Gardening chat

You must have such a pretty garden Tina. You have shared so many lovely photos of your flowers on Instagram. I wish mine was full of flowers. I do have flowers but also lots of other “stuff” that shouldn’t be there, growing as well.

Hi Bebby, yes I do have lots of flowers and shrubs but I also have plenty of other stuff that shouldn’t be there. :smile:

Just took a few more pics today, now do we call these White Bells or White Bluebells, I wonder.

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very pretty, I’ve had pink ones too. :slight_smile:

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Pink bells, lovely :slight_smile:

Oh I do like the colour variations. I have white bells, pink bells, mauve bells as well as blue bells.

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Could someone help me out with a veggie question please?
Most of my vegetables that I planted directly outside are starting to sprout now but my teeny lettuces appear to have disappeared (maybe eaten by slugs?)
So - the first question is - do I need to plant more or will leaves grow back once I sort out stopping the slugs and snails getting to them.
The second question is -I’ve only got the blue slug pellets at home (which I think contain quite poisonous chemicals) - so if I sprinkle them around veggies - will the posion absorb into the vegetables?
What other alternative slug preventative measures would you suggest? I’ve started saving eggshells but I’m not sure I’ve got enough to be effective?

It might be worth trying to grow some more if you have more seeds. It might be pigeons eating your lettuces rather than slugs. I would avoid slug pellets if you can as they can kill wildlife (hedgehogs in particular). This blog suggests some natural alternatives. https://www.pumpkinbeth.com/2017/03/protecting-plants-slugs-snails/

Morning :blush:

Sorry I can’t help with your lettuce problem Sarah @thedotterypotter.

We had heavy rain all day yesterday and I think all night looking at the amount of rain on the plants this morning. The garden really needed it. The garden plants looked lovely with rain drops early this morning. IMG_20200429_092850_854

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beautiful photo Tina @DaisyWings x

Thanks Alison @FluffStuffCrafts - I’ve just read that article and I’ve got plenty of sawdust so I’ll give that a go :slight_smile:
All my beds are rabbit proofed and stand at least 2 1/2 foot off the ground - some of the boxes are standing on garden chairs! It could be pigeons getting to the veg though as we have lots of wood pigeons around here and a couple of really stupid pigeons that we’ve called Laurel and hardy!

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I did chuckle at Laurel and Hardy Sarah @thedotterypotter as we have a couple of silly woodpidgeons that we call Horace and Doris. :grinning:

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I don’t like to kill slugs even when eat my new plants! What I do is check in and around pots every few days, go out after the rain when they come out to play and any that I find I collect them up into a plant pot, cross the road onto common land and dispose of them under a shrub. The neighbours probably think I’m crazy but who cares: :smiley: My granddaughter used to love doing this when she was little but it doesn’t appeal so much now that is is 16 … I miss those days.

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Laurel and Hardy spend all day together - a lot of time flapping their wings at each other but they seem to love each other! They are really comical to watch!

Carol - I don’t really have many plants in the garden that get eaten by slugs (the rabbit has already destroyed them all) so the slug pellets never made much of an outing over the years, mostly only into the hanging baskets. We do have slugs that get into our kitchen through an air vent behind the washing machine and once, I made the mistake of picking one up in my fingers to throw outside - never again! I never realised how hard it is to get slug slime off of your fingers - how can washing your hands make it even worse…lol! Now I always make sure to pick them up in kitchen roll

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Ha ha … I always use gardening gloves!

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Plant marigolds the slugs hate the smell. Never touch our Hostas.

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Hi i love gardening and wanted to share my little auricula collection in their new ‘theatre’ (that my lovely dad has made whilst in lockdown/isolation out of an old shoe rack and bits and pieces) I have seen some amazing collections of Auriculas on Pinterest and ways of displaying them, this one brightens up the fold yard wall out of my back door! :cherry_blossom: :two_hearts:

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Personally I don’t like to use the blue pellets, I have hedgehogs and thrushes and lots of other birds in my garden and if they eat a poisoned slug or snail it can make them very ill or even kill them :frowning:

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Yes, good point - I never thought about the birds eating a poisoned snail or slug. I only used the pellets occassionally in the hanging baskets over the years as we don’t really have any plants in the garden that need safeguarding against slugs now the rabbit has eaten them all. I’m going to leave the blue pellets where I found them! (at the back of the kiln room!)

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I would never use slug pellets either because of the danger and risk to other animals and birds that eat the slugs. You can use more environmentally friendly ways to get rid of them, such as planting marigolds suggested by Caroline @Caroleecrafts or even beer traps are supposed to be a good way to get rid of them ~ the slugs fall in the beer when they have had too much ~ hic!

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Well, thank you everyone - yes I definitely prefer to use a more environmentally friendly way to try to save my lettuces. I am going to use the sawdust method first, maybe accompanied by the eggshells that I’ve already saved.

You’ve opened my eyes to something that I hadn’t considered before about the birds and hedgehogs eating the slugs (not sure why I hadn’t considered it as I am such a worrier about animals being hurt or injured that I won’t even kill a wasp or a fly and sometimes I even feel guilty about treading on ants by accident!)

The blue slug pellets WILL NOT BE USED :crazy_face:

I do remember using copper coins stuck round my hanging baskets once - I think that worked!

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Egg shells don’t work for slugs. I use nematodes: nothing is 100% efffective and this biological control (it’s a birth control for slugs!) is expensive but when you grow as many veg as I do, it’s cost effective.One thing that I’ve found out is that slugs don’t like the red lettuce - any variety I’ve tried as managed to be eaten by me and not them!

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