Slug-a-licious

Never mind the poor summer weather we're having these days. Slugs and snails have me down more than our grey skies.

I had wonderful looking marigolds at the end of spring. They were healthy, robust and oh so cute with their orange and red flowers--the Bonanza Bee. I plunked in a boarder all along the beds in my backyard.

Then slowly but surely, all of them were devoured and turned into little sticks of nothing. I didn't even get a chance to photograph the plants when they looked good. In a matter of a couple of weeks, I didn't have a single marigold to speak of!

Here are a couple of beauties.


















Lovely.

I don't know why marigolds are a favorite with slugs. I even had this discussion with my mom. She confesses bringing out the slug bait only when she was planting marigolds. I thought the pungent smell of their foliage and flowers would deter them. I guess not!

The other plants the slugs are after are my Charentais melon. Why they don't touch the Hannah's Choice muskmelon baffles me. Luckily I started a bunch so I've been replacing them as they get munched.


I just used the last of my stockpile of starts. I'm hoping a third planting is a charm. Fingers crossed!

On a happier note, my sunchokes broke dormancy and have been growing strong for about a month now. Woohoo!