Gardening with Gael:  Slugs and snails, and puppy dog tails

[Gardening with Gael]

05 Dec, 2022

Congratulations to Sandra Brunt and Laureen Medcalfe for the wonderful revival of the Mangawhai Flower Show held recently in the Mangawhai Library Hall. Beautifully organised with sponsors Faraway Garden, Bunnings, Egmont Seeds and the Mangawhai Memo who provided prizes and advertising. The event was open free to all.

“We both wanted a feel good event that brought the community together,” said Laureen, “with a nod to the past shows of the Women’s Institute who were very supportive and happy to share their knowledge. We had no start-up money and so were very grateful to our sponsors who helped make it happen.”

Keeping to the traditional categories, they decided to add wildflowers so that even a person without a garden could take part. And take part everyone did. The hall looked wonderful, bursting with colour, as the entries filled all the tables. I think it was amazing that there was such a high standard of blooms after the constant rain. Somehow everyone found something worth showing. With such a great range of categories everyone can give it a go. A team of helpers wearing beautiful wreaths around their hair provided great support to the organisers and judges. I hope this becomes a regular event. For those inspired by the entries, stalls selling plants were set up outside. Those pink and white dahlias of yours Helen could be a winner next year.

I am waging a war with snails on my dahlias. I am very reluctant to put down snail bait. A cautionary tale from a friend who discovered a dog had eaten her snail bait and ended up at the vet has made me very wary. Barney will eat anything. Blood and bone hidden under a pile of mulch has him in a digging frenzy. I really can’t risk poisoning him. So, out we go after dark, Barney and I, armed with a bucket of water and a torch to gather slugs and snails on their way to my plants. Monty Don, the famed English gardener, highly recommends this method of dealing to snails. I eagerly read his advice column on getting snails and that was it. Go out and collect them by hand. There’s a certain glee attached to it. One dahlia had been seriously attacked and I thought it was giving up.

‘Never,’ said Helen. ‘It wants to grow.’ Sure enough. The first night I collected a huge snail and a giant slug. Successive nights have elicited further snails and the dahlia is springing back to life. I declare the snails are getting smaller and smaller. Gathering slugs is less pleasant. My niece Emily has given me some of the zinnias I wrote about last summer. They are planted above a rock wall. A wonderful home for the slugs. There they are, sliding up the wall towards the dahlias and zinnias. I think I need one of those head lamps so I have two hands free and can use an implement to scrape them off the rock. Picking them off with my fingers is actually quite unpleasant and some slide free. Once I have drowned them they are returned to the soil. I feel quite the eco warrior.

Be cautious about snail bait. My dog Barney will eat anything, so I want to avoid a trip to the vet.