So. As I mentioned yesterday, we've been having a bit of an issue with slugs of late. This being the case, we decided to strike back (mwahaha! People/things thinking of stealing our food, BE WARNED).
Obviously, our first choice of weapon would be a hedgehog. We've been doing our best to encourage them - we even have a very hedgehog-friendly heap of old branches under the pine tree at the bottom of the garden - but we don't seem to have had much luck so far. We don't really want to resort to chemicals (we have a small, nearly-crawling person round here who sticks EVERYTHING in her mouth at the moment), so we've adopted another tactic.
The solution? BEER.
We'd heard that slugs liked beer, and there were a couple of half-bottles left over after a barbecue we had on Sunday, so we set a couple of traps - just a couple of inches of beer in the bottom of two jam jars. One went next to the strawberry patch, the other in the herb beds.
On Tuesday morning, we went out to check the traps before breakfast, and there were seventeen (yes, I counted them) slugs in the herb bed trap. The other trap was rather less successful, but the fact that Ze Husband had carried out a MSM (Massive Slug Massacre) operation in that area the night before probably had something to do with it.
We shall emerge victorious! We SHALL!
Thursday 31 May 2012
Wednesday 30 May 2012
A Tale of Two Salads
It's Summer, and it's hot, meaning it's salad time again around here.
We thought we'd try being organised this year, so a few weeks ago, we bought a dozen lettuce and rocket seedlings. Well, not exactly a dozen - it was a gardener's dozen, twelve for us and "some for the slugs". Our slugs, however, are particularly greedy creatures. Within a week of planting the seedlings out, there were only three rocket plants left and no lettuces AT ALL. Then, they moved on to the radishes. They don't seem to be interested in the roots, but the poor plants have had to put all of their energy into regrowing their leaves and not into the part we're actually interested in.
On Saturday afternoon, I planted a pepper plant in my herb beds. Note that these herb beds are in window boxes at some distance from the main garden, next to the front door, on a hard path. On Sunday morning, there was NO PEPPER PLANT. The slugs had struck yet again.
That was the first of the two salads- a great big gigantinormous hypothetical salad which we WILL NOT GET TO EAT because of the EVIL SLUGS.
The second of the two salads was last night's salade composée, which was a particularly good one, so I thought I'd pass on the recipe. Its name? Norman. Norman the Salad.
I should explain...
Salads in France often have names. Salade Niçoise is one of the best known versions. Last night's sald was a Salade Normande, including traditional ingredients from Normandy, or, in other words, a Norman Salad. See? Norman the Salad.
Without further ado, here are the ingredients...
Half a red lettuce, shredded
1 apple, diced
5 inches cucumber, diced
A few sprigs of parsley (the slugs haven't eaten all of that yet...)
1/4 Camembert, chopped into small pieces (note: use a Camembert that's not too close to its use-by date for this one, otherwise it's impossible to cut up, it just oozes)
Croutons/ torn-up stale bread, fried in a little olive oil
Stick ingredients in bowl. Add dressing to taste (I recommend vinaigrette made with walnut mustard- it's AMAZING). Mix. Eat. Om nom nom. Serves 2 as a main meal with bread, more as a side dish/starter.
Sorry for the lack of phototage... next time I'll remember. Promise.
We thought we'd try being organised this year, so a few weeks ago, we bought a dozen lettuce and rocket seedlings. Well, not exactly a dozen - it was a gardener's dozen, twelve for us and "some for the slugs". Our slugs, however, are particularly greedy creatures. Within a week of planting the seedlings out, there were only three rocket plants left and no lettuces AT ALL. Then, they moved on to the radishes. They don't seem to be interested in the roots, but the poor plants have had to put all of their energy into regrowing their leaves and not into the part we're actually interested in.
On Saturday afternoon, I planted a pepper plant in my herb beds. Note that these herb beds are in window boxes at some distance from the main garden, next to the front door, on a hard path. On Sunday morning, there was NO PEPPER PLANT. The slugs had struck yet again.
That was the first of the two salads- a great big gigantinormous hypothetical salad which we WILL NOT GET TO EAT because of the EVIL SLUGS.
The second of the two salads was last night's salade composée, which was a particularly good one, so I thought I'd pass on the recipe. Its name? Norman. Norman the Salad.
I should explain...
Salads in France often have names. Salade Niçoise is one of the best known versions. Last night's sald was a Salade Normande, including traditional ingredients from Normandy, or, in other words, a Norman Salad. See? Norman the Salad.
Without further ado, here are the ingredients...
Half a red lettuce, shredded
1 apple, diced
5 inches cucumber, diced
A few sprigs of parsley (the slugs haven't eaten all of that yet...)
1/4 Camembert, chopped into small pieces (note: use a Camembert that's not too close to its use-by date for this one, otherwise it's impossible to cut up, it just oozes)
Croutons/ torn-up stale bread, fried in a little olive oil
Stick ingredients in bowl. Add dressing to taste (I recommend vinaigrette made with walnut mustard- it's AMAZING). Mix. Eat. Om nom nom. Serves 2 as a main meal with bread, more as a side dish/starter.
Sorry for the lack of phototage... next time I'll remember. Promise.
Thursday 3 May 2012
Fun with Vegetables
When, sometime last year, my sisters and I saw a Youtube video with a man playing the Zelda theme tune on a musical instrument made entirely of broccoli, we couldn't resist...
(Please note that the vegetables in question had been deigned no longer fit for human consumption and were on their way to be fed to the chickens).
We didn't quite manage to make the vegetables entirely playable on their own, but with the addition of a clarinet mouthpiece, we were able to produce recognisable tunes. The clarinet bell on the carrot was there to improve the tuning.. and for aesthetic effect!
(Please note that the vegetables in question had been deigned no longer fit for human consumption and were on their way to be fed to the chickens).
We didn't quite manage to make the vegetables entirely playable on their own, but with the addition of a clarinet mouthpiece, we were able to produce recognisable tunes. The clarinet bell on the carrot was there to improve the tuning.. and for aesthetic effect!
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