Tommy's Gardening Tips                                                BACK TO HOME : ARCHIVE INDEX

Hello there all you green-fingered friends - Tommy here!

For the next six weeks, while Steve takes his well-deserved rest, I will be offering advice on any of your horticultural problems. We all know that golf and gardening go hand-in-hand, so if you have any queries just let me know at the usual address, and I will do my best to send you all up the garden path.

This week-a plea for help from one very concerned pea grower:

To: admin@stationmasters.org.uk Subject: Gardening queries	All headers
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Grateful if you would forward the attached to Tommy in order he can answer my queries Best regards Neil H

I am concerned that something seems to be eating some of my peas

  Eaten peas

Uneaten peas                                                                                

Can Tommy tell me how some of my peas are getting eaten and some not and also what I can do to stop them getting eaten and what is eating them????

I also have a query with regard to Lobelia.  I always put my lobelia singly into trays when transplanting them, please see the photo.  I have heard that some people put them into groups of three or four.  Can Tommy please tell me which is the best method and why?

Dear Neil H, Many thanks for your query. I am not used to this new-fangled typewriter machine - so bear with me if I make an erse of it. It seems to me that you have a problem Neil. Unfortunately I have heard about you through the grapevine, and have to ask this question - do you leave any empty beer cans or wine bottles lying around close to where your peas are planted? If so - slugs are very partial to a spot of alcohol, something like yourself, and may have fancied a quick snack. Alternatively, the photos you have supplied point to what could be one of a number of troublesome pests, such as birds or mice. A 12-bore or carefully positioned trap may possibly be the answer in that instance. The pea-moth is also known to decimate crops such as yours, the treatment for which is moth-balls, placed strategically round the plant. Unfortunately, I have to admit that Captain Campbell knows a lot more than me about moth-balls given that his wallet is always full of moths! A crucial point however could be the fact that your 'eaten peas' are obviously planted alongside your strawsers which attracts all sorts of other predators.

With regard to your lobelia, it is obvious that the porosity coefficient of the ammophilous medium supporting your plants is directly related to the dioescious nature of the microphyllous capitulescence of the flower in your transplanting tray. In other words, your method is right and the other people you refer to haven't got a clue what they are speaking about.

If I can be of any assistance in the future, please let me know,

Yours peadawfully,

Tommy.

p.s. Come to think of it - has Max recently peed on your peas?

If you have any gardening queries - come to the expert : admin@stationmasters.org.uk

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