garden

Well, it was another dry morning in the back yard. And I was sufficiently busy with other stuff yesterday afternoon that I did not have a chance to set up any beery gastropod watering holes. So the pickings today were predictably slim. Not only were most of the plants and planting areas free of visible gastropods, but most of the places where I can count on finding at least one slug on any given morning were slugless. The big bag of potting soil on the ground near the house had a few slugs under it. There are always at least a few slugs under that bag, even when there are none under the…
The pattern of dry, overcast mornings continues. Not very satisfying weather for a gastropod hunter. The only gastropod action this morning was under bags of compost and potting soil, plus one slug hiding on the side of a raised garden bed. There weren't even that many weeds to pull while I was looking for snails and slugs to pick. So ... I'm revisiting the beer idea as a way to lure slugs and snails out of hiding (because they have to be hiding somewhere if they appear in relatively large numbers on dewy mornings) and make my morning gastropod forays more productive. As I've mentioned…
Yet another dry, overcast morning. Not the kind of weather when one feels like sliding on one's foot across scratchy leaves or stems. At least if one is a snail or slug. I went right to the instant-gratification spots for slug capture. Only two out of the six locations yielded slugs today. One of them also had a wee snail. Then, as yesterday, I peeked at the sides of the raised garden beds that are up against the fence with the neighboring yard. Today there was just one snail clinging tenaciously to a bed. I dislodged it with my garden stake, rolled it to within my reach, and tossed it…
Despite the threatening skies yesterday morning, it did not rain. And, it was pretty dry this morning. Accordingly, the gastropods seemed to have better things to do than sliding along the dry surfaces of my plants, meal or no meal. Luckily, I've identified a few instant-gratification spots for the slug portion of my patrol. These include the sides of a bucket under the lemon tree, the watering can near the raised beds, the underside of the composter lid, and a bag of mulch, a bag of compost, and a bag of potting soil (the portions of the bags in contact with the ground). Four out of six…
I found this bug in the garden today, on my rainbow chard: I couldn't find it on my laminated chart of common bugs in my area (harmful or beneficial). Any idea what it might be? Also, if anyone can recommend a good way to deal with hundreds of ants near a vegetable garden (where "good" involves not poisoning the people who will be eating the vegetables or the beneficial bugs, not setting things on fire, etc.), I would be thrilled to hear it.
This morning it was dewy and clear as I went on patrol for gastropods. By the time I was done patrolling, clouds had rolled in and there was no sun at all. Tut, tut. It looks like rain. Needless to say, the dew had awakened the slumbering slugs, sending them out for a constitutional before the (presumptive) heat of the day. but seeing as how I was out on my constitutional with a fresh Soapy Bucket of Merciful Deliverance, these slugs need never fear hot and dry conditions again. The slugs today were a full range of sizes, from teeny tiny to pinky-finger sized. Like yesterday the snails…
The morning was dry, but the skies were not overcast, and I think the air temperature was a bit warmer than yesterday morning. That, plus the two rainfalls earlier this week, seems to have changed things up. Because today, there were babies. Most of them were very well hidden -- almost undetectable unless your eye has been trained by twenty-odd days of patrolling for gastropods. But there they were near the base of the rosemary, on the tiny stems of the lemon thyme, on the slender leaves on the society garlic, looking almost like grains of sand or tiny blobs of animal poo: tiny snails and…
Unlike Tuesday and Wednesday, today there was no early-morning rainfall. As such, the slugs and snails decided, apparently, that there was no compelling reason to be out munching on my garden. There were, however, a good many potato bugs. So, last night, Uncle Fishy and I were talking about potato bugs (the grayish oblate bugs that roll into balls when they feel threatened). Neither of us does anything about potato bugs in the garden because, as near as we can tell, they don't do any appreciable damage to our plants. (Uncle Fishy's impression was that they only eat dead plant matter --…
We had another early-morning downpour (today at about 3 AM). Thus, the half-hour of gastropod hunting was productive. The damp weather definitely seemed to make the slugs and snails feel more comfortable being out and about (rather than hunkered down wherever it is they hunker down on the dry mornings). And, like yesterday, the main gastropod action seemed to be on the periphery, where our yard borders with the neighboring yards. This does make me consider getting enough copper tape, as per JohnV's suggestion, to fortify our border. I just need first to measure how great a length I'll need…
It's been a long time since I posted a garden update. As we're on the cusp of summer, there's a lot to update you on. And I will, soon. But today, I wanted to share two reasons carrots are sometimes hard to pull up. Reason #1: The carrot you're trying to pull up is wrapped around another carrot that you aren't trying to harvest. Reason #2: The carrot you're trying to harvest has grown a barb. I think I'm only a few weeks away from being able to discover features that make it hard to harvest potatoes.
