Hello from the Pyrenees

[PyreneesPlot]

Greetings from the sunny French Pyrenees. Actually its been drizzling all day. Not enough to give the parched ground a drink or fill the water butts but enough to encourage the slugs out to munch. And talking of slugs, my veg garden has 11 beds, 6X1.5m from which I collect 3-400 slugs per night in the spring. The peak is around the 650 mark but I am now down to a manageable 150! This is year three so where the hell do they all keep coming from?
My plot is boulder clay and what little top soil there was – about an inch – was scraped off during building works. I get through a lot of horse muck & compost!!
The Grapevine was recommended to me, and after reading about tomato armpits and slugs in salads I hope to fit in. I shall be seeking advice on flea beetles and slugs, how to deter deer and encourage our tiny colony of glow worms. And plants who like no soil, to be snowed on in the winter and baked solid in the summer. And are slug resistant.

[veggiechicken]

Hello PP and a big wet welcome from me! Can I send you some rain for your water butts? Plenty to spare today
As you will have gathered by now, we like a challenge, so ask away. I'm unlikely to give you a sensible answer, but somebody will!!

[Pa Snips]

Welcome aboard.

I would offer to send my rain over too...but I'm keeping all for myself

[bearded bloke]

Hello from I also With that many slugs you should be looking to get an export contract to River Cottage Kitchen

[veggiechicken]

There must be a good use for that many slugs! - and lets not go down the Crispy Deep fried slug appetisers route again. I'm convinced you could make a sluggery, instead of a wormery, to digest vegetation and turn it into compost. I hate the things so much though that the thought of a writhing binful puts me off my dinner.

[Glutton4...]

Hello, and welcome to the Madhouse!

Sorry, I can't abide slugs *shudders

[Newton]

Anyone going to slugfest? Didn't I see slugs playing on Buckingham Palace rooftop on Monday?

Bienvenue mon ami. Hope you enjoy your visits........

I flew over the pyranees last month......on the way to Majorca. It looks beautiful from the air! Was that you waving?

[Florence Fennel]

Hello and a very warm welcome to the Vine I'm having much the same problem as you this year, but with snails. There must be some money to be made if I had the time to purge them, but I much prefer stamping on them or throwing them to eating the bloomin' things.

[Bigmallly]

Welcome to the vine PP, build yourself a pond, you'll have the biggest frogs & toads in France...........then again you could collect some hedgehogs...........650 in one night...........

Facts About Slugs And How To Kill Garden Slugs

[Jeanied]

Welcome to the vine PP - I've just been looking into slug control for a friend of mine - the nematodes seem to be a good way to go. That and building some wildlife areas. Personally I use a pair of tongs and a killing jar of salt water - but then, I only have a tiny garden and the allotment has to fend for itself!

[Jardiniere]

Hi Pyrenees Plot
whereabouts are you ?(nearest town will do) I'm in the midi-pyrenees ..Department du Lot ...near Cahors.
I have just started using slug pellets again because I dont have chickens anymore....dont like using them but someone has to win......do you have wild boar where you are? Luckily not had any problems so far with them ....but they do come onto the plot from time to time. Deer dont - we have the valley road to thank for that. Flea beetle is a real pest tho ....still havent solved that one.
It gets pretty hot here in the summer...and this last winter it was very cold - lost all my broad beans which normally over winter OK. But we have had quite a lot of rain so everywhere is very green now!
If you would like to see my plot there are pictures on my page ...and a couple of videos.
Do you have photos?

[PyreneesPlot]

Wow, what a lovely lot of welcomes. Perhaps the weather is grim at the moment?!

Hi Newton – yes it was me waving. I was the one on the left....

FF we don't have snail problems - my neighbour collects them for the table (he's a chef) so I relocate mine in his direction!

Bigmally - I have the pond liner... and we already have the hugest toads. They live under the deck and then sit in the cat's waterbowl in the evenings. They don't seem to like slugs, but could swallow one of the kittens in a gulp!

Jeanied - rubber gloves and the Salt Jar of Death here too. It takes about an hour and a half.

Jardiniere - we are between Lannemezan and Bagneres-de-Bigorre in the Baronnies. Boy, wasn't it cold in February? My poor olive lost all its leaves for the second time in three years and we lost most of the new climbers we'd put in. Fleece next time. We have 3.5km of woodland between us and the next place so deer are a problem and we’ve had to fence the veg garden. Not seen any boar yet, but the village hunters grab a few each year, and we get a share. Flea beetle - don’t get me started. Row of radishes emerges in the morning, gone by lunchtime. I'm trying diatomaceous earth this year and all the brassicas have survived so far. And your local wine is much nicer than ours....

Right back to reading up on tomato armpits...

[pauco]

Hi from me too PP hope you enjoy your time on the forum


paul.

[eirish]

Anyone who has the intestinal fortitude to slay that many slugs is welcome here. I think the weather here has been too miserable even for the slugs - I've not seen many yet.

[taff]

what she said ^. well, the first sentence anyway, the second sentence, you lucky thing
And welcome Have a look at Sepp Holzers farm for what you could do with what you've got