Playing catch up

Have just planted out cosmos seedlings that I sowed in an unheated greenhouse in mid May to fill up gaps in the patch planted with late March indoor sown plants.  The March sowings will probably flower sooner, but in terms of size, the May plants are well on the way to catching up their older cousins.  Just goes to show that you can't beat the elements.  The tray of cosmos 'Purity' sown in late May is zooming along too, now that the weather has really started to show (albeit intermittent) signs of warming.  They are bursting to be potted on, and now that I have space after planting out, that is the next job on my list.

My slug repelling trials on my dahlias suggest that wool and coffee grounds are equally ineffectual, and that the wool pellets just give the slugs a clambering challenge which they seem to relish.  So, I have some healthy plants and some which I feel very sorry for - and some of the healthy ones didn't have any protection at all, so I'm at a loss to know why there is this variation. I suppose I should be grateful that it exists, however. It doesn't even relate to the size and vigour of the dahlia on planting it out - I have once huge plants reduced to spindly sad things and small plants equally targeted, whilst others have escaped virtually unscathed.  Maybe I should do a taste test myself and see if that's where the answer lies!

Who said coffee grounds deter slugs?  Mine seem undeterred by their caffeinacious experiences.

21/6/13  Update

Have just been down to the allotment and the plants there seem untroubled by slugs - even the ones which I haven't protected in any shape or form.  Long may it continue....  They are looking good at the moment and have given them a feed of nettle tea today, so hope they enjoyed their rather smelly tisane.