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This is year #2 of my garden - the second year since I tore up all the ivy and weed suppressant membrane and scraped up the weedy shingle to start putting plants in the soil.
Last year - year #1 of the garden with the new plants - I had such a slug problem. OMG, the damn things were everywhere. I couldn't grow anything except naturally slug-resistant plants like onions and garlic. If salad plants went in the soil they were devoured whole overnight.
I had heard that this is how it normally goes - the pests arrive first, and for a period you have unrestrained pest problems until eventually the huge amounts of pests start to attract the creatures who feed on the pests. At which point the system starts balancing itself out.
I didn't really believe this would happen (any more than I really believe that my weight will eventually stabilize if I let it do it's own thing,) but this year, year #2, it does in fact seem to be the case that my salad plants are thriving, and even the lupins, which are notoriously vulnerable to slugs, are surviving.
So it seems to be true. If you let the system look after itself, it will eventually balance into something sustainable. Good news!
I still think I'm losing my wasabi, though that's mainly because I planted it down slug corridor - the part of the garden closest to where they breed in the compost bin. I thought they might not like wasabi, on the grounds that they don't like garlic, but no, it seems they enjoy a bit of spice.
Speaking of spice, one of the hostas the slugs ravaged last year has come back, right in the middle of a sprawl of mint. It's the only hosta that has. I wonder if the mint is protecting it. I might try planting some mint around the wasabi and see if that keeps them off.
Last year - year #1 of the garden with the new plants - I had such a slug problem. OMG, the damn things were everywhere. I couldn't grow anything except naturally slug-resistant plants like onions and garlic. If salad plants went in the soil they were devoured whole overnight.
I had heard that this is how it normally goes - the pests arrive first, and for a period you have unrestrained pest problems until eventually the huge amounts of pests start to attract the creatures who feed on the pests. At which point the system starts balancing itself out.
I didn't really believe this would happen (any more than I really believe that my weight will eventually stabilize if I let it do it's own thing,) but this year, year #2, it does in fact seem to be the case that my salad plants are thriving, and even the lupins, which are notoriously vulnerable to slugs, are surviving.
So it seems to be true. If you let the system look after itself, it will eventually balance into something sustainable. Good news!
I still think I'm losing my wasabi, though that's mainly because I planted it down slug corridor - the part of the garden closest to where they breed in the compost bin. I thought they might not like wasabi, on the grounds that they don't like garlic, but no, it seems they enjoy a bit of spice.
Speaking of spice, one of the hostas the slugs ravaged last year has come back, right in the middle of a sprawl of mint. It's the only hosta that has. I wonder if the mint is protecting it. I might try planting some mint around the wasabi and see if that keeps them off.
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Date: 2021-05-02 03:20 am (UTC)From: