It’s been quite a productive summer in the back yard. Despite being a typical concreted suburban Manchester yard we have tried to grow a few things in pots with some success and failure. 1 word – slugs! But more on that later.

We have managed to grow some stringy and french beans, tomatoes, courgettes and lots of different types of herbs and salads (Parsley, Rocket, Basil, Comfrey, Mixed Oriental Salad Leaves and Radishes)

Then there were nasturtiums, marigolds, geraniums, sunflowers. All of which made everything look a bit brighter and it was great to have dinner and a glass of wine outside on a warm summer’s evening.

The courgettes were a bit of a failure, loads of effort for a few puny courgettes – I think that shows you really need a good amount of soil as they take a lot of energy to grow. Oh and of course the super impressive sweetcorn! They were cool to watch grow unfortunately they do need lots of other sweetcorn with which to pollinate.

We also had a real problem earlier in the summer with slugs (didn’t everyone?). Every night I would be out there with my torch dispatching them carefully into the wheelie bin for transportation to slug heaven at the tip. Alternatively the times when I discovered one of them 80% through the stem of a courgette or bean plant they would find themselves being hurled 20 metres to hit the wall opposite – not very “vegetarian” I suppose.

It’s late September and the tomatoes are ripening slowly, hopefully that will happen before the frosts come or they’ll be used to make green tomato chutney.

We’re also starting to think about winter things, maybe putting some garlic gloves in pots and some indoor herbs.