Is it just me or does it sometimes feel like you have a small arsenal in your garden shed and it is with military precision you must time your attack?
My war with the slimy devils (AKA slugs and snails) is starting to be in my favour. I have tried several methods for dealing with the slimy devils that have managed to decimate most of my dahlias and done their best to wreak havoc on the sweet peas!
I can with hand on my heart say that no, coffee grounds are no deterrent to these menaces, and whilst I have found many dead ones in my beer traps, I know the giant ones have not succumbed to these but just crawled drunkenly back out of them. Pet friendly pellets (Quash) has been sprinkled with wild abandon as our new puppy eats everything it finds in the garden. Baysol has been used in all my pots on the veranda where the puppy has no access to.
We also tried copper tape around the beds and strawberry planter boxes which is supposed to give them a little electric shock if they try to cross it. Whilst the tape held on well to my sons’ purple resin planter, it fell off over time from the wooden ones – even stapling them back on turned out to be a very temporary solution.
I am yet to convince my husband that a chicken or two would be beneficial to our garden and sort our bug problems (I will keep trying).
Our best success has been during night-time searches with a bucket of salty water or crushed underfoot. Two nights ago, the count got to 200 mostly because there are so many little baby slimys making their way into the garden from the lawn and we have had a bit of rain of late.
On another note, the Fungus Gnats have returned after I succumbed to spraying and apparently left an open invitation for white butterfly and the “fluffy bums” (AKA juvenile vine hoppers) to come along. They have been busy attacking from above and below in my vege beds, flower beds and even in the greenhouse.
Whilst I have done my best to do things as naturally as possible by attracting birds and beneficial insects to my garden, I think this latest bloom of bugs is unmanageable and now requires the arsenal to come out. I am planning a dusk attack with my arsenal when the bees are in their hives.
I also hope to have a clear evening to do this without wind or rain, then I can also pull out all my Yates goodies (AKA hoarding) as in my photo so I can feed everything again!
Happy Growing!
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