Uprooted

Has it really been something like twenty days since I last posted? Wow. Well a few things have transpired since then:

-Cut down the quinoa stalks and started to dry them in the basement. Noticed some chickadees were making gluttons of themselves on all that free grain so I put a stop to it. Couldn't wait for the frost any longer or there would have been nothing left to harvest.

-Picked the first of some bok choi I planted in August (though I neglected to post about it then). It has performed quite well under cool conditions.

-Decided I'll be moving out of this house at the end of the year so I can begin to get my life in order and stop wasting it as I have been these past 20 months (and longer).

I will continue to post about other horticultural projects I may be working on, though the possibility that I will be living somewhere that allows much opportunity for such things is rather slim.

This has certainly been a valuable endeavor--if for no other reason than documenting a small part of my life as it continues to pass me by-- and it has been worth doing.

Slug Proof

Last week Christian and I went about protecting his fledgling garden from the urban gardeners' perennial nemesis, the slug. Slugs LOVE rain! That makes the maritime northwest a veritable slug paradise. Pair that with the fact that our overwintering plants will only be growing at an almost immeasurable pace due to lower temperatures and light levels (and thus putting out little foliage to replace leaves damaged by said pests), and our immediate attention was required.

Christian's garden is getting pretty meaty and an easy target for would-be pests

Our weapon of choice: a pet-safe, environmentally friendly, naturally derived slug bait called Sluggo. Sluggo's active ingredient is iron phosphate, which is found naturally in soil. The slugs eat the bait, and after ingesting only a little bit, stop eating, wander off, and eventually die (within 3-6 days). The bait, which resembles rice-sized pellets, is spread in a perimeter around the garden to create an effective barrier. Over time the bait dissolves harmlessly into the soil. A new application may be needed every two weeks depending on how wet the winter is and how often the bait is eaten.


Christian spreads the slug bait around the perimeter of the garden