This Week in Gardening: It’s Raining Slugs

 

Attack of the Slug Ninjas.

 

Look how skillfully he avoids the slug bait on the soil! 

It was a busy week in the garden last week, I hardly know where to start. I killed approximately 286 slugs, but still lost nearly every marigold I had in the process. I finally decided to dig up my remaining plant “stubs” and relocate them to the Plant Protection Program-- AKA the top of my patio table—when nothing else seemed to work. The previous week of rain, rain, and more rain overwhelmed my “slug bait” and it was Mardi Gras for Slugs, 24/7. Maybe living at table-top height will give my plants a chance to grow instead of being slimed back to dirt level. Every. Dang. Day.

The slugs also ate ALL of my zucchini starts and I have mixed feelings about that. On one hand WHY ON EARTH did I plant an entire PACKET of zucchini seeds? And on the other hand, it’s semi-bemusing that I have--inadvertently--found a cure for too much zucchini, one that doesn’t involve ding-dong-ditch. On the third hand (which I don’t have, but really could use) it’s kind of embarrassing to admit one is incapable of growing—of all things! —zucchini..

A garden pest of the cuddly sort

All but two of my dahlias from The Dahlia Guy rotted during our wet spring. If the dahlias did manage to sprout, they were promptly eaten back to ground level by the slug onslaught. I warned TDG when I acquired the tubers that I was not a safe space for dahlias, but even I thought I’d be able to manage one season of growth. Sadly, the slugs were not content to wait that long. 

Marigolds are DELICIOUS

Slugs have even eaten my Ghost Pepper plant out in my straw bale garden. I would have thought that since the fruit of the Ghost Pepper is super-hot, some of that zesty nature would have made its way to the leaves, but either this is not the case, or my local slug population has developed quite the sophisticated palate. Either way, Ghost Pepper has now been un-baled and added to the PPP/Patio Table.

Judging by this week’s forecast, I’d say the Slug Hay Day had reached its zenith. Sun, sun, and more sun ought to keep the little slimy munchers at bay.

How it started

How it's going