[charliesmum]

I am having a go at growing my own veg for the first time, and as I was expecting lots of disasters, I only bought the cheap 19p seeds from Netto.

I have had about 90% germination out of them by growing them in my new greenhouse.

I am now getting ready to plant them out in my new allotment, and so far everything seems to be doing really well.

Is growing the seeds the easy part, and will the trouble start when I plant them out ?

[ytyynycefn]

Sounds like the first step on a loooooong journey to me!  

All seeds want to grow, and will do their damndest to get to a point where they can make babies.  Modern shop-bought seeds should be very reliable, so that's a fairly normal germination rate.

After hardening them off, they'll be in the big bad world - personally I've found the biggest threat is from slugs.  Depending on whether you're an organic type who wants to scare them away with stern looks and butterfly tears (loved that phrase so much I had to steal it!) - I am and I'm using neamtodes and big scissors :twisted: ; or if you're one of the chemical brothers there's always slug pellets.  If you do want to use pellets, you can minimise their impact on the local wildlife by putting a collar of pop bottle around each seedling and putting a couple of pellets in that - then the birds, frogs and hedgehogs won't be able to get at the poisonous corpses quite so easily.

You do have to resign yourself to some losses, but that's all part of the fun - and a great sense of acheivement when you do get something edible at the end of it all!

[richyrich7]

 Yes and No depends on all sorts of things slugs, snails, kids walking on them, weather etc all part of the rich tapestry of gardening, some years it's easy some it's not.  

[charliesmum]

I managed to get some slug pellets from Aldi that are suitable for organic growing, so have put some of them around the veg I have already planted.

Luckily we don't get rabbits, so I think mice might be one of my big problems

[azadaman]

If we dont get some rain soon we will all be having a bad year  

[agapanthus]

I managed to get some slug pellets from Aldi that are suitable for organic growing, so have put some of them around the veg I have already planted.

Luckily we don't get rabbits, so I think mice might be one of my big problems

Did'nt realise these were available

[charliesmum]

Agapanthus

It is called Slug Off and on the box it says it is 100% natural and suitable for organic gardening - mind you, it looks like cat litter

[sladefungus]

weve had a lot of rain here in Glasgow and while good for the seedlings its also brought out the weeds in full force and of course a billion slugs.  let the games begin!

[agapanthus]

Agapanthus

It is called Slug Off and on the box it says it is 100% natural and suitable for organic gardening - mind you, it looks like cat litter

Thanks Mum....I think I know aht you mean

[MrsMak]

It is called Slug Off and on the box it says it is 100% natural and suitable for organic gardening - mind you, it looks like cat litter

I think this is the stuff we used last year.  We decided it was probably a mix of grit and salt!  It did seem to be very effective, but needs replacing frequently including every time it rains (or every time it stops raining to be exact!)