Sunday 22 June 2014

1.27am

I awoke suddenly a couple of hours after I had turned in.  I rolled over and looked at my clock on the bedside table.....1.27am.  It was still the middle of the night and nowhere near to my regular 4.30am rising time.
So what had made my body come awake as if ready for combat....I wasn't sure.
I kept still and listened....no unusual sounds or movements.  My daughter's key was not turning in the door after a good night out with her friends, nor was it Brownie jumping up at the side of my bed wanting to go out.
No raindrops, no crazy wind, no dripping faucets....nothing at all.
Then that still inner voice (the one that always puts me on the right path and keeps me out of trouble) piped up loud and clear....."It's time to check outside for the bok choy munchers!"
That's what it was, before bed, I had more or less programmed my body to awake later in the night to check for the critters, and it had complied.
There is nothing like wandering around outside your house at night while you seek out potential dangers....so thrilling.
Brownie was at my side, he was more than happy to go on a night patrol.
I armed myself with my combat gear for the task.
Old honey bottle filled with salt and my bright 7 LED bulb torch.
I was ready.

By the time I reached my veggie garden bed, I had a terrible feeling....a warranted feeling too, since when I shone the torch on the bed, I saw that I only had 11 kale plants left.



See that poor little decimated stalk?
There it is on the bottom right.


Then I swore I heard munching...chomp....chomp....chomp....

Turning the beam of the torch over to the bok choy area, I saw two huge slugs on the ground near my one and only horehound plant.
Need I say more?
Those two critters are dead under that salted mess ....I made sure of that....no last rites were said.
They had already had their last meal.


8 comments:

  1. Looks as though that salt is effective....

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    1. I buy salt especially for use in the garden. Sometimes when the store buys salt in bulk and there is any spillage, it is bagged at a reduced price, so I have a big plastic bottle full stored safely for the slug parties in my garden.

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  2. That'll teach 'em. Don't mess with Slug Slayer and her faithful sidekick Super Brownie.

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    1. I like that Slug Slayer title, and Brownie likes his "faithful sidekick Super Brownie" title too....actually it seems to have gone to his head.

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  3. You get up at 4:30? Ouch! Those must have been big slugs! My slugs are cheap drunks. I just set out beer and let them drink themselves to death.

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    1. Yes, I'm awake at 4.30am, but then again I go to bed quite early, so it's a good thing. By 7am I have conquered so many chores and it's a wonderful start to my busy day.
      I don't drink, and even though I liked your beer idea for the slugs, I just couldn't find myself purchasing beer for those critters.. Knowing my slugs they would have had a rollicking good party and then gone home to sleep it off and return the following night. These Caribbean slugs are a completely different species....smile.

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  4. If you don't feel like using a beer trap have you not tried slug pellets? Or perhaps you have and I've forgotten.

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    Replies
    1. I dare not use the slug pellets on the inside of the property because of Brownie. I do use them outside the perimeter of the property for those awful African snails which usually show up as soon as the rain falls.

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