Saturday 21 July 2012

They announce a drought

and we get three months of solid rain. There I was thinking how having a succulent garden was going to be great when you are not allowed to water. Now I am just pleased that they didn't drown. The plants have mainly coped with all the rain without problems, but there has been one garden issue with the sodden summer: SLUGS!

Yes it has been a bumper slug year, I have never seen anything like it.  I don't like to use the old slug pellets as our little dog has a tendency to eat anything that looks food like.  Instead I go out after every rain fall and collect them and dispose of them in the front.  In normal years I would expect to find 5 or 6, this year I am collecting pots of 20 - 30 and if I go back out an hour later I can do the same again.

Slugs in my garden seem to have very expensive taste, they started eating all the new leaves on my Schefflera taiwaniana,


then moved onto tasting some of the new fronds on the cycads


Maybe a little agave


Finally settled on the echeverias


It is not all bad news as today we actually had no rain! The reports are that the jet stream has finally moved back to where it should be and we should start to get some sun again. 

4 comments:

  1. I share this pain - we have millions of a small slug! It get frustrating and they tend to love the Aeoniums, Echeveria and smaller aloes! Grr!

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    1. At least the leaves grow out relatively quickly on those. But still spoils them for a season doesn't it.

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  2. Oh man, I've been dealing with all the problems the endless rain has caused here too. Slugs eating one of the new growths on my Bulbophyllum wasn't fun. I keep everything elevated off the ground, doesn't help keep them away though, I've just been collecting and removing them too.

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