Hello my dear gardening friends –

I have had such a busy week – on Monday last I went with several other friends to a meeting in Grafton, then on Thursday I went with another friend to Cobourg for lunch – the pollution was very bad, everything seemed to have a mist over it. I am afraid that we have almost said goodbye to summer. The leaves are turning red already. That is due to the rain that has been unrelenting this year. As I write it is pouring with rain. At least we do not have to shovel our sidewalks to get out of our driveways.!!!

I had a lovely experience on the weekend. Someone contacted me about a 6 to 8 foot tall plant that was growing in their garden. It was an impatient – I went to visit the plant, taking with me my tiny yellow version of their plant which had pretty dark pink flowers. Hopefully you will see it on the show table next summer. I was given several plants – such generosity, not only that I have made two new friends – thank you Sally and Roy, it was a delight to meet you.

Our gardens are lush and green and it is time to start harvesting those veggies that we have babied along all summer (the rainy season?). If you have grown beets, they should be clean, firm, smooth, and free from cracks or any other blemishes. Cook beets putting all the same size together – they will cook evenly this way. I do not really like beets, but I love beet tops, mmmm, use the fresh young green leaves, cooked with onions. Thrown in a stir fry they are wonderful.

Brussel sprouts should be left in the garden to have several hard frosts. Better yet, leave until the spring and they will be tender without any bitterness. Steamed like cabbage with butter and a trace of garlic – they are fit for the Queen.

Cabbage should have firm heads with crisp green or red leaves. The later ones should feel very heavy when you lift them. Watch out for slugs hiding in their tight leaves. Remember that Savoy cabbage has crinkly green leaves, they are not dehydrated as someone suggested!

Carrots are always a favourite. If you buy them with tops, they should be bunched, the foliage turgid and clean of soil, and like the packaged ones, should be firm, well shaped, smooth, and free from blemishes. Keep your eye on them and if they start to show signs of rot, remove the rot and blanch the rest of the carrots then pop them into the freezer.

Cauliflowers should have had the leaves tied over their heads to keep them white. If you didn’t do this, do not worry – they taste just as good – check carefully for little “friends” hiding in between the flowers (which should be compact and again the fruit heavy).

Eggplants should be smooth, well shaped, firm, and purple. How I wish that I liked to eat eggplant, I love the look of them and have used them in flower arrangements.

Green peppers are crisp, green, with a smooth skin. If you are going to stuff them, choose symmetrical shaped ones, of equal size – they look so much nicer on the serving plate.

Onions should be firm with dry brownish/yellow skins, and no sprouts showing.

Parsnips, are another vegetable that should be left in the ground, dug at Christmas time, and cooked around either a roast beef – or your poultry. They are sweet and delicious. My daughter and I were the only two eating parsnips, until one day my son-in-law, asked just what they were, after we protested that he wouldn’t like them – he tried one. Now we cook double the amount, for my grandsons tried them too - yes, we have to share our treat ! Left until the spring – they are doubly delicious.

Peas – what a treat – picked and eaten in the garden. They should be crisp, with bright green pods, that are filled but not bulging but moist rather than dried out pods.

Potatoes -- I dig mine as soon as possible. I love those tiny potatoes. They should be fairly clean, but not showing any green. If your potatoes have gone green, cut it all away and discard, Keep them away from the light, to prevent this happening.

Squash – vegetable marrow – all the summer varieties should have tender skin, free from soft spots, and be heavy for their size. Winter varieties should have hard shells, free from any soft spots or damage.

And those wonderful tomatoes... Plump, firm, red, still warm from the sun... eaten right in the garden with a few sprigs of basil – heavenly.

My favourite: runner beans. Straight, bright green, fresh looking – no spots or damage, - I can eat beans for supper, with nothing else, or perhaps a little cheese sauce. I love this time of year. Judy and I went to the market, to look and take in all the smells – I think of it as going to a fair – what simple joys give so much pleasure.

Speaking of simple pleasures, I purchased a little book last week, that has given me a few chuckles, called 50 ways to kill a slug by Sarah Ford Hamlin – I quote “ Know Your Enemy :- After a long winter there is nothing like seeing your garden spring back to life. However newly formed shoots, blossoming flowers and moist soil are heaven for the slug. Not only can slugs munch through all your seedlings in minutes, but they can destroy your favourite hosta in a matter of days. Historically battles have been lost because the slug is a hermaphrodite, which means it has luck on its side when it comes to mustering troops for combat. Hermaphrodites have both male and female reproductive systems, so slugs can mate with themselves when and where they wish- although it has been known for a slug to choose to make love to/with another slug for up to 90 minutes!!! ( now men stop crying) As a consequence of these activities, each slug can produce up to 36 eggs, several times a year, which is a huge number of slugs. The white jelly eggs are laid underground and hatch within 10-21 days. The baby slugs reach adulthood in approximately six weeks.

A slug has a life span of several years (unless we intercede) and every year it will grow bigger and bigger and destroy more and more of your garden. An average garden contains approximately 200 slugs. In a season each slug can eat up to 0.8 kg. (1 3/4lbs) of plants. Consequently, you could be forgiven for thinking that you are fighting a losing battle!!

Slugs shelter by day, in dark, moist areas and come to life at night, making them difficult for humans to find, let alone fight. However, all is not lost as there are certain things that a slug just cannot do without. Originally the slug was a sea creature, it gills became lungs so that it could survive on land , but it still needs moisture as this is constantly lost through the slime that it produces when it moves. To produce slime, slugs have to drink constantly. This knowledge is your first weapon in beating your enemy.”

