What is eating my rhubarb leaves?

By Victoria Plum

This month’s mystery is: who did this damage to my rhubarb?

Not such a mystery really because it must have been snails, and I know that the wet and relatively mild winter certainly favoured snails and slugs, too. But I have never had such damage to rhubarb before.

Luckily for me and not too much of a problem, since the only food crops I grow are blueberries and raspberries. If I grew cabbages and lettuces I would be tearing my hair out.

(Did you know that that all rhubarb is subject to a dwarfing virus and if it were not so then rhubarb would be thirty feet tall?)

Meanwhile, my bindweed is doing very well and discussing the speed of weed growth in general with friends I find the majority still use Round up, which contains glyphosate.

But think on this, if you use Roundup every year – unbelievably, people do – why do they still have the same weeds each year?

I think that to truly eradicate something like bindweed, or at least keep it under control, you need to be very precise and regular in your application, and most people are not. They believe the advertising and expect instant magic from the product.

So, it’s better to try to be precise and regular in just pulling up the bindweed, and I have found this approach just as effective – and obviously better for the world.

Can you really believe all that stuff about how glyphosate becomes inactive and safe after application?

We talk about the weather incessantly and those people from countries with settled climates wonder why. Of course, it is because on our island the weather is always changing.

When I lived in Greece, I could organise a BBQ for two weeks’ time and know the weather would be good; not so in Norfolk.

The speaker at the Reepham & District Gardening Club for May was Chris Bell, who taught us much about cloud patterns and their weather indications with interesting photographs, mostly from our home area.

Pictures of the recent aurora borealis were gorgeous, and those taken over Morston with the colours reflected in the water were fascinating.

Did you know that in Orkney the aurora borealis is also known as the “Merry Dancers”?

At the next gardening club meeting, on Tuesday 18 June at 7.30 pm in the Town Hall, Church Street, Reepham, we will hear from Joe Carey from Carey Garden Design Studio, Holt, about “The Story of a Gold Winning Chelsea Show Garden”.

The annual plant sale on Saturday 11 May was, as always, a great success. So much so that more plants were needed, so off I go to the garden to set cuttings for next year’s sale.

Top: Who did this damage to my rhubarb? Below: The culprits: what beautiful creatures they are! Photos: Tina Sutton