organic gardening

Well Fancy, it was Auntie's post I was replying to and he was worried about the implications of using aluminium and iron for the soil.

The selling point for the use of Aluminium Sulphate granules as slug pellets is that they are supposedly not toxic to cats and dogs (though they are problematic for amphibia I believe).

I am entirely delighted that you prefer to use wood/green waste ash, eggshells, seashells, gravel, whatever turns your dial friend, but not everyone has the same options. For example in London it is illegal to use wood in chimney fires, and bonfires - whilst not illegal - are often considered a nuisance, so there's not a lot of ash going around. Sea shells are sold for the laughable �£5 for a tiny box and it's illegal to collect them from many beaches, eggshells encourage rats (and they don't need encouragement here believe me) which leaves us with shingle and chippings, or sharp sand (which doesn't work IMO), or biodiversity... Not a lot of that around in W1 either if you exclude the human kind. So that leaves slug pellets - if you are going to use them use them wisely I say, and that involves the kind of considerations I was sharing with Auntie.

Not going to apologize for 'jargon' like pH, aluminium, iron, and soil - I believe they are of interest to most gardeners, as indeed is the RHS website (should you be able to navigate your way around it which I can't). Please enjoy your gardening whichever way you like, but please also don't tick me off for trying to share something useful

 

You are so right Auntie. Recent tests on dead and sick frogs have shown that they are full of aluminium which they get from eating poisoned slugs.

 

Oh, I understood that it was the dehydrating effects of the crystals on their skin. I thought that was the mode of action on the slugs as well.

 

Jazid.I can tell you are single,because any woman listening to you would have fallen asleep afer the first minutezzzzzz......no offence meant so don't take it the wrong way.

I don't think there is anyone on here that has joined GC for any romantic attachements.
I think I can speak for the Majority who have joined to give or recieve advice on various gardening problems that may arise.

We do have a bit of banter going on on the Muppets thread,but to us it is a light hearted bit of banter,which brightens up what could be a gloomy depressing day,with all the terrorist activities going on.
Anyone not interested on our chatter will no doubt steer clear of that thread anyway.

By the way I am 50 years young.5'1" married 26 years no kids 2 cats 1 elderly dog 10 brothers and sisters god knows how many nephews and nieces,and numerous great nephews and nieces.
I have Blonde/grey hair,blue/grey eyes I wear glasses, am overweight cholestrol 4.9 Blood Pressure 178/70 enjoy country walking,photography, swimming, reading, horseriding, am a non smoker not a heavy drinker enjoy weepy films not rich but quite happy.Anything else you need to know.

 

What about Salt.I often use a nice bit of salt sprinkled on the slugs when they are on the paths.Knocks them dead straight away,or else you men could always use your size 9 boots to stamp them into the next world

 

Oh dear...

 

"When you need me but do not want me then I must stay. When you want me but no longer need me then I have to go"... KF do you have a striking resemblance to Nanny Mcphee :eek:

Loving your work Jaz, I am very interested in your soil knowledge. :D as I am very lazy in this department and simply request that my plants "grow you Barstoods".

 

BM I wondered how long it would take someone to get it...

Good makeup,but thankfully I don't look like her the same as you don't look like Bananaman

 

I definitely would at the point ...When you want me but no longer need me then I have to go...

Foxy ! LoL mate.

Great Film :D

 

I would like to thank everyone for contributing towards helping me improve my knowledge base on this particular topic!!

I personally feel that Jazid and Hornbeam are correct to emphasise the effects soil can have on our gardens, be they entirely organic or somewhat insecticidally based (I mean the gardens). If it were not for the soil, after all, would we have any plants at all? Perhaps we'd all have hydroponic gardens? Now there's a thought for the future...

Shiney - interesting about the turnips! Any understanding of the science behind this please? Sorry, not trying to be boring but this sort of thing excites me. And before there is a contribution to this thread with the presumption I am a sad pathetic guy living alone... no! ... I am a sad pathetic guy who is married.

Thanks too for the info re the weed matting. I know you said you purchased this from an organic grower but would that sort of thing be available in some garden centres, do you think? Or, maybe on the net some place?

Once again thanks to all!!

Kind regards
Roy

 

What about salt? If you've got as far as finding the things then obviously you won't need your pellets; why not chuck them into the bin, stomp on them with your stilettos (men only), drown them in beer so they don't suffer so much because you can't bear to pick them up. And please remember; these horrid big plump ones you're busy killing are the carnivores. I know..jargon again. It's the little ones - the ones that are difficult to see - that eat the leaves. The big fat ones eat the little ones. Sent you to sleep Kandyfloss? Good, I might have done your garden a favour.

Lastly; for anyone interested in healthy soil, don't chuck salt on it. Period.

 

Now look what you've started Royster!

Weed mats available all over the place. Small bits in B&Q etc, larger amounts from many places. Best to look up 'weed mat' 'weed membrane' or 'geotextile' plus 'stockist' for local suppliers to you as transport can be quite a high cost on these items, and they are available in a range of lengths/widths. I like the black woven poypropylene ones (jargon) with white checks in 25cm spacings. Also get a good blade on your Stanley Knife as these things blunt blades at a hell of a rate. Another good thing to get is the 'staples' that hold the stuff down. They make your life much easier and only cost pennies.

 

Spot on Jazid! Big slugs are carnivorous and eat little slugs so why kill the bigguns? There are lots of different types of slugs and very few eat live garden plants - they prefer rotting dead leaves so are actually clearing up your litter and eating your herbivorous slug pests.

Salting slugs is horrible. Poisoning them is counter productive as you also poison gardeners' friends (hedgehogs, frogs, toads, thrushes etc)

First rule of battle is "Get to know your enemies" so you need to find out who your enemies are and who are actually allies - even the ugly ones!

I have two rules only:
1. Care for the soil and keep it chemical free
2. Kill nothing

Everything comes naturally then and I have a wonderful garden with lots of living creatures that prevent unbalanced pest populations from becoming a threat to my plants.

 

Are all big slugs carnivorous or just certain ones? Perhaps I should stop flinging them into the field behind?! What about the huge brown ones with orange undersides that are currently munching my tatty old strawberry plants? (I've kept these hoping they would keep the blighters off my other plants, I'm not that untidy a gardener!)