Garden Fuss

If you saw my previous post today you know that I was preparing to do battle with some little nibblers. The reason why I have so many so early this year is because it has been an unseasonably warm winter and transition into spring. With the warmth there has been an abundance of rain which slugs love. Add to this my planting their favorite snacks and you have a recipe for disaster. As  you will see from the pics I try to be as "green" as possible. Re-purposing old plastic Easter eggs and citrus pith/peels I started planning my gastropod assassination attempts. I started with taping over the holes in the bottom of the plastic Easter eggs, I then proceeded to grease the inside tops of the eggs with shortening to make them even more slippery. With the eggs prepped post shopping trip to the local nursery and the local liquor store it was time to set my traps. Let me pause for a moment to tell you I hate to have to kill bugs and I am tr...

Yes you read it correctly the war has begun and I am taking no prisoners.  Well, scratch that I will take prisoners directly to the nearest lake or river and water-board them to catch someones dinner. I'm talking Walleye, Bass, Catfish! What ever is in the mood for fresh caught slug or grasshopper meat? It is on!!!! [fyi... I really don't like fish either only fishing] This morning I went out after Neeming the whole garden yesterday and noticed even more damage. Not just damage, but the entire loss of my Ruby Wallace Old Time White Cucumber that I received from Baker Creek Heirloom as part of the Grow It Forward Heirloom Seed Contest . I am so heated right now because what I thought was possibly one last remaining cucumber sprout to "make it" through some kind of bug/ultra sun attack has passed on with its brethren. So I am now debating on either starting again by directly sowing seed in a well guarded and watched pot; or buying something new and already well into ...

The slug and now grass hopper invasion started me thinking about other "green" alternatives at my disposal to turn the tides on them. Last year we hatched preying mantis babies to find a cozy spot for the summer. This year my approach is the same only something a little higher up on the food chain. While clicking through about.com for some information on companion planting and beneficial insects I came across an article about toads and other garden guests that we sometimes overlook in our pursuit of all other things green. I am not a squeemish woman (usually), and I happen to love frogs and toads and salamanders. My obsession with amphibians started at an early age. I remember every detail of  myself as a 5 year old and my 3 year old brother liberating all the red and gold salamanders from the fish tank as a child. I told them that they could sleep in my room but they thought underneath the couch cushions was a comfier option. They probably thought ...