GQT Gardeners’ Question Time
Bob Flowerdew
Bob is an organic gardener and has designed his garden to produce lots of veg, fruit and cut fowers.
Christine Walkden
Garden writer Christine appears on BBC1’s The One Show. She is also a lecturer and tour leader.
Matt Biggs
Matt trained at Kew and has been gardening professionally for more than 30 years.
Q Help! My veg patch is shady and full of snails
Jess, London
A CHRISTINE SAYS I would not give up on the vegetables, despite the shade and snails.
Leaf vegetables such as lettuce, cabbages, Brussels sprouts and salad crops do reasonably well in this situation. Is it possible to prune the trees a bit to reduce the shade that they cast, by lifting or thinning the canopy?
Control the snails by going out at night and physically removing and then disposing of them. Beer traps are said to work, but I have never found them that good at reducing the snail population. Slugs, yes, but not snails.
Growing your plants in pots or modules first, so they are a reasonable size before planting them out, may also result in more success than sowing direct.
Careful, sparing use of slug pellets based on ferric phosphate may also work as a last resort. Read the instructions – do not over-apply, and make sure they are stored safely.
A Many different vegetables will grow quite happily in a degree
