What to plant next year that won't get eaten by pests??

mrscruffy

Hi all,

My first attempt of self-sufficiency was a mixed-bag of success. My cabbages were decimated by caterpillars but the leeks and carrots were left untouched and tasted great! I'm looking into what to grow next year and don't really want to spread chemicals all over the place just to get a cauliflower or cabbage when I can plant a leek and just leave it alone.

Q: What did the moneysavers grow this year that was left alone by the common garden pests (e.g. slugs, caterpilllar etc)?

Pandora123_2

Our fruit did great:
Blueberries (in pots on the patio)
Strawberries (on the garage roof and in hanging baskets)
Wild strawberries (in pots by the back door)
Raspberries (alongside the drive)

We picked the last of the blueberries about a week ago, the strawberries & wild strawberries are still going strong, as are the raspberries.

Our veg, which is planted in pots, troughs and raised beds, was a mixed bag:
Bush beans (decimated by slugs/snails)
Pole beans (planted late, but doing well)
Peas (decimated by slugs/snails)
Radish (planted with the peas and heavily munched)
Kale (excellent crop, as we learned from last year how to keep away the cabbage butterfly)
Chard (did well, somewhat munched, but grows quickly)
Tomatoes (lost probably half the crop to blight, remainder doing okay. No apparent pest attacks.)
Lettuce (managed to keep slugs/snails off a lot of it, still doing well)
Sweetcorn (doing great, no pests)
Oca (a root crop, takes a long time to crop but completely unaffected by pests & disease)
Other brassicas like broccoli raab, turnip, ethiopian cabbage (did quite well as they were under protection along with the kale)

:A

Jayar

Pandora, I just want to say thanks for such a comprehensive and helpful post. Lots of ideas there for me for next year.

Pandora123_2

Jayar wrote: »

Pandora, I just want to say thanks for such a comprehensive and helpful post. Lots of ideas there for me for next year.

No probs. If you're doing soft fruit, don't get gooseberries or currants... mine have been attacked by gooseberry sawfly, which you have to pick off by hand if you don't want to use chemicals. That is such a pain!

We built a cage to go over top of our "brassica bed", just a simple wooden frame that my DH knocked together, and covered it with EnviroMesh. Light and rain can get through the mesh, but it's too fine for the cabbage butterfly to get through, and it can't lay it's eggs on the leaves. It was pretty gross dealing with big green caterpillars all over our kale last year, so we were determined to keep them off this year.

If you're growing in pots, we've found that if you set the pot on a gravelled area, the slugs/snails don't like crossing it and won't go into the pots. It's a challenge keeping them off the lettuce otherwise though, as they love the stuff. We finally resorted to buying manky lettuce from the supermarket (the stuff they reduce at the end of the day) to lay at the base of the pots. They don't seem to bother climbing the pots when there are free pickings at the base. We collected the slugs in the evening and relocated them to the nettle patch at the end of the road (I'm squeamish about killing things).

They also love beans, which is why our bush beans got decimated, but if you can get pole beans up to a decent height before the slugs attack them too much, then they are too big and tall for the slugs to do too much damage.

Oh, another veg we're growing is a cucumber-related one called achocha, it hasn't been attacked either. Only thing is with all the rain we had, it's only now starting to fruit, so I don't know how much we'll get before it gets cold. Our real cucumber was also decimated by snails & slugs. (We bought our oca tubers from RealSeeds as well.)

We are going to try some cold-hardy lettuces over the fall & winter, under cloches. Hopefully the slugs & snails won't be around much in the cold (wishful thinking perhaps). It would be great to have fresh lettuces through the year.

Happy growing!

:A

Debt_Free_Chick

Brassicas (cabbage family) are a feast for cabbage white butterfly/caterpillars.

Just throw a fleece over them.

Having said that, although the caterpillars munch the outer leaves, I just leave them in the ground and eventually they recover.

Lotus-eater

Gooseberry sawfly, put a sheet around the bush, shake the bush from the bottom and alot of the green larve will fall off, then you have to have a look round the bush as well, or do the shaking thing every couple of days if you have alot.
I don't think they attack currents though, but I may be wrong. They do go for jostaberries as they are half gooseberry.

Pandora123_2

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Gooseberry sawfly, put a sheet around the bush, shake the bush from the bottom and alot of the green larve will fall off, then you have to have a look round the bush as well, or do the shaking thing every couple of days if you have alot.
I don't think they attack currents though, but I may be wrong. They do go for jostaberries as they are half gooseberry.

My white currant gets eaten by sawfly as well. Don't know about black or red currants though.

:A

Lotus-eater

Ahh, I've never grown white currents, so that would be that then Good to know.

Tbh its better to grow what you like to eat, then see how they get on in your environment rather than try to grow things that you think might not be attacked by anything, most things are.
Then learn to deal with the bugs and problems that attack them. If it turns out that you can't deal with them, or they are too much hard work, then try something else.

However some things that always seem to be ok are, rhubarb, french beans (once you get them going...), chard, raspberries, onions and leeks (apart from white rot, then you've really got problems for them anyway) and most herbs.

Do your rotations definately, expect to work harder for brassicas than anything else, be sensible net when needed and enjoy learning

stiffen

most things i have grown over the years get eaten or attacked by something, i have learned to live with it. i seem to have enough to eat from it all,thats nature.

sammy_kaye18

Hi all, growign this year literally went to pot - i didnt get around to planting anythign as i had school preperations to make and OHs hospital visits have been nightmare this year. SO next year is goign to be my learngin curve and i will fingers crossed get around to growign soem of my own fruti and vegetables. Im wanting to try jam makign next year so im thinking of growign raspberries and then bramble pickign so i can get a good few batches in and then i think ill try the basics food wise that we eat, so mainly carrots, peas, cucumber, tomatoes seem to be pretty good and who knows may have an attempt at Onions and see how i go - then the only thing id need to master was sweetcorn and swede and jobs a good un, but i will be growing in baskets and pots so fingers crossed i can get some good things next year. Other than potatoes, can brocolli and cauliflower be grown in tubs?? i think thats about all we have and sprouts at christmas!

BizzyBek

Don't forget companion planting - plant LOTS of marigolds next to your veg - it detracts the pests.

I am wicked and often resort to slug pellets Snails this year were unbelievable.