i've been touched by the response to my decision to give up my allotment . Some people have tried to talk me out of it, but almost everyone was very understanding and recognised that . Emma Townshend of the Indie's A Nice Green Leaf blog wrote a lovely post bidding farewell to my allotment days and listing my "best bits", which was wonderful (I'd forgotten about that exploding pumpkin!) I will be keeping up this blog, and I am sure I'll still find plenty of horticultural matters to get my teeth into.
I visited the plot tonight for a brief recce of what needs removing before I hand in my notice and saw the Major for the first time in over a year. He looked the same as ever - a little ratty around the hind quarters, but generally sprightly. I'd assumed he was dead, so it was a welcome sight - just wish I'd had some food on hand to give him.
I should be able to harvest a good crop of garlic, strawberries and currants before I leave the plot for good, but seeing it again only confirmed my decision - there's bindweed starting an insidious romp across the chives and waist-high nettles around the compost bins. As I recognise in my book, allotments aren't for everyone - at this time of year it's several hours' work just to keep the weeds down, let alone grow anything - and right now, I have other things to do. I am sure I shall return to allotmenteering, but for now I am focusing on my garden.
Speaking of which - will you permit me a brief slug rant? I Nemaslugged the whole garden the other week and yet the molluscs - like the zombies in Shaun of the Dead - just keep on coming, laying waste to my oriental saladini and French beans. Someone recommended New Horizon garlic granules the other day, but the downside is your garden stinks of garlic. I must reinstate a formerly semi-successful strategy, which has the other benefit of being free - grapefruit halves (the flesh already eaten) placed on the soil, cut side down. The slugs love them and crawl inside overnight. In the morning you can either chuck the fruit and the slugs away, or squish the slugs and put the fruit back for another crop the next night.
In the meantime, anyone tried the rather amusingly titled Slug Buggers? I can't quite believe there's a gardener out there who doesn't wish death on slugs, but perhaps I am wrong.
Jane,
Haven't tried nematodes but I have to say I'm skeptical about Slug Buggers, having tried a few products that claim to be uncomfortable for slugs to cross. I think the slugs I get are hardy Northern types which will cross anything. Old grapefruit halves works well for me, as do old coconut shells. I take a 'blended' approach of many precautions which I've blogged about at http://www.growveg.com/growblogpost.aspx?id=28 and so far this year I haven't had any crops lost to slugs.
I just made the move from allotment to front garden after our baby daughter was born 6 weeks ago and I think it's very sensible - and amazing what you can produce in a small home garden if you just miss out some of the larger crops.
Posted by: Jeremy | June 12, 2008 at 10:12 AM
mix 1 part household ammonia:2 or 3 parts water in a trigger spray bottle. Go out at dusk and after dawn, and anytime after a rain and zap the little fellers. The ammonia and slug corpse combine to form a tiny dab of ammonium nitrate fertilizer. Good for the garden (unlike salt) and the slug, having done some good in its lifetime, albeit at the very tail end, has a chance of being reincarnated as a slightly higher life form.
Posted by: Molly | June 12, 2008 at 10:38 PM
Hello Jane,
I'm from the Slug Buggers PR agency and we thought we could share some Q&A's that might be of interest to your readers. Hope this helps and let us know how you all get on!
Q How do they work?
A When Slug Buggers get wet, the pellets join together to make a hairy, woolly carpet that really irritates slugs, so they’ll do a u-turn and find someone else’s plants to nibble on!
Q What area will a bucket of Slug Buggers cover?
A Your 3.5 litre bucket will cover a 1-1.2 m² area to protect your plants
Q How do I use them?
A Sprinkle the pellets in a circle around the base of the plant you’re defending, making a slug roadblock about 5cm wide all the way round.
Q How long do they last?
A Your fluffy Slug Buggers carpet will keep the little pests away for about 3 months, depending on the weather.
Q Do Slug Buggers do good things for my garden too?
A Yes! As the wool biodegrades it releases lots of lovely, nutritious nitrogen into your soil. If that’s not enough, because the Slug Buggers absorb water, they help keep your plants’ roots moist AND they’ll deter troublesome weeds when they’re used densely.
Posted by: Jake Stavrinides | June 13, 2008 at 01:32 PM
Hi Jane,
Read about your slug issue. Here are a couple no kill methods of slug removal.
Beer works as a trap, an aluminum pie tray works best, with a shallow layer of beer. Slugs are attracted to yeast. You can attract them to the beer and displace them.
A more effective recipe is 3 cups of water, 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 tbsp of yeast.
A couple more methods:
Try to go out to your garden at night to hand pick as many of them as you can.
or Apply crushed eggshells around the base of the plant to create a barrier that the slug can’t cross.
Hope this helps.
Mandy
Posted by: Garden Mandy | Organic Gardening | June 17, 2008 at 10:29 AM