The sun brought out my 1st crocus of 2009

Lovely Photo Paul :) Love the Old Cockle Shells :)

Beautiful pic Paul......!

it looks great among the shells

I like them coming through the shells. I'll have to save my shells from now on :)

Oh I love these coming up through the shells. Well done.

The shells are there mainly to 'set off' the dark green foliage of the box hedging but it's not visible in this pic'

what a great idea Paul, looks wonderful, does it also cut down on slugs and snails?

to be honest, I don't think anything stops the slugs here, with the exception,perhaps, of pellets but I don't use them.I have had a fair amount of success with beer traps in my small veg patch but nothing's that reliable.They just climb over the shells.

i tried nemaslug for the first time last year, brilliant stuff. i get a real problem with them, but last year i had blemish free hosta, un nibbled pansy, and it is easy to use, hassle free, and completely safe to other animals.. only draw backs not cheap, and can be rendered ineffective by a late heavy frost, i just had some of the organic pellets on stand by just incase, but i have very few proplems with them. i would say well worth the money. i am going to invest in some more for this spring. harold horticulture do a programme of 3 treaments which are sent at 6 week intervals - which is ideal for applying. well worth looking into.

I've never really considered biological controls but I suppose they're worth the cost and effort if there's a big problem but I'd need a lot for my big borders.

Pretty good idea with the shells is your wife s name Mary:D