"It's never going to rain again." -- Dr. Free-Ride's better half, contemplating cloudy skies over the last month or so "Oh yeah?" -- The weather in the vicinity of Casa Free-Ride, at approximately 4:45 AM today It was not a torrential downpour, but there was a good, hard rain for 15 to 20 minutes early this morning, and from the looks of things there might have been a drizzle for some time after that. You can guess what this did for this morning's gastropod foray. Strikingly, the serious slug and snail action was not in the garden beds where the initial infestation was so horrific. Rather,…
This morning's conditions were more of the same -- overcast and dry. There were no gastropods in evidence. Maybe this speaks to the success of our weed-clearing and morning snail- and slug-picking. Maybe there's a pocket of them I haven't located yet, busily breeding and plotting their revenge. Or maybe the other yards suddenly look more attractive to the gastropods than mine does. Although given the free exchange of birds, squirrels, cats, and ants across property lines, I can't imagine that gastropods would be respectful of such boundaries. Today's take: no slugs or snails. However, I…
Another overcast, cool, and dry morning today. The pickings were extremely slim. However, it also bears mentioning that the amount of visible gastropod damage to my plants -- especially my food crops -- is greatly reduced since I began my snail eradication campaign less then a month ago. I'm going to count that as a victory. The last few weeks has also seen a significant clearing of weeds and tall grass. In part this is because we were trying specifically to reduce slug and snail hiding places. But part of it is just that if you're out every morning poking around in search of gastropods,…
This morning was overcast, cool, and dry. But, as it wasn't a school day, I was determined to get some gastropod action. This wasn't easy, as the snails and slugs didn't seem to be in any of their reliable hang-outs. Not even a single slug on the watering can. My strawberries have still been nibbled, so I thought I should have a closer look at their immediate environment. The ground right around the strawberry plants was visibly more moist than the surrounding ground (because I watered the strawberry plants yesterday evening). I got down on my hands and knees and probed the soil just below…
This morning was dry and cool and overcast, so the pickings were slim. I went right to the places where gastropods have been found hiding on mornings like this and came up empty. Actually, since I cleared some weeds (and some piles of previously whacked weeds and tall grass) yesterday, I figured that maybe there were just fewer hiding places left. It's even possible that when the piles of weeds and tall grass went into the green bin to go to the municipal composting, some slugs and snails went with their hiding places to be composted. So, despite the lack of snails and slugs to pick, I felt…
Another morning, another gastropod foray. Conditions in the yard were a little odd this morning, owing to the fact that our wee patch of lawn was watered last night. This means that conditions were moist in the vicinity of the lawn but fairly dry otherwise. Strangely, the lawn itself was not hosting many slugs or snails, unlike yesterday morning. Maybe the amount of water put out by the sprinklers was too much for them. Right on the edges of the lawn area, though, there were plenty of slugs. So, I could feel that my time was well spent. In the regions of the yard farther from the wee patch…
This morning, like yesterday morning, was sunny and dewy, and just a little bit chilly. Good snailing weather. Actually, though, given recent gastropod ratios during my morning forays, it might be more accurate to call it slugging rather than snailing. Except that slugging already has a meaning. Anyway, in the 30 minutes I had to clear gastropods from the back yard, I formed the impressing that slightly damp blades of grass on even a very small lawn can host indefinitely many slugs. Some of those blades of grass had two or three slugs each. I'm pretty ambivalent about lawns. I suppose it's…
Finally, a morning that dawned clear, cool, and moist. Tired of being holed up wherever it is they hole up during the dry weather, the gastropods came out to play. They were not, as it turns out, waiting in the new gastropod shelters we put up Sunday. Instead, they seemed quite content frolicking among our "ground cover" plants -- the lemon thyme, the violets, and the edges of our wee patch of lawn. It's actually somewhat frustrating, living in the land of perpetual drought (and yeah, I know it's not so much that there's less water than normal as that there are too many people using too much…
This morning, once again, was dry and overcast, although not as cold as it has been. Because I know this is low-yield gastropod-picking weather, I went right to the most likely locations: the bottom of the watering can and the new snail and slug shelters. Nothing. I thought about watering near the shelters, going inside for a cup of tea, and coming back out to check for gastropods. But instead, I decided to use the snailing time to clear more weeds, especially from between the raised garden beds. This means, long pants, long sleeves, and socks notwithstanding, I'm covered with angry welts…
Another slow morning for snail picking. It was cold and dry, so most of the gastropods were probably hunkered down wherever it is they hunker down. I'm hopeful, however, that after yesterday's significant weed-clearing operation there are fewer slug and snail safe-houses. While I wasn't picking handfuls of gastropods, I was clearing a few more weeds and setting up some "safe"-houses of my own. The hardware store didn't have unglazed tiles, so we ended up getting unglazed terra cotta saucers to balance on bricks as nice, moist shelters from the sun and wind. At the moment, there are six of…