Friday, September 07, 2012

Slug and jug

 
I'm sure one ought to be blogging about the economy or the American elections or other distressing and important things but one doesn't feel qualified to do so. Well, I don't anyway. So I thought I'd tell the bloggy world about my slug rings. See above. Daughter 2 kindly sent away for these. They're copper and you put them round your plants and evidently when a slug comes into contact with the copper on its way to gorge itself on my gerberas, it gets a teeny electric shock and this makes it decided to slime away and eat something else instead, for example my pansies, which are now a lost cause.
 
I was favourably inclined towards these when I'd read the instructions. Two extracts:  Make sure that the rings are scrunched into the soil a little way to leave no gaps underneath from a slug to sneak through. This writer understands the nature of slugs, which inspires confidence. Make sure that there are no leaves overhanging the ring which allow snails to abseil in. Spooky - has this person been observing my personal slugs and snails, which are athletic and can climb like monkeys?
 
Anyway, they do seem to work! My gerberas don't appear to be any more chewed than they were before. I doubt if I can afford a huge ring to go round my entire garden, but it's a tempting thought. Though actually this would simply trap several million within my garden - not such a good idea. (If you want to try the rings, the company is called Slug Rings Ltd: a simple but informative name.)
 
 
And from slug(s) to jug. This is a little ornamental tankard that was my mother's. It's not a family piece; she bought it at an antique fair some years ago. She didn't have space for it in her room in our house (she had a lot of things on shelves) so I adopted it and put it on top of the piano. On the lid - see below - the name "William" is engraved.
 
 
I find it most frustrating that I shall never know who William was. I wonder if this was a christening present. It seems an odd thing to give to a boy or a man - I know it's a tankard shape but I don't think it was ever intended for use. It wouldn't hold much beer.
 
 

5 comments:

  1. Oooh, I need to get some copper sheeting. Snails & slugs are much more intrepid than we give them credit for. I also need to built a bunny-proof mini fence around my poor kumquat sapling. The local wild rabbits keep stripping the leaves and the brave little thing keep re-sprouting. At some point it will surely give up the ghost.

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  2. I often despair about the state of the economy/society/world, but feel quite sorry for politicians. I mean, imagine the totally endless list of the world's wrongs which everybody expects you to put right. An impossible task. I then realise that my worrying about it is, in turn, absolutely pointless, so I too turn my mind to something small and practical. Like slug control!

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  3. What a pretty mug! Well....I have never heard of slug rings, but if it works go for it.

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  4. I love the second comment here by the veg artist! I also feel for the politicians who get the blame for everything, even though they have not personally caused most of the world's problems.
    Thank you for your sympathetic comments on my blog Isabelle; it sure is hard to write cheerful things on blogs when your world looks like collapsing on you.

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  5. Good job on the slug ring find!

    Love the wee tankard. Why not use it as an inspiration this winter, and write a story about it? Invent a past for William and his mug!

    I bought an antique inkwell, and it contains a lock of hair and a note that says "Kent's first haircut 1914". Posted about it here:

    http://mrssplapthing.blogspot.com/2012/02/quill-quest.html

    I'm thinking about using it as fodder for a story in November for NaNoWriMo.

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