Wait!

Take your foot off that poor defenseless critter - he was only doing his job.

It seems to me that garden snails have had a fallacious rap through history. Their PR manager has obviously skipped town with the contract fee and done little to promote these creatures' benefits. So much so, that most gardeners take great delight in crushing them or finding pallid ways to get rid of them - I too have been guilty as charged.

But, when you consider the purpose of these affable pests I'm sure you will agree that they have been completely under appreciated.

See, the way we've had garden snails promoted to us is similar to our indoctrination of terrorism. If we see a guy wearing a loose-fitting white gown, a turban on his head while sporting a long greying beard then immediately we're suspicious of his mobile phone use. Snails aren't as scary but they're viewed as garden terrorists ready to strike any plant at will.

Nothing could be further from the truth. These land-based molluscs have been purposed purely as scavengers. They feed on sick and struggling plants and are simply the cleaners of our gardens.

Their slimy presence grosses us out and then Bayer or David Gray give us ammunition to dispose of them thoughtfully. Their PR manager is obviously a workaholic for fear of garden snails has become resolute in our minds. And death is the only objective.

I'm starting to realise that there needs to be a re-education for gardeners of what all these creatures do. While our initial response has been to rid our gardens of these unwanted pests, I'm now starting to see that a little understanding might help gardeners to actually get along with their garden snails.

Can garden snails be beneficial?

Well that is the appropriate question, isn't it? We've always viewed garden snails in a negative light so maybe we need to start asking ourselves what benefits could these creatures hold for our gardens.

Firstly, as scavengers they're not usually interested in your healthy plants and vegetables. They're more intent on feasting on something that's struggling and sick or dying. So, if you find a few snails crawling over your lettuces it's a good sign that the environment for growing lettuce is not a good one. If it were then your lettuces would be resilient to the mop-up actions of these snails and only the outer leaves would be consumed.

Secondly, if inorganic fertilisers and pesticides have been prevalent in your garden then chances of find naturally sickly plants are diminished. If your garden snails have a choice between tasty lettuce seedlings and plants that have been continuously fed crap then they're going to make the same choice we would.

Does this mean snails should have free rein in our gardens?

No. And Yes. There is such a balance to this that giving just one answer would be limiting the complexity of the problems we face as gardeners.

No gardener in her right mind would plant new vegetable seedlings and leave them to fend for themselves. In a natural situation, vegetables would grow from seed and the fittest ones would survive. However, us gardeners aren't usually that patient with nature and we'd rather hurry things along a little.

Therefore, when we alter the natural laws we have to make changes in other areas too. Brand new seedlings need some unnatural barriers to protect them from garden snails focussed on achieving their clean-up mission. Copper, coffee and eggshells, sawdust, fine coarse rock....are all possibilities to temporarily deter snails from feasting on your gourmet veggies.

Conclusion

So, before you put that foot down take a moment to consider why those garden snails have even taken up residence in your plot. Maybe, there's some serious cleaning up needed to happen and you've just missed seeing it. Maybe, they like you...

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (3)

Not long ago I mentioned that I was having troubles with my Camellia plant and how its leaves were turning a spotty brown. Although I asked for suggestions as to what it could be and how I might fix it not many were offered.

So, because I love my Camellia so much (kind of like another child) I went off in search of a solution. A friend of mine, who regularly comments on my garden was perusing with interest when I showed her my sad Camellia plant. To my amazement she informed me of her agricultural science degree and then continued sharing her font of knowledge as I began picking my jaw up from the ground.

Here's what I learned: There are 3 main causes of plant problems and each of them can be read via their leaves. First, it could be a virus. Second, it could be bacterial and third, it could be fungal. Here's how to tell what plant leaf problem you may have;

• Viral - Take a cutting and place it in a glass of water. If the water doesn't change colour then this is the problem.


• Bacterial - Same as with the viral, take a cutting to include the plant leaf and leave it in a glass of water. If the water becomes cloudy or milky then it is a bacteria problem.


• Fungal - Check the plant leaf and if it has hairs growing on it the it is a fungal disease.

There were no hairs on my Camellia leaves so I could safely rule out the problem being fungal. So I took a cutting and left it in a glass of water overnight - the result: clear water. Great. This meant my Camellia has a viral disease for which there is no cure.

Just like a human with a virus there is little you can do other than pamper, nurture and rest them. The bottom half of the camellia is still strong and its leaves are dark green as they should be so it will probably be able to fight back of its own accord.

Now that my friend had helped me diagnose my camellia I was ready to rid my garden of some of its other problems.

My lime tree has been suffering for some time and although it has a ton of fruit blossoming the leaves have all turned light green while the veins have stayed their original colour. She lent me a book on "Diagnosing Deficiencies in Plants" and I was able to deduce that my lime tree is lacking in either iron or manganese. So I plan to rectify that this weekend and will let you know how it comes along.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (0)