hope springs eternal

Came back from holiday to discover all my annual veg ( even the ones four feet off the ground in a window box) and one or two of the perennials mowed off completely at ground level. I've finally given in and bought some organic slug pellets since hand picking and beer traps just don't seem to be cutting it.

Anyway, today the sun is shining and the sky is blue so I'm out planting up again. I think its probably too late to try for sweet corn again, but everything else I'm going to give another go.

unwelcome visitors

Yuck, I've got Australian Flatworms (Australoplana Sanguinea) in my garden. I found the first two early this spring, but apparently they've been reported from this post code several times before.

These ugly, non indigenous little horrors prey on earthworms. They've no natural predators and are covered in an irritant slime, so as far as I can tell have no redeeming features.

The only way to control numbers is to trap and kill them. They like to hide under heavy plastic things in the day time so look under planters, bags of compost or water butts. You can read all about them and their New Zealand cousins here.