Friday night I worked hard on the left garden, because I knew it was going to rain all Saturday and figured that would save me time and energy watering wise. I got that garden planted and indeed it did rain on Saturday. How convenient!
We have had quite some rain this year and there are snails everywhere. I suspect they even ate all the leaves from my marigold seedlings, I am NOT amused.
Still, notwithstanding the annoyance factor, there is a certain beauty in the perfection of a snail, and I can't make myself to get rid of them. Yes, I am a softie. And so is Sylvia. This is her pet snail...
Luckily it's an outdoors pet and she got distracted by something else shiny pretty soon, so the pet snail escaped to wherever snails like to go in my garden (my precious marigolds!)
I got snapdragons (I love that name!) and I bought foxgloves which I thought were whitish, but they have some color to them after all. I haven't tried foxgloves before, so will be interesting to see how they do.
Those irises are Sylvia's birthday flowers. A friend got them for me since they would bloom on her birthday every year. I love them and so does she. It's a bearded iris, Sylvia (and me) just learned how to recognize that, thanks to a gardening friend.
And this is just a volunteer wild flower.
It is great to be back to gardening!
11 comments:
We have foxglove in our wildflower garden, but only a few. I am going to try overseeding with more foxglove seeds this year to see if I can get more because I really like them. But since they are a wildflower, they should do well in your garden. :) Some are white and others are purpley/pinky like yours. I think they are a biennial, so maybe I should be waiting until next year to overseed to have flowers every year...
A perfectly safe way to reduce the number of snails invading your garden is to put a small dish with straight sides (or a pickle jar lid) full of beer out there the night before. Dump drowned snails out the next morning.
Thanks mathmom. I didn't realize foxgloves were native, I hope that they do well and I can spread them all through my garden. I hope your foxgloves seeds scheme works. It would be nice to have flowers each year.
And thanks Redneck Ruby. Hmmmm, so now I need to decide whether I am willing to deal with wet drunk dead snails eh?
Maybe I'll just hope for less rain.
I'd say that decision depends on how much damage they do. :) The idea is that you make it deep enough that they just drown. (Use crappy beer!)
Yeah, will have to weigh the costs of dealing with dead snails against the benefit of keeping my marigolds alive. Of course the marigolds are mostly dead already anyway.
Hmmmm
We'll see how annoyed I get with them ^^
Thanks!
Karen
I love seeing those irises!
Hi Wendy! Yes, those irises are great. I am planting a bunch more this year, some purple, some purple and white. Looking forward to seeing how they bloom next year.
Snails maintain the balance of nature and biodiversity. So although they are quite annoying, they play an important role in the bigger garden - Earth. But of course, don’t let them do their natural duty in your garden alone. One more thing that I do, aside from the beer in a vessel, is that I put some crushed egg shells, sawdust, and ashes on the soil surrounding my plants. That gives our little slow friends a tiring journey to my plants--if they even make it there.
Jamie, I like your perspective on the snakes role in the bigger picture. I think I'll try the egg shell method for a bit and see whether that keeps them away from the plants I do care about.
Thanks!
I just spend quite a while on your bloomIQ web site, and found all kinds of interesting tidbits. After so many years of not gardening, I am totally into it again this year. I think I definitely need a fairy garden!
Karen
Ahuh! That’s a nice snail. You can even think of them as one of those beautiful attractions in your garden as well. Hehe! Are you more into planting flowers? How about veggies like tomatoes? It can be a good addition to your garden, sweetie! :)
Hi Shona
Thanks for the comment. Yes, I have to admit that the snails are quite nice when you look at them closely, I still would like them to NOT eat my flowers ^^
I have tomatoes too, don't worry. I had been focusing more on veggie gardening but this year I finally did more flower stuff in addition to the veggies. As I should, since I am Dutch, so I grew up on tulips and many other flowers
Karen
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