Garden warfare

Paige, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I am certainly not an 'amazing' gardener. My approach to gardening is that after I plant things, it is very much a case of survival of the fittest. If the things I plant survive long enough to form buds and bloom, it's a miracle that tends to result in me behaving like I have never seen flowers before. 

As tempting as the offer of Jammie Dodgers is, I'm afraid I will have to decline the offer of managing your garden. I have enough difficulty managing my own garden, which has regrettably been badly neglected during recent years.

I sincerely hope that you don't end up being captured by those menacing slugs and snails that have invaded your garden. 

I remember reading an article some time ago, which I think had been written by one of the TV gardeners. It stated that grated soap within the vicinity of flowers deters squirrels. The article went on to say that the soap didn't need to be an expensive brand, as the cheapest brand would work just fine.

After reading that article, I was keen to give it a try. Did the bars of soap I had painstakingly grated deter the squirrels? In a word, no. 

Try to encourage as much wildlife as you can who may eat them. Some birds like robins eat the small slugs. Ponds encourage wildlife that eat them too. 

We always put glass jars over ripening strawberries when I was young which stops birds eating them too. Not sure if that would make any difference to slugs and snails. Where I live now woodlice eat strawberries.

I have problems with squirrels and bulbs. One thing that helps is to plant pansies above them, but sometimes need mesh until well rooted. Not guaranteed though.

the thing about Vaseline is that no crawly critters can cross it and it does not not need to be reapplied every time the plant is watered or it rains, which washes away the other remedies, which then need to be reapplied. It will not harm the plant if it does not come into direct contact with it. If the pant is in the ground I make a squat cylindrical around the base and smear that on the in and outer sides. If it's a pot smear around the pot. A 1" thick line of smear should do.

I have left a plant thusly, for a whole season with no slugs or any other crawly things - including ants, who like to set up aphid farms under some leaves. They all get stuck in the Vaseline. 

For me it is all about time and efficiency.

This works on animal food and water dishes too.

How deep did you plant your bulbs? I know grey squirrels can br a nuisance and many peole refer to them as tree rats, we're lucky here we have our small, native red squirrels who arn't as destructive. Maybe next year you could plant your bulbs deeper?

Sounds fabulous!  Thanks for the awesome suggestion-this sounds like a fun hobby to start. 

The squirrels near me stole my tulips (several varieties), daffodils, and a couple of others I can't remember, maybe hyacinths? They didn't seem to like crocus or snowdrops. At least I'm hoping the snowdrops come up next year, as the packet said they don't always come up the first year after planting, so I guess I can't blame the squirrels yet. Next time I plant, I'll invest in some mesh too.

I never saw them dig them up, but I know they lived in the roof of the flats nearby, you'd regularly see them scamper up the 3 storeys into the attic. My friend's husband calls them tree rats.

Lol it might come to that-but knowing how clever those little pests are though they'll probably just put leaves across the salt and use them as bridges.

Hello. Thanks for the suggestion-I haven't heard of that one before but it's gone on to my list and is a good plan D if my eggshells and coffee fail to protect the strawberries. 

Lol that thought had actually crossed my mind but I think the greedy so and so's would take the lot for themselves.

Surplus gutterng or electrical capping sufficient to build a moat around the growing area with a layer of salt or anything else that slugs find impassable in it?

There will be a way.

God tells us that we have dominion over the animal kindom, so human versus slugs is definitely winnable.... ;c)

If you do that you'll just get more slugs.

A lot of things work that way, sadly....

Grow more than you can actually pick. Then you and the slugs both have enough

I have tried this. It's good until the salt gets into the soil near the plant.

I smear Vaseline along the paths up to the plant, around the pot etc.  I will sometimes mix in some diatonacious earth with the Vaseline. _only remember that the mixture should not touch the actual plant,  just the pot and along the route the creatures take to get to the plant. reapply after heavy rain. 

There are natural biological ways to deal with slugs, but you have to use them earlier in the year, about March time, they're a parasitic wasp that lay their eggs in the slugs, it should all help the general biodiversity of your garden.

I use a lot of companion plants, it sounds daft, but plants have friends with benefits! I plant nastursiums with my beans or anythig else vulnerable to black fly, if nastursiums are on the menu black fly will choose them over almost anything else, you may get a few on your beans but not nearly so many, your nastursium will be covered and leaves picked off and squashed. Marigolds when planted alongside tomatoes release some kind of chemical that helps tomatoes, choose the open flowered ones like calendula marigolds as they will help polinators, some of are predatory, such as hover flies. They are territorial and will claim a bush or a section of plants as theirs and protect them, they will fly up and give you a good eyeball to see what you are. Any member of the onion family will help roses, they help keep black fly away because of their scent, I use chives among my roses, the flowers look really pretty and of course you can eat them..

I try and make my garden a big restaurant so that everything gets somebody/thing to eat, even me! Planting everything together and not having a veg bed and a ornamental bed, but mixing the two up so you have flowers, veg, fruit and herbs all growing together means you have a much higher selection of bugs and therefore greater biodiversity. I leave a patch of nettles behind the greenhouse for moths, some species lay their eggs on them and moths are important, they're the night shift polinators. Other plants for polinators include lavender, budliea, all the smelly herbs and open faced flowers so as the bees and others can get into the flower.

No! You don't have to do a single thing after putting it up. It's perfect!

SALT.

*Edit* (Use to create a barrier!)  

Wow! That looks incredible!!! I bet it's fascinating to watch the bees in their habitat like that. Thanks for the suggestion! I love this idea. Does it take much looking after?