[lazza]

I have so much sympathy for you... I know for certain that I have more failures than successes, but for me, part of the enjoyment is not just the produce, it's all about being outside, getting stuck in with nature, getting some exercise, and the sense of community (either real or electronic or both).

And in the end, when almost everything fails, I think the few things that do succeed taste just that little bit better 

[aelf]

Hubballi, You say that other things are growing well - that's great! Look on the bright side, things could be worse 

Every year my harvest across all that I grow is roughly like this:

30% fails, no real harvest, maybe enough for 1 meal
60% fair, a few harvests, enough for a few meals and maybe some for the freezer
10% glut, every meal for weeks and loads for the freezer

Every year different crops do well (giving me a glut) and others do ok or fail. That's just how it is and I reckon I'm doing quite well on that 

Don't give up - it's worth all the effort 

[hubballi]

This has just about finished me off. I find small white grubs in my Kale and Broccoli roots (the only plants that were looking good) What the hell do I do to save these ?

I could cry. It's only a small walled terraced garden. How can I be visited by every pest known to man ? Onion fly, carrot fly, cabbage root fly, abundance of slugs and snails. I have never had cabbage root fly before.

Oh, and all the carrots I had coming up have had their tops nibbled off by slugs.

DEPRESSING !!!!

[Debz]

The ends of my courgettes have rotted too.  I just cut them off and eat the rest.  The flower is rotting on the end because of all the rain and I am just not getting out often enough to look after them.  This year my beetroot has failed badly and has been fine on previous years.  My sweetcorn is not going to have enough time to get going because of a slow start with the cold weather we had and my tomatoes are still green.  My onions are unlikely to get very big either and my shallots have disappeared.  Next year I will try again with most of these things because the weather is bound to do something different and provide a whole lot of new challenges. 

I am assuming you are organic and that is why you are so troubled with slugs.  You don't know anyone who can lend you a couple of hens for a spot of free ranging before your veg goes in next year?  My hens made all the difference to the slug population in my garden and they were only let loose for a little while each week when I could supervise.

[stompy]

hubballi, don't give up!

When i first started i had a multitude of problems as you have.

Every other plot holder used to have fab crops and mine used to be very poor if not none existent in comparrison.

What i decide back then was to concentrate on say 2 or 3 specific crops a year, (i still planted all the other stuff but concentrated on getting 2 or 3 things right) i would give them everything they needed, feed, watering, "protection" from pests (etc) and found that generally they did well.

The next year knowing how to tend them correctly to get a good crop meant i could concentrate on the next 2 or 3 types of plant whilst using the previouse years results to guide me.

Just concentrate on getting 1, 2 or 3 things right and your confidence and enjoyment will grow along with your crops.

There is still plenty of time to get things in now, so pull the stuff up that hasn't done any good and start again and concentrate your efforts on getting just a few things absolutely right, then move on to the next thing 

[hubballi]

I have pulled all my Kale and Broccoli that are still visibly good (apparently Kale and Broccoli are rarely affected by this fly.) They are covered with the things. I have got them out the soil as best I can and am soaking the plants' roots and it seems to be working as all the grubs are coming out and drowning. I did this with Onion grub and it worked the same as I still have the onions growing with no infestation.

The other thing I noticed along with the fat grubs (tough little things that are hard to squash) were tiny white fly-ish things with a lot of tiny legs. Are these harmful ?

Now the next stage after a good soaking of roots and killing of grubs is what do I do. Shall I plant them back in the soil with collars or has the cabbage fly danger passed ? I will plant these back as I really don't want to lose them. 2 Purple sprouting broccoli are all we have and we love them. Had good crops a couple of years ago in spring.

Thanks for your support and encouragement but I hope you see my frustration. Especially when things that are so easy to grow don't for me.

[stompy]

Deffinately put collars o the brassicas, i use cardboard rings with a hole cut out the middle.
The cardboard gets wet and allows the stem to swell.

[hubballi]

So can I plant them out with collars later today ?

[Aunt Sally]

Can you post pictures for us to see.  It would really help us to advise you !

[hubballi]

I have described what I have and what I have done. I just need to know if I can get them back in the ground today with collars on. Don't really know why you would need photos as we know what the problem is.

[brokenglass]

Perhaps re-plant with collar protection then take pics of the whole area with some more foussed/limited areas covered to show the problems.       Advice is only any good if the problem is known to the advisor

[Aunt Sally]

Don't really know why you would need photos as we know what the problem is.

A picture paints a thousand words hubballi.  If you could post pictures of your problems the advice you are given would be much more accurate.

[Ice]

A picture of the grubs would help to identify them conclusively.

[hubballi]

The grubs that effect the cabbage family are surely only cabbage fly ? The reason I am asking is I can't really leave the plants soaking in water any longer for fear of killing them unless I plant them in temporary containers ?

[Aunt Sally]

It's not just the cabbage root fly is it though !

Every years it's the same. I start out with good, healthy plants and end up with them either being decimated by slugs, leaf miner and other weird things that happen. This last few days of rain have just about done it for bringing out slugs.

Courgettes: Ends of fruit rot.

Healthy Italian and curly kale. Stripped by slugs. Also starting to wilt.

Broccoli: Stripped leaves.

Broad Beans: Sparse crop. Twisted, distorted beans. Leaves with small holes in. Rusty colored. Black ends to beans.

Onions: Onion maggots.

French Raddish: despite sowing in compost, ground, shade etc they NEVER EVER swell. Just produce thin stems. Hardly grow at all.

Spring Onions: never getting any bigger after months. Then finally wilting and going rotten on top of compost.

Greenhouse:white fly and aphids.

Rocket: Small wispy, wimpy  leaves that wilt.

Chard: bolting and distorted leaves.

Carrots: foliage as small and as whispy as they were 3 months ago.

I have a small walled garden. I have tried soot, organic pellets for slugs. Feed and water all plants appropriately. Other plants in the soil doing well are peas, beans, raspberry, so it isn't a soil issue.

Perhaps I should give up :-(

If you would post pictures of your problems it would be much easier to tell you what is wrong !