pots out of newspaper wrapped round an aerosol can for seedlings and used old fruit punnets, takeaway containers, yoghurt pots to get thing started.

Primrose

I really recommend you try growing the tumbling varieties of tomato which can be grown in big pots. They don't need staking or sideshooting - just a pot at least a foot across and about a minimum of ten inches deep to accommodate the roots. Try Tumbling Red or Tumbling Yellow varieties and if you patio is hot and sunny, mix some water retention crystals in with the compost to help retain moisture in hot weather as tomatoes need a lot of moisture round the roots. Each tumbling plant will crop prolifically.

Mixed salad leaves are well worth growing too. Sow a few at a time so that you get a succession through the summer.

Peppers, aubergines & chillis also grow well in large pots outside in a sunny place. Start sowing the seeds on an indoor window sill now but don't plant them out until late June at they're really heat & sun loving plants. I get good crops of these grown outside on my sunny patio. Hungarian Wax chilli are an attractive largish variety to grow as they're very decorative too, turning from green to yellow to orange to red as they ripen.

Courgettes & squashes really need to grow in open ground rather than containers because they are spreading plants but you could try growing Mini cucumbers in a deep pot and let them climb up some strong canes for support.

Furny

Oooh,thanks for this thread as i'm a novice found the info really helpfull, my notebook is starting to brim with seeds,soils,pots info.

Furny

P.s Regarding the Patio Produce book,someone added on my thread that they had it & was very good,plus the reviews say so,i'm thinking of ordering it too.