Slug wars.`Slugs and snails like delphiniums more than any other plant,' said the presenter of a TV gardening programme brightly. As I recalled the stunted remains of one of my prized delphiniums, I could only groan in agreement. Snails are fascinating creatures. Small children are beguiled be·guile tr.v. be·guiled, be·guil·ing, be·guiles 1. To deceive by guile; delude. See Synonyms at deceive. 2. by these little molluscs that ooze OOZE - Object oriented extension of Z. "Object Orientation in Z", S. Stepney et al eds, Springer 1992. around with their home on their backs, and have their eyes on stalks. Some varieties are edible. Slugs have few redeeming features. Lacking shells, they are notable mainly for the slime they leave along their trails of destruction. The main problem of both is that they are herbivores. So, in my garden at least, they are jointly Public Enemy Number One. What do you do about the nocturnal beasts? I've tried several remedies, none of which has proved ideal. Slug pellets, though effective, leave disgusting frothy froth·y adj. froth·i·er, froth·i·est 1. Made of, covered with, or resembling froth; foamy. 2. Playfully frivolous in character or content: a frothy French farce. remains. Worse, the corpses may poison the toads, slow worms, hedgehogs and thrushes which are the slugs' natural predators. Bunging the blighters into the neighbouring field seems antisocial antisocial /an·ti·so·cial/ (-so´sh'l) 1. denoting behavior that violates the rights of others, societal mores, or the law. 2. denoting the specific personality traits seen in antisocial personality disorder. . And if they survive, what's to stop them coming back again? Cutting them in half with a hoe hoe, usually a flat blade, variously shaped, set in a long wooden handle and used primarily for weeding and for loosening the soil. It was the first distinctly agricultural implement. The earliest hoes were forked sticks. by moonlight gives one a certain sense of satisfaction. But my wife doesn't like finding their remains on the lawn when she's hanging up the washing. And what odds that the child will eat a juicy tidbit? Throwing them into the road so that cars can crush them is the molluscian answer to Russian roulette Russian roulette suicidal gamble involving a six-shooter, loaded with one bullet. [Folklore: Payton, 590] See : Chance . But surely most survive. There are numerous folk remedies: surrounding tender plants with eggshells, sharp sand, clinker clink·er n. 1. The incombustible residue, fused into an irregular lump, that remains after the combustion of coal. 2. A partially vitrified brick or a mass of bricks fused together. 3. or other material that scratches the molluscs' sensitive skin; leaving beer-filled jam jars for them to drown in; enticing them into grapefruit skins so that they can be `disposed of' in the mornings; cleaning up all `waste material' where they can shelter (but whose garden is that tidy?); and, for all I know, playing a ghetto-blaster at 100 decibels all night long. No doubt some of these methods help. But the fact is that slugs and snails breed prolifically, hide in inaccessible places, and are here to stay. I guess I'll just have to learn to live with them, and the other wildlife they attract. I'm certainly not going to copy my neighbour. He's built a half-inch high electric fence around his vegetable plot. |
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