The first harvests are coming in. I've been eating new potatoes and broad beans, and the youngest daughter has almost finished munching her way through the first row of peas.
I hurry home from work and dig up another one of my potato plants. These are quite large and look really yummy. Just enough time to put them on to boil before I settle down with a beer to watch the footy.
One of them has a bit of a hole in it which seems to be full of earth. No problem. I take it over to the chopping board and slice off the end with the hole in it.
Something twitches.
It's an enormous slug - one of those horrible brown ones with the orange round the edges.
And I've just sliced it in half.
Suddenly my potatoes don't seem quite so yummy.
BTW, I never knew slugs ate potatoes. Is this usual? And anyone know how I can stop any more of my spuds from being slug chomped?
"Oooh, you had a shower"
3 days ago
Yes unfortunately they will eat potatoes which is amazing considering they are buried under the ground. I'm afraid I only know of the usual ways of trying to control them.
ReplyDeleteUgh, gross! Saucer of beer in the garden, or multiple saucers of beer. Seriously. That's what my mother and everyone else did when we were growing up, to get rid of slugs. They're supposedly attracted to it and I presume they drown. LOL. Try a cheap brand, though, don't waste good beer. ;-)
ReplyDeleteOh wow. Oh yuck! Oh I'm so sorry this happen - I'd be so ill if that were me and I'd never touch taters again! :-)
ReplyDeleteI think slugs just eat anything don't they? Oh goodness me!! Hedgehogs. That's all I know. Get lotsa hedgehogs! :-)
good luck!!!
take care
x
I have no idea why, but some varieties are more prone to slug damage than others. Try different ones each year and you'll find one that works for you.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I'm amazed there are any slugs around at all it's so dry - I just hope they're not all hiding in my spuds.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all your suggestions. Maybe I should have keps a note of which varieties I've planted - I'll do that next year!
:-)
Yep, slugs love potatoes I wonder if they have gone underground more because it is so dry?
ReplyDeleteBest to check your spuds before cooking, cut out the damage and carry on.
As for control slug pubs work (saucers of beer) but need to be attended everyday, my mother used to go into the garden at night with a torch and bucket of salt water, every time she saw a slug she would pop it into the bucket where it would dye - mm slug soup!