Gloves? check. Headlamp? check. Tweezers? check. Slug hunting is serious business at our house. At least once a day, I (and often the kids) can be found out in the yard picking over my plants in search of slugs. It must be birthing time as my veggies are covered in tiny little ones. So I gently pick them off the leaves and stems and then either squash or salt them. I do wish they were smart enough to see me coming and find another yard, but so far not so much. I don't bother with beer - the dog drinks it and it rains a lot. The wheatgerm has shown moderate success when said puppy isn't eating it. And all the other slug stuff makes me too nervous to have out and around.
I try to make peace with other garden/yard challenges. The cedars are acidic, I can work with that. The potato bugs don't seem to cause any trouble so I leave them be. The 6 month old jack russell terrier who is entertained by ripping my precious plants out of the ground, he is really cute and I am hoping will grow out of this amusement. But slugs, I have yet to determine what positive contribution they make. Maybe it is keeping gardeners on their toes? Or a way to get folks into their yard on a rainy day?
I find the search enjoyable in an odd sort of way. I am motivated to go check on all the plants almost every day and it is usually a quiet time to let my mind wander. That said I wish the little buggars weren't so ravenous, and where do they manage to hide?
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment