It’s been a rather damp summer so far here in East Anglia. So the slugs and snails are out in force damaging our beans and other plants. I try to remember to go out at night and hunt for them as they slime their way around the greenhouse devouring my precious plants. Tonight’s tally was around 8 snails and 12 slugs. Ugh! I only have one out of five aubergine plants left and that one is looking pretty tattered as it is. I won’t use slug pellets because they do untold harm further down the food chain. Instead, I throw the offending beasts out of the greenhouse improving my bowling skills at the same time. I know that these little monsters are an important part of the ecosystem but like many other little beasts they don’t seem to understand the word “moderation”. I think climbing French beans, or maybe it’s just any beans are to them what chocolate is to me, an irresistable delicacy.

I have been experimenting with trying to grow vegetables under glass to produce an earlier than usual crop and have had some success. We have been harvesting beans for the last week and the tomatoes are turning red despite the lousy weather conditions. I have some early potatoes in a big Ikea bag languishing in another greenhouse and they look like they may be ready to harvest in the near future.

look what I found in the greenhouse!