Slugs… since May I have been stalking out of the house each night in the dark, just before going to bed. Torch in hand and yes…there they all are..sliming and munching away on my newly germinated seed. Ah well. What did I expect? for them to disappear magically, as if some slug catastrophe had occurred? They were out in force last year all right so they were bound to return this, with reinforcements. The vegetable patch is surrounded by an old loose stone wall built about 150 years ago with the local stone – conglomerate. To a slug wanting to start a family this is the ideal place to lay eggs and rear them. Sheltered from predators and a shaded gloomy crevice is the perfect start to a slug’s life. Then at night it’s an easy slither and slide to the delicate, tender and delicious vegetable seedlings. Especially lettuce. The king of foods if you’re a slug.
It is a hopeless task, expecting to deplete the local slug population by picking a paltry few – the ones under my torch radar – each night. There are millions of them. All I can hope to do is slow down the disappearance of the beginnings of a fine crop of lettuce.
I did end up with some lettuce after nightly culls. Ate some and now the prolonged drought with searing heat from the sun bearing down on them has caused them to suffer and respond by bolting. I think I’d do the same.
Over the years I have decided to stick to growing what survives in this hostile garden. Climbing french beans if I can keep the slugs off them in the early days. Courgettes. Leeks and brassicas (if the cabbage whites don’t get their way).
The biggest success this year was strawberries. This was unexpected although I did put some effort into weeding them and gently spreading chicken manure compost from the hens around them in the early days. This year I copied a daughter-in-law’s method of cramming the plants in close together to supress weeds and prevent drying out. They really don’t like drying out. Result was some deliciously fragrant tasting strawberries. Perhaps I will extend the bed next year. The raspberries have suffered from lack of water, they are thirsty plants and prefer the damp and wet climate of Scotland not southern sun and drought.
Gardening in a Jungle 