Where have all the flowers gone? Why did it have to happen now? Just as I had been lulled in to a false sense of security the heavens opened again.
Where have all the flowers gone? Why did it have to happen now? Just as I had been lulled in to a false sense of security the heavens opened again. There's been enough rain to fill all of my water butts several times over and the ground is now a soggy mess.
One advantage of the rainfall has been the success of the biological control I applied to some areas of my kitchen garden. Nematodes are added to water and applied to the soil in spring. They thrive in warm, moist soil and when they come across a slug, they enter its body, infecting it with bacteria and kill it. This dramatically reduces the slug population and many areas of my plot are now slug free, which makes me very happy.
However, I didn't apply the nematodes to every part of my vegetable plot and my newly planted squash plants were eaten over night. Now all I'm left with is a selection of decidedly miserable-looking stumps with a few scraps of leaf clinging on for dear life. Of course, the slugs are happy as can be. They're full to bursting with my plants, taking advantage of the safe hiding place under the polythene the plants were growing through.
On top of this, the gorgeous mass of yellowy-orange azalea flowers is now no more, having been blown and bashed by the storms.
I shall be replacing the squash plants, applying more nematodes to the ground and then presumably raking up the once gorgeous azalea blooms. Please, someone, when do we get the summery weather?
Gardeners' World Web User
07/06/2007 at 01:18
A multi pronged attack is my obsessive compulsive solution. Beer traps, midnight forays with a head torch, juiced orange halves and plastic overnight homes work. I also find a visit to my local coffee bar to top up on coffee grounds to sprinkle on and around the new plants is a worthwile trip. They don't seem to like the taste or granularity.
It's like dusting you just have to do it regularly. Good luck and enjoy your garden.
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