Enemy profile
Name: Slug ( Arion lusitanicus)
Size: 0-15 cm (0—6 inches)
Speed: 0.0113kmph (0.007mph)
Reproduction: Hermaphrodite produces over 100 eggs a year
Life span: 2- 6 years
Habitat: Dark moist shelters with a constant supply of tasty plants.
Habits: Destroying plants, leaving slime trails and eating worms and worse, dead slugs.
Weapons: An ability to camouflage and attack under cover of darkness. An insatiable appetite ( can eat over double its own body weight in a day) and has 27,000 teeth
Likes: Beer, grapefruit rinds and cabbage.
Dislikes: Salt
Enemies: Birds, frogs, badgers (and people)
Prey: succulent green leaves ( particularly delphinium and hostas ) they have a penchant for the skins of citrus fruits.

So Prepare the Battle Ground :- There are many approaches that you can take to minimise the chances of slugs thriving in your garden . start by eliminating their favourites habitat.

1. Prune shrub branches that touch the ground.
2. Trim grass edges, as slugs hide in the overhang.
3. Remove excess mulch
4. Check out their favourite hideaways – under decking, around compost heaps, and anywhere that is dark and moist.
5. Spring clean your gardens regularly, and hoe your weeds as slugs and eggs hide under them as well as under earth clods.
6. Encourage slug predators – many creatures are know to feast on the odd slug or two including moles, frogs, hedgehogs, salamanders, carnivorous beetles and millipedes.
7. Plant tender seedling somewhere safe – away from the prying eyes of the slug. Protect them by surrounding them with the cardboard centres of toilet rolls ( something else for you to collect over this coming winter . thank you Sarah – I love your book)

Now for the chuckles - Tools for dispensing slugs

1. Squirty gun for spraying. Stick a yucca leaf in in a food processor mixed with water, fill up your spray gun and blast away
2. Other mixtures that work really well are garlic in liquid paraffin; vinegar; a mixture of boiling water, chillies, a inch of horseradish root chopped and a couple of handfuls of geranium leaves. When these mixes are cool, strain into the spray gun, using only one of the mixtures at a time , go and spray the garden.
3. A catapult :- See how far your captives will go when catapulted off the edge of a cliff. Mean spirited individuals may want to aim them at the next door neighbours hostas !!
4. Salt: Great for fish and chips not so good for slugs.
5. Beer – for getting slugs drunk and drowning them. And for a celebratory drink after you have defeated the slugs,(Do Not Drink the same beer in which you drowned the slugs !!)
6. Vinegar A good ingredient for slug spray but also very useful for removing slug slime.
7. Warm soapy water, good for drowning slugs, but also good for washing your hands
8. Spade - guaranteed to chop the toughest slug in half
9. Sweets, candy, and money - necessary to bribe your children and their friends to stamp and squish!

What do you do with the dead ones after you have killed and collected them ?? Slugs are much more useful than you might imagine. They are full of protein and can make a tasty snack for cats, ducks or fish. They are also a good addition to the compost pile : as the average compost is full of their favourite food, the living ones will love you forever and will actually stay put; they will help breakdown cardboard and paper not to mention improve the quality of the compost. Your plants will grow stronger , giving them a better fighting chance against the “free slugs” The dead slugs will be eaten by the living ones – who in turn will become stronger – make better compost and the cycle continues and if all else fails Venture out into the garden armed with this book. Locate a slug, remove it from amongst your plants, place the book unopened on top of the slug and squelch down with your foot. The flick the dead remains . Finally wipe down your book – felt good didn’t it ???

For the squeamish amongst us there is always diatomaceous earth. It is a non toxic pesticide. It is a geological deposit made up of fossilised skeletons and tests of siliceous marine and fresh water organisms. when crushed, they break up into tiny pieces of "glass", so tiny that the material feels like talcum powder. This material is easily picked up by the bodies of a great variety of insects. Then, scratches appear on their outer protective layers and the resulting scratches allow a great lose of water for the victim. Thus, they dry up and die.

Another new month - what chores do we have for you? Prepare and seed new lawns, fertilise the old ones for the last time this year. Divide perennials, plant evergreens, air dry onions for storage, renovate perennial borders, I am still struggling to renovate my whole garden -- if only it would stop raining! Harvest your grapes after the first frost and start soaking the ground around your trees, shrubs and transplants - I think this is a chore that can wait another month at least!

Gardening Alternatives - Rather than using too much water and fertiliser not to mention pesticides, build up good soil which can significantly reduce the need to water and feed your lawns and gardens. To build a good soil you must condition it by adding organic materials. Peat moss, a sustainable natural resource, is one of the best soil amendments available to help improve the soil. It has the unique ability to retain water without drowning or rotting the plants, by cutting off the oxygen . It keeps fertilisers from leaching through the soil so that the nutrients are available to plant roots and will promote root growth and healthier plants, which will ensure fewer attacks by pests and/or diseases. whether you garden in clay or sandy soils, adding peat moss or any other organic materials to your lawn and garden will add body, preventing water and nutrient run-off and will loosen clay soils, allowing plant roots to grow deeply. as a general rule, work two inches of peat moss into the top six inches of soil either in the spring - or fall . In the fall we have several advantages, you can rough dig, turning the soil over and adding the amendments, let the frost and winter take it down for you - the mosquitoes have gone - and the weather is much cooler for working outside.

Hats, sunscreen, insect repellent ,hats, gloves, still gardening ones,

Lovingly, Beryl