Does anyone know anything about gardening?

Maaaaaate! those borders are EPIC! Thats so nice

I have loads of espresso grounds but which according to EU was illegal to use as a deterrent, now cuz of brexit is it ok? Not sure.

Mine seems to mostly be snails - whats the designated method of disposal? I've been leaving them on the deck and birds take them, is that ok? Think I might make a coupe of beer traps as extra precaution.

Absolutely gorgeous. Which plants are your best performers?

RE snails/slugs, I was fighting the good fight with vigour this year, out every night with headtorch, collecting as many as possible to deposit in local park. I think tried multiple beer traps. I got some pretty good numbers. I tried nematodes. But still it was a proper Sisyphusian task and they still decimated many plants/veg (bought an established Lupin when I wrongly thought I may have been winning - the entire foot+ of it, leaves stalks and all gone in 1 night). 4 courgette plants I grew from seeds, hardened off and finally planted out (when properly big, 5 big leaves etc). Every single leaf eaten the first night. Planted a row of pansies in a pot, every time a flower threatened to appear it would be munched through the next morning.

Finally, I gave up and tried these organic pellets. It says they're wildlife friendly and fine (when used as instructed) with crops. I put them out last week and the difference is black and white. Honestly, I just can't express my happiness that everything I plant isn't immediately destroyed. I appreciate very different if you have young kids that might eat anything (I'm sure a handful of these would not be on any parent's desired menu for their kids) but I can't recommend highly enough.

One issue I've heard with beer traps, that seemed to make sense, is that the slugs love the smell of beer so much that they will travel from far afield to come to the source. So as well as trapping and killing some, you also attract lots more to your garden

Interesting that those pellets don't leave slime behind. I used some last year which were successful in controlling the snails and slugs but left a horrible slimey mess which attracted hundreds of flies.

Yep, not seen a single dead slug/snail or any horrible mess...

We have hens next to our veg patch and therefore have loads of egg shells in our compost heap. Consequently lots of tiny bits of broken eggshell in the beds when we put the compost out. We notice hardly any slugs/snails which I am fairly confident is because the sharp edges of the shell fragments keep them off the beds. My suggestion for anyone is collect loads of eggshells, grind up and sprinkle liberally around plants or over pots. It works for protecting seedlings in pots too.

That sounds a little like what diatomaceous dust does - eat plenty of eggs, so will also give this ago. Coffee and eggs and some of @owl recommended pellets!

This actually makes sense, so not gonna do beer traps

Probably around 10pm, as that's when we usually go to bed. But I've also done it earlier / later.

I heard it on GQT I think and was surprised at how affective it was. You get faster at spotting them too, which is good as ultimately its the babies you need to get because they grow up and become big slugs.

Just try and go hard at it for 5 consecutive nights.

Sam_w's point about a species gap as we have loads more snails this year.

Also if anyone doesn't have a head torch, this Sofirn SP40 is fucking great, and great value. Grab a set of the little 18350 batteries at the same time:

https://sofirnlight.com/sp40-headlamp-with-battery-xpl-5500k-4000k-3000k-p0026.html

(there are other colours and Ks of light)

nth-ing others, your garden looks amazing.

is that ok?

beer traps as extra precaution.

I tried cutting them in half, but the birds wouldn't eat them. My OH is an animal lover and made me feel guilty so now I put them in our green recycling bin. Although that batch was in a cut up carton so it just went in the general waters bin... and starving to death amongst the smell of a pair of children's fermenting nappies seems pretty dark.

On beer traps, sorry if you already know this but they've got to be very well set up. Otherwise it just attracts them and the majority have a little drink and carry on while a couple falling in makes you think it's working.

On the eggshells Ymmv. For my sunflowers last year egg shells did fuck all. But then much of my garden has multiple layers of plants and foliage so I think they just travel on that.

yeah I've tried full on layers of broken eggshells, doesn't seem to work.
little blue pellets used very sparingly around particular plants, and nematodes used more liberally (but not this year) have some effect.

Anyone have any luck growing acers in pots?

Not me, killed two. I think the problem with trees in pots is by the time they look sick it’s f’ing hard to resuscitate them.
And in other news the pricey Cornus Kousa tree we planted to mark our five year ‘wood’ wedding anniversary is leaf scorched to buggerery. Praying it pulls through (tree, not marriage).

I've seen some quite large ones growing in pots so it does seem to be possible.

I've recently bought one and put it in a pot, so we'll see how it goes

Got loads of mature herbs, few types of lavender, few types of sage, massive rosemary bush. We've got Lilac, a great Acer, peonies, alliums, loads of stuff I don't know the name of yet! 🤷🏼‍♀️

Dreamy! Evergreen herbs are the best

One issue I've heard with beer traps, that seemed to make sense, is that the slugs love the smell of beer so much that they will travel from far afield to come to the source. So as well as trapping and killing some, you also attract lots more to your garden

might wanna put the trap outside the garden then

better still, put it in a bastard neighbours' garden

One month in - so far so good

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Ah gorgeous. Is it a house you've just moved to?

And plus the fact that not all slugs are eating your crops

Anyone used bio char? I got a bit carried away and ordered a load of stuff from here:

https://www.carbongold.com/what-is-biochar/

Arriving today.