101 Uses For is popular and let's hope it stays that way. Our second book is presently called 101 tips for self sufficiency; we will certainly dip into this section for ideas. So post away and let's try and get at least one thread up to 101.
I'm so glad for you!!! What do they look like - I'm not quite sure, but I'd like to be just in case I should kill the wrong ones (that would be tragedy!).
Ina
I'm a size 10, really; I wear a 20 for comfort. (Gina Yashere)
I just read the first two pages of this and I was so APPALLED I couldn't read anymore!!! How could you lot be so *&T()*)(* cruel to slugs.
They come into my house and eat my dog food, they have removed the heads of most of my baby plants in the greenhouse and I find the best way to deal with them is...
Pick them up, baby talk them whilst tickling them under their chins (YES they have chins!!!!) and then teach them to fly and teach them to swim (chuck em in the river!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)...
My question for you all is......... CAN they swim!??
Hmmm out of the corner of my eye, I see them slipping off their speedos as they attack my plants...
Has anyone mentioned bran? A lady I saw on a Gardeners World sprinkled bran all over the veggie garden and had no problems with slugs. She had to repeat it after rain, but it's pretty cheap!?
Yeap! Tis true!!! One day, in the absence of beer, I fed them Red Bull. Apparently Slugs + Caffeen don't mix too well - they were zipping around all over the place!
Just because it feels good, it doesn't make it right.
Not sure what number we are up to but here's another one to add to the collection. In the gardening section of the Daily Telegraph today Claudine Beaumont advises that slugs hate lavender, so to use it as a useful and attractive barricade. I don't really want to plant lavender around my runner beans but wonder if lavender clippings scattered around the plants would work? I may give it a go!
Thanks, Andy, that's great. I've had a really bad week and that's cheered me up no end.
BTW, the list is really well worth the read. Not sure what is says about us (I recognised my efforts which is scary enough).
"Rich, fatty foods are like destiny: they too, shape our ends." ~Author Unknown
52?? Cultivate your soil in the early spring and kill them while they hibernate.
53 Diatomaceous Earth. Powder made from ground up plant fossils, very sharp.
54 Vermiculite. add water so it swells up, place around your plants. Much as the slugs like the water, they dislike the movement.
55. Puree a yucca leaf, dilute and spray.
56. Garlic in Paraffin, spray.
57. Mixture of boiling water, chillies, horseradish root and a couple of handfulls of geranium leaves. Spray.
58. Damp carpet squares, left around the garden as slug hotels.
59. Cat food in a dish will be more desirable than cabbage or lettuce, also encourages hedgehogs.
60. Drown them in a bucket of soapy water. It breaks down the slime covering and dehydrates the slug so it will drown. Otherwise they will just crawl back out of the bucket!