Saturday, March 14, 2009

Slugs slogged

I can inform you that low alcohol beer is both appealing and fatal to slugs. The count from my 2 littls traps this morning was 16, in each one. I'm pleased I caught them, but I'm surprised there were so many about already.

This little victory aside, it was a day of small jobs. I cleared the lawn, thinned my celery seedlings, and prepared a new set of 3 pots to go on the patio table. I'll add a photo of these soon - I left my camera plugged into the computer by mistake and it lost its charge.

I went to the nearest mini garden centre. They have several types of euphorbia I would dearly love. I don't like being a fan of such trendy plants but then that in itself is a naff way to look at it really. I bought a little hyacinth though called Woodstock, a purple colour and an amazing scent, I'll try to get some of them to plant later.

Oh and another good thing: I found a peony. I was fearing that either Pippa had kicked its shoots off or it had died but in fact I had buried it under the mulch of compost I added a weeks or so ago. I carefully moved this a little to the side, since I vaguely remember peonies are not suppposed to be buried too deeply. This is a pink one; my favourite, a white, did die about 3 years ago. I would love another.

I was thinking of going to Kew as I pass through London this Friday but I see entrance costs £13! Worth it for a full day maybe but only in the main growing season. This is a shame because Kew would be nicest to me out of it, to see things in the glasshouses.

9 comments:

  1. In my Palo Alto garden I had many snails among the Calla Lilies. I put out a pie tin of beer one night, and the next morning found five empty snail shells in it. The local raccoon had apparently enjoyed a dish of escargots marinated in beer....

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  2. I use Sluggo, an organic snail bait, but maybe I should try the beer traps first this year. I had no idea they were so effective.

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  3. Daffodil - superb! I wonder whether the raccoon felt any effects himself...

    Sheis - they're superb but you do need to find cheap beer for it. Here you can buy specail gizmos to use but I cut the bottome 3-4 inches from plastic bottles and use those.

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  4. Sorry for misspelling your name Sheila - my typing is fast and dreadfully inaccurate.

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  5. Hi Emily, it doesn't seem quite right to kill slugs with low alcohol beer LOL! On the other hand I guess its not quite the done thing to go eating off all our plants either is it. Bob.

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  6. Emily...slugs love BEER! I had a MAJOR slug problem last summer. I set out shallow dishes with beer all over my garden, and each day there would be 15+ slugs in each one! They are drawn to it. I am sure I will be doing it again this year...but it definitely works

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  7. Thank you all :)

    I wish someone would make a perfume that smelled of freshley mown grass. (I also love wet-dog smell, but I'm told the market for that might be rather smaller.)

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  8. If you dont mind using bird friendly slug pellets im told to use them on 14th febuary not valentines day slug pellet day. It kills the baby slugs as they hatch. thank you for your kind comments. vicki

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  9. I remember Kew being free. It ought to be, if we want youngsters to start an interest in gardens and plants. Such a high entrance fee is prohibitive. Especially for a short visit at a dull time of year.
    Tell me more about the beer trap. How does one set it up? I didn't realize that the enemy was on the warpath already.
    jo

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