Gardening

[Bayrisch_Dude]

Empty yoghurt pots, buried in the ground at ground level, 3/4 filled with beer... Slugs dig beer, and then fall into the yoghurt pot and drown in the beer...

I suppose I should be avoiding people's gardens this year....

[Fraufruit]

@kiplette - What do you used your compost for when it's full of snails?

The bloody crows woke me up at 5:00 today. Forgot to close my window. I hate that I have to close it on these cool evenings but the birds wake me up otherwise. My son suggested noise-canceling headphones. He's so funny.

[Franklan]

I suppose I should be avoiding people's gardens this year....

What happens when a scotsman drops a bottle of whisky on freshly laid tarmac?

His tongue turns black!

[Tap]

I guess I'm lucky, my tomato plants are in containers on the balcony, no slugs up here.

There's a nice crop coming along now, ready to start turning red any day.

[Robinson100]

Remember this?

High from Gilching


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Say hello

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- nice tomato plants you have there!

[Robinson100]

Back to the slug problem - never tried beer , but it could be the next thing I do try - just seems a shame to waste good beer on the little devils!!!

[snowingagain]

I found the night time hunts the most efficient. It meant I could collect the slugs and snails I did not want, and leave the ones I did. I froze them for a day, careful labelling recommended. I have leopard slugs, and those pretty coloured snails, and the occasional huge Weinbergerschecke (protected btw) which I leave in peace. They tend to be well behaved and only rottng stuff. Though as many have said here, young plants need to be protected with things like cut down plastic bottles. Nematodes are recommended as a parasite, but of course they infect all of them. The huge Spanish slugs I had are now gone. They are not attractive and many predators do not like them as they produce alarming amounts of goo which makes digesting them tricky.

[Robinson100]

Night hunts could be a solution for some people, but for me, it just would not fit into my life - I generally have to be up for work at around 4am, so can´t be out and about until the small hours, not even to fight the slugs!!!
A good solution for people on a different time-table!

[Alberto]

Last couple of weeks been stuffing myself with the berries from the garden. Especially strawby and himby (strawberries, and raspberries), but starting this year also some others.

And this week I even took a day off from work for making cherry jam. The huge tree in our garden is exactly next to our garage, whose roof happen to be flat. So I climb over the garage and I manage to at least double the harvest. Still only a small fraction of the whole cherries present, most of them rot on the ground or are eaten by birds. Nevertheless those I take are sufficient for the several dozens of jam jars (didn't count, but probably 60 jars).

Big work but lots of fun.

At the end of the summer it will be the turn of plums, mirabelle etc. Both from my garden and from the neighborhood. Never understood the why the neighbors think I'm weird taking the street fruit for making jam...... I mean, yes I am weird for many reasons, but harvesting free fruit and making jam with it it's not one of them. Oder...?

[Robinson100]

Never understood the why the neighbors think I'm weird taking the street fruit for making jam...... I mean, yes I am weird for many reasons, but harvesting free fruit and making jam with it it's not one of them. Oder...?

Not really weird at all, in my books, but then, I also like to make jam out of free fruit!
A bit jealous of your cherries already - the ones we have access to are not ripe yet, and then we have to fight about a million ants to get to them......
Our mirabella trees have absolutely no fruit on them this year, but all the local plum trees are absolutely laden with plums! Definitely a good year for them!

I was given/invited to pick a load of rhubarb only last week, and guess what I made with it? Yes, jam! I actually gave a jar of it to a colleague, and got the jar back empty two days later, with the comment that it was the best jam she had ever had in Germany(!) - she is from the Ukraine, but was here before the troubles started. Anyway, I gave her a second, larger jar!

[Tap]

I’m with you both on the free, or almost free, stuff. I grow my own tomatoes to make enough sauce until next year. I get rhubarb from a friend, and I make strawberry and rhubarb jam. I gather Mirabelle and blackberries and make jam with both of them. I also freeze some of the blackberries to make apple and blackberry crumble through the year when I get a longing for it. Then, the last job of the year is to get apples from the apple orchard in my area. The apples that don’t make the grade for apple juice are put outside to be taken. All they ask for is a donation to a local children’s charity, which I gladly make. I also use some of the apples to make my own mincemeat for Christmas mince pies.

