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taxi4ballet

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SALT, SALT AND MORE SALT!

 

No!!! Have you ever seen what it does to a slug? Ugh. It's about the cruellest way possible of killing them - I wouldn't want to inflict a death like that on my worst enemy.

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I throw them out into the road where I know they will be run over, which may be cruel but not as cruel as the salt method. Incidentally, I found one in my front garden the other day which had a Tippex mark on its shell; I did laugh - this is what some people do to test the old wives' theory about about snails always returning to their place of irigin!

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It isn't an Old Wives' Tale, snails really do have a homing instinct - a few years ago we did a test (don't ask!) using nail varnish. We dumped them at the bottom of the field near our house, and most of them made it back in a couple of days.

 

Each time we found one, we would put another blob of varnish on. One of them managed to get back eleven times!

 

The test was scuppered by a local thrush, who used to bash the life out of them on a stone in our rockery.

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I would really love to have a thrush in my garden but I have cats. Our garden has been neglected as this house had been rented out for 4 years before we bought it. There were not many slugs/snails in the gardens - until i started buying plants to brighten up the plethora of shrubs - my garden is green, green and yet more green. I also have the wind to contend with and my hanging basket is suffering. After having torn down a climber of unspecified variety (it was trying to get inside the house) I now think replacing the space with a hanging basket was not such a good idea - ho hum I'll learn.

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If anyone is interested in an easy (and very humane!) way to deter cats - either your own or other people's - from digging in your garden, try leaving all your orange peelings scattered on the flower beds. They don't like the smell.

 

Another idea is to add a tablespoon of garlic puree to a watering can of water and water the plants with it, sprinkling it on the foliage as well as the ground. The plants take up the garlic, which cats dislike, and it also helps to stop greenfly; they don't much like it either.

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Not heard of the garlic puree - I may try that for the greenfly. My cats are very naughty and won't use the garden - they prefer the dirt tray! The eldest cat has really bad arthritis and as the garden hasn't been turned over for years the younger one has decided it's ok for her to use the dirt tray as well! Really really hate dirty trays. These are the first cats I've had who do this :(

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Porthesia, with more than one cat, it could be a territorial thing. They need to 'mark' their space, and will go on top of another cat's business to do this.

 

If it is a nice sunny day (haha, fat chance), have you tried putting the tray just outside the door? Sometimes it works if you move it an inch or two towards the door each day, so they don't notice too much.

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After this week's rain, the moats that I see I reported back on 13th June are once again back in place - and I'm cutting off waterlogged rose heads these days at a rate I can't recall ever before. Mid-July!

 

(Speaking of which, today's Sunday Times has a front page piece on the possibility of the Olympic Beach Volleyball ladies having to cover up on their Horseguards sandpit if the weather stays as it has been lately! Not what those who paid for expensive tickets had in mind, I imagine.)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Years ago, we eviscerated a pink mallow type plant in our garden. So we thought! It has sent out little ones all over the lawn and is very invasive. I am after the roots - they go down about three feet, split off and and create even more! Argh! I hate it!

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Talking of mallows, we used to have one in our garden (a shrubby-type one) with white flowers tinged with pink. It was rather short-lived and died nearly 20 years ago.

 

Well - it is back, in the very same place! It's roots must have been hanging round dormant for years waiting for the right moment... :o

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We had a Flying Ants Day some three weeks or so ago and I'd assumed that was it for this year. Not so! With the return of the sun and some humidity today, they have emerged in the last hour or so in their hundreds - far more than last time - with lots coming from colonies in the grass. Quite apocalyptic to look at in some ways - and I'm hoping that this will be an end to it for 2012.

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Speaking of roses, I'm having a problem with my lovely 'ballerina' rose - it's first flush was beautiful and as soon as the blooms faded I pruned carefully for a second flush. This hasn't happened, or at least only two heads have opened, leaving several groups of tightly closed buds - they've been like that for about three weeks now. Does anyone think I'm just being impatient?

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  • 5 months later...
  • 4 months later...

Went down the bottom of the garden this morning to discover my asparagus is now 5 feet tall!

 

This year, I decided to keep an eye on it - we don't cut it for eating, there aren't enough spears, usually only about 5 or 6 - so we leave it to grow, it is beautiful and ferny, and lasts for months.

 

So, this year I measured it and it grew from nothing to five feet tall in nineteen days  :)  

 

It's still going and has now reached next door's garage roof.

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