A learning process

Rita and Sue have both succumbed to the ravenous slugs. Bob stands alone at the other end of the garden. As you see, he also has company of the mollusc variety.

The photo below illustrates the lesson I've learned today.
Grapefruits aren't effective slug-deterrents.

Suggested alternatives so far include pouring a circle of salt or beer around the stem, or placing a layer of grit on the soil. The slugs don't like it. I've no intention of getting revenge on the slugs. Take a look at this article from the beeb.

Rita meets her maker

It appears that Rita has been attacked by some rather vicious slugs and snails in the garden. This has happened within a few days of planting them out among the daffodils and to be honest, I fear for the others...
What should I do?

• Leave them in pots and hope the slugs can't get near them
• Use slug pellets
• Go with the grapefruit anti-slug method

Photos of the offending slug will be posted later. If I can find it.

Rita, Sue and Bob

Here are the two of the three sunflowers which have made the most progress so far...
I've planted them against the fence at the bottom of the garden. It's a nice sunny spot, so fingers crossed they'll be 6 ft high within a few months!

Green-fingered fun

We're trying to grow various plants and flowers from seed. First out of the starting blocks are the sunflowers, we have three of them which are around 15cm tall at the moment. I've planted these in the garden now, let's see how they get on.

Random link #1

My brother's first TV commercial - for Volkswagen South Africa. Aidan's the one playing the drums. http://www.vw.co.za/assets/downloads/tv-commercials/GTI_Beat.mpg