For me, and I suspect for some of you, this has become a hobby, and, like Robinson, the reaction when people reaslise the difference between shop bought and homemade is very rewarding.

[Tap]

I'm curious, how is the battle with the slugs going for everyone?

My tomatoes are turning red now, but it's slow this year due to the cooler temperatures and lack of sun. However, my flowers seem to be thriving in it.

[dstanners]

The slugs lost the battle for cabbage....to the deer (and to rabbits in the case of strawberries).
Tomatoes still green here (always a bit later up here), but otherwise looking plentiful.
A family of foxes turned up at the bottom of the garden yesterday, so I guess that means that whilst I may be losing the battle to grow vegetables this year, my dog has unquestionably lost the battle for control of the garden.

[Emkay]

Just discovered this tip to get ants out of the house without killing them. Our cats often bring them in on their fur. A tiny bit of honey mixed with water soon lures the ants. Once collected, just put the bowl outside. When the water is gone, they just go off back into the garden. The wasps liked it too and definitely helped to prevent them coming into the house or bothering us outside. However, honey is very BAD for bees as it may contain ‘Faulbrutsporen’ and kill them. The next day, the insects equally loved plain water outdoors. Looks like insect Serengeti water hole

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[Robinson100]

However, honey is very BAD for bees as it may contain ‘Faulbrutsporen’ and kill them. The next day, the insects equally loved plain water outdoors. Looks like insect Serengeti water hole
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You could probably use sugar instead.....

[kiplette]

@kiplette - What do you used your compost for when it's full of snails?

On the garden - we sift it first anyway, and snail eggs are quite obvious.

Although I think I'm going to change my system and take the bucket to the other side of the Bolzplatz across the road - kid#1's research suggests they wont return if you take them more than 20m away.

[Alberto]

Getting very very huge amount of fantastic tomatoes these days.
I planted many small round ones, which are fab for salads and slightly less appreciated for sauces.
I still do make much sauces too, maybe 30 jars this year so far (more to come).

I love them, but not sure I'll still plant this many tomatoes next year though.
The plants keep growing all summer along and having to constantly upgrade their support takes much time. Sensible only if I was giving up family vacation....

How you all guys doing on the garden veg front?

[Robinson100]

Okay, so my tomatoes did really well, and even survived being taken to the new house.

Next problem is that we have an awful lot of apples (very small ones), and pears at the moment, and apart from making crumble with them, I am not sure what else I can do.
Any good ideas out there?
(I don´t have a juicer)......

[Alberto]

I used apples in the past to make Apple compote (btw why is it not called Apple jam?).
Basically, it's jam: chop the apples and cook with them sugar, then blend the whole with the immersion blender, while still very hot pour it in glass jars and immediately close tight.
Apples themselves already contain plenty of pectin, so perhaps you don't even need to use sugar with high pectin, "normal" sugar will likely do.
I guess I will make it this year again. In fact, this week.

[Tap]

Okay, so my tomatoes did really well, and even survived being taken to the new house.

Next problem is that we have an awful lot of apples (very small ones), and pears at the moment, and apart from making crumble with them, I am not sure what else I can do.
Any good ideas out there?
(I don´t have a juicer)......

Oh Rob, I wish I lived nearer to you because I would take a lot of those apples and pears to make compote. I made plum compote a couple of weeks ago and have about 10 jars. Now it's time to make apple and pear compote, it's lovely to have when all these fruits go out of season.

I used apples in the past to make Apple compote (btw why is it not called Apple jam?).
Basically, it's jam: chop the apples and cook with them sugar, then blend the whole with the immersion blender, while still very hot pour it in glass jars and immediately close tight.
Apples themselves already contain plenty of pectin, so perhaps you don't even need to use sugar with high pectin, "normal" sugar will likely do.
I guess I will make it this year again. In fact, this week.

Compote really isn't jam, nor is it used like a jam. I add a little apple wein or cider to my apple compote to give it a little kick.