May’s colourful pollinator plants…and slugs
The garden is truly blooming now. For the first time it’s warm enough to take breakfast in the sunshine, take a deep breath and enjoy the work we put into the garden in early Spring. The tadpoles are frenetic in the wildlife pond, the cherries, pears, apples and blueberries are budding and taking shape now the blossom has parted. There is colour everywhere; from the clown-like cheery faces of the Violas, to the pillar-box red drifts of Geum ‘Mrs Bradshaw’ and the glorious magenta trumpets of the Salvia ‘Love & Wishes’ which are humming with bees.
The wildlife garden is entering it’s 4th year now and starting to feel fully-formed. The litmus test is that we now have many pollinator plants self-seeding and cramming every nook and cranny. The garden is more complete with these ‘special freebies’ and it’s all the better for the pollinator insects, (as well as easy on the eye!) Currently we have self-sown Aquilegia, Red Valerian, Forget-Me-Not, Violas and Nigella in flower, with seedling Cosmos and Verbena Bonariensis on the way. However, the undisputed star of the show this year has been the Cerinthe Major Purpescens, which is having a spectacular Spring. I’ve never seen so many of the almost alien-like nodding heads, which are apparently more beloved of the smaller bumble bees than any other flower. It’s an absolute must for any pollinator garden.
‘The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men, Gang aft a-gley….’ said Robert Burns, and that’s certainly true for this month’s blog. I had meticulously mapped out the Spring/ Summer content at the start of the year, month by month, but of course Mother Nature had other plans! May is traditionally the month where my Skinner Moth Trap comes out of its winter stasis. It’s dragged off the top shelf of the garage and dusted down to humanely catch and record for national survey the incredibly rich variety of moths we have in our back garden here in Marden. However, the very hot and dry Summer of 2022, combined with the snowy Winter and wet, cool Spring have meant that moth numbers are seriously down. So much so that I’m recording 2 in a night when I would expect to record 30- 40 specimens. So, for now, the moth chapter of this blog will be (hopefully) pushed to next month. This month our emergency star subject will be…slugs!
Our pollinator garden is completely organic and pesticide-free. Pest such as blackfly are actually food sources for many species of hoverfly, which are important pollinator species. Greenfly feed the ladybirds of which there are 47 recorded species resident in the UK, with each ladybird devouring more than 5000 aphids in their lifetime! There are many complex predator/prey relationships which are intrinsic to the food chain in the wildlife garden, so I hesitate to use the word ‘pest’ for any of these species. However, there are mornings in April and May when I wake up, stroll into the garden and find my hours of careful sowing, nurturing and planting all razed to the ground by slugs. That’s when ‘pest’ is probably the politest word I can say at the time!
They say a problem shared is a problem halved, and to this end, over the months of April and May I have trialled various organic and pesticide/ chemical- free slug protection methods and rated them, so you don’t have to make the same costly mistakes I did! All the below methods have been rated out of 10.
Self-removal 8.5/10 The best method is the oldest. Slugs are still an important part of the food chain and slug poisons/ pellets or killing them should be avoided at all costs. Slug pellets also kill hedgehogs as well as posing a mortal danger to cats and other animals. I do a quick 5-minute tour of the garden in the morning and pick up visible slugs with a dog poo bag (that way you don’t have to touch them!) and then drop them off in the damp shade of a nearby wild verge, unharmed and away from the garden.
Slug- repelling plants. 8/10 The following plants are less attractive to slugs and snails and definitely incurred far less damage than the majority of planting. All listed plants are also great for pollinators. Penstemon, Dicentra, Geranium, Astibe, Mexican Fleabane, Guara, Oregano, Aquilegia, Lavender.
Troughs and high planters 7.5/10 I’ve come to the sad conclusion that for our truly organic garden, some pollinator plants just won’t survive the slimy onslaught if planted out into beds. The following plants will always go into raised troughs and tall containers: Rudbekia, Helenium, Dahlias, Hostas, half-hardy Salvias such as Amistad.
Lava Light. 6/10 (pictured with dahlia) Lava light is a finely-crushed gravel which should be spread at least 10cm wide around the base of the plants. This does seem to work but mainly when sprinkled liberally around the base of plants such as dahlias in pots. It’s far less effective when placed around the base of plants in flower beds and can look unsightly as it’s a pale grey colour.
Defenders ‘Slugs Away’ Plant Protection Guard 5/10 These are green plastic collars which work very well for snails, but slugs can move through soil so can get under the collar for a free dinner. Also can look unsightly, but better than nothing.
Copper Tape 4/10. Will only work for plants kept in pots. Difficult to keep stuck down with ceramic pots which may be damp. In my trials this only worked when the tape was applied several times around the vessel so that the overall copper band was at least 10cm wide.
Wool Pellets 1/10 This made no difference at all, swelled up and tripled in size when it rained, smothering the seedlings. It trapped lots of water and caused the plant to rot. Gets 1 point on basis that the wool might be useful for bird nesting material!
As the days get longer and warmer, the slugs are becoming less of a challenge and we can look forward to June. The tadpoles will be developing their legs, those voraciously- guarded Dahlias, Rudbekias and Heleniums will finally start flowering and the honeysuckle will come into flower, which might… just might… herald the return of the stunning Hawk Moths. Here’s hoping.