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Regarding the garlic. I wonder if using an essential oil would work just as well? I read this week that spraying an essential oil dilute such as peppermint or eucalyptus, even Lavender, will help deter cats from pooing in your beds. I sprayed all around the outside of my borders with eucalyptus and it seems to have worked. No more cat poop. I couldn’t help wondering if it would harm plants if I sprayed my Hostas with it, and might it deter slugs also? Does anyone know? I’ll go and do a bit of research and let you know!

You are so welcome FF. I keep a list of plants on here as it’s Theon.y place I can use my own pics for reference. But the community on here has always been lovely. It went through a phase when it just wouldn’t work for me. I think a lot of friends drifted away at that point. But it seems to be working ok now.

Thanks Janey. I added a lot more herbs after this photo and a lot more shade lovers on the other side too. I’m just waiting for my holly tree, and that should be it for this year. At least until the winter.

They bloom in the bay area around mid June into early July.

Aw..that’s great Janey. I know…it’s cold! So fed up with it now. I was at theGC yesterday between showers the sun came out and it was toasty. But it lasted 10 mins and today it’s really cold. :(

We all have them. X

:) A year of chastity!

I have a feeling Shirley our Roses will evade and avoid the slimey terrors .I'm afraid to plant out my last few Cosmos though.

OK will have a look!

I know, I posted a blog about the Roses earlier!

Look for Japanese beetles. They eat the leaves of Acers.

That's the best news yet!! Roses are still intact too.

They are easy, but what helps is a temperature difference between day and night. There are a lot of South African species that do well here, but are available only by seed. What is hard are lillies.

You are most welcome ... :o))

I guess the Deer ignore them.

Definitely, they would brighten up a damp shady area, sadly I don't have that!

Julia, dare I say it ... the slugs seem to dislike them ... hooray!

Excellent news!

I certainly do ... today it is smothered in blooms and looks wonderful.

Josie, it definitely seems to be a problem for so many of us, all along the South of England. If they start chomping on the Roses I shall scream!

The slug pellets containing Metaldehyde are now banned and the Doff blue pellets I bought do not affect the slugs! I shall just have to dispose of as many slugs and snails as possible ... a revolting task!

Oh that's a shame Janey..perhaps you could find a rose by her name?

Looking pretty Karen. Ty for keeping us posted on your gardens progress.

I support you in this Davey. Plants are far too precious & sometimes expensive to feed to such slimy creatures. So slug pellets it is.

It’s very pretty. I like watching Beechgrove too.

Wow!!

Really lovely Julia and in the water droplet vase. I tried to buy a friend who's 70th it is next week Birthday Girl, but couldn't get it. Shall have to try a different one..

Sorry about your slug damage Shirley. I have lots of snails & I have had one Sunflower seedling completely eaten off. They are in a pot & the others are ok, at the moment, with the use of slug pellets. I feel guilty though when I see them dying ( the snails) & know that I’m the cause, but what else can we do? There are so many,all different sizes & they eat a hell of a lot. We’d have nothing if we didn’t kill them off.
Commiserations anyway!

Gorgeous!

Wow that is a lovely colour. I was at my local GC yesterday and so many house plants including begonias I resisted tho!

Love it Ange. Gorgeous leaf colour. I've had mine for absolute years, it's a darker pink with silver and is looking great right now..:)

Think this year has been the worst for the horrible little slimy critters, I walk the dog in the morning and the pathways are just crawling with them, what dahlias I have left are just shredded as they are breaking through the soil, I have moved my ligulara into pots to try protect them, the hosta's have taken a battering, they are evening munching my foxgloves which I thought they didn't like, I think they are saving my hydrangea Annabelle for the main course after they have finished with the dahlia shoots, so I am afraid I have gone back to turning my soil blue with pellets just to try give the plugs a bit of a chance. I just can't spend a load of money to provide a feast for these little pests

They are horrific Ange, all the rain has helped the critters. I have loads too but not on your scale. An old remedy was jars of beer sunk into the soil, but I think you'd need them every six inches! Hardly any thrushes these days to feast on them either.

Gorgeous roses Ange, I do love the gentle old fashioned ramblers with fabulous structures for them. My Bobby James is very quickly doing a circumference of the garden as well as covering where he's supposed to run!
Yes slugs and snails, and my garden being walled in is covered with the blighters. 270 is an incredible amount though, thanks to all the rain they're on the move all the time and multiplying..:((

It does look great Karen and much larger than I had thought. All planted up and ready to go,..:))

Gosh, that is a lovely one!

Love it and mine which you brought me is now two large ones just coming into flower when these biting east winds stop!

We use a hand spray when we spray the flowers, as it's more gentle on them than a hose pipe.

I have many jacaranda trees pics posted on GoY. The large, old trees are difficult to photograph on my iPhone, so now I take pics of the smaller trees.

It's a beautiful rose, Shirley, shame that, like my Chinese rose, it only blooms once a year for a few weeks - but don't you remember them well & look forward to seeing them again the following year?!

Lovely Cactus, Hywel!

I've seen photos of them on here before & they look very nice!

Three weeks later they look a whole lot better & bigger! They have been on the balcony the last 2 weeks & I transferred them to 2 bigger pots.

Thanks for the info, Wylie! I've never attempted to grow them from seed but I have grown on bulbils.

Thanks, Shirley.

Karen, We have a preformed pond but there is so much to do it hasn't been installed yet. The insult last night was after OH got in, I opened the front door and there was one huge snail going across the path in one direction and a fat slug going t'other way. You can't win!

I love garlic, Shirley, but with these numbers I think you are more likely to challenge Dracula successfully with it rather than all these little swines.

Meadow, I planted out 6 carefully nurtured mimulus plants lovingly grown from seed before we went away. Nothing left of them on our return. I feel your pain :-)

We have birds, toads and hedgehogs, Sbg, and something gobbles up the remains. I suspect just too many molluscs about for them to do much about halting the slimy nuisances.

snap Ange. I dont use any slug pellets and my hostas are just ribs now.

We do have at least 7 different species and I did find several of the carnivorous ones.

I have a pond, lots of birds, toads & frogs but there are just so many. I have seen evidence of hedgehogs too.
I am going out with a torch and bucket of salty water at night but it seems never ending. I don't bother counting.

There seem to be many more white ones around..just fallen fir them...mustvplant more in the Autumn.

That's a shame Shirley..I think I prefer the cream version.

I will be on my guard Shirley!!!