After last weeks Agatha Christie-themed six, we return to normal service, though Alice has committed a number of garden crimes this week. The weather has been good allowing lots of the plants to romp away. The consensus on the mystery plant was pericaria. I’ll have to see what happens as it continues to flower.
1. Murder in the garden
A few weeks ago Alice helped prune the dwarf Korean lilac bush with her scissors. The problem is now she wants to cut everything down. In a lapse of attention from Amy, Alice took her scissors to the hydrangea. Luckily she can’t reach too far so it’s mainly lost blooms towards the bottom.
Butter wouldn’t melt.
She then went onto commit a second garden crime pulling and snapping off one of the dahlia seedlings. Luckily it was one of the varieties I’ve grown from seed and I have around 20 on the go. She wanted to plant the part she’d pulled out, so we now have lots of dahlia cuttings on the go. I don’t know that they’ll have time to grow to any height but it kept her busy while I potted some more of the dahlias.
I’ve potted on about 20 of my little Bishops children seedlings. They are getting to reasonable heights now and the sun should bring them on a lot.
And two of the tuber grown dahlias have gone in the ground now, complete with snail beer traps. We even have a few buds.
In order to try and protect the dahlias and the hostas that have gone in the front garden, I’m trying nemaslug. Nemaslug is a biological control using microscopic worms that prey on the slugs. It is supposed to be harmless to other wildlife, unlike pellets. I haven’t used any controls for about 4 years beyond beer traps and barriers but as I have planted so many slug favourites I thought I’d try this so the hostas can make it through their first year. It comes as a powdery mix that you dilute in water and then use diluted again in your watering can.
The ground needs to be wet for nemaslugs to work so I’ve needed to wet the ground in the heat. I’ve not been using the hose recently. I’ve been managing purely from the water butt. But I want the nemaslug to be effective so I set Alice loose with the hose. It might mean the watering is a bit sporadic. The hydrangeas and the slide got more water than other areas but everything, including Alice, was definitely wet.
I planted these in pots last December. These have been the first of my lilies to flower. They were stuck in a shaded corner while the building work went on. This has led to them growing at a bad slant towards the light but the flowers are still stunning.
The first poppy has come through. I think this is self-seeded from last year as the two I spread this year were red and pink. These are a stunning colour. Last year the wind came through just as they opened and I only got to enjoy each for a day. But it’s been a bit calmer this year.
It’s getting hard to choose six each week now with so much to do and so much going on. If you want to see more of what is going on check the Propagator’s latest blog to read more peoples sixes. I’m going to be trying to do some weeding and clear a few of the spent Spring flowers ready for dahlias going in the ground.
That really is a beautiful poppy.
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They are. Short lived but very pretty.
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It’s a wonderful year for poppies. I have never had so many different! Lovely lily Martagon. I would have so wanted to see mine bloom this year … it needs time to settle down, especially because it’s in the Ground compared to yours.
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I’ve got a few more poppies to come. I think I put three varieties in and then some self seeding.
The martagon are nice. I was looking forward to the martagon Arabian knights but I think they shrivelled in the border. Don’t know if I didn’t water them enough.
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You’ve got the best garden helper in the world. Love those slug traps. Think I’m going to have to be more assertive in my S&S war, which I hope would be thwarted by the hot weather. Alas, no. Think I may go the Nemaslug. Send Alice over to water my garden for me, won’t you? Your bishop has lots & lots of little chillen – will they bloom this year? I’ve not raised dahlias from seed.
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I think I’d try the nemaslug again in spring next year. Ground has to be warm and wet. Whereas I think the dryness now may reduce its effectiveness.
The dahlias should flower but will be quite late on. I wanted to try it this year to see if from seed was viable for me without a greenhouse and up North.
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The colour of the poppy is just amazing. The nemaslug sounds worth a try and I will do some research and see if we can get it down under! Lovely photos.
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As it’s essentially a live animal I don’t know that you’d get nemaslug as it’s made in the UK and with border controls down under and the issues of transporting I doubt it would be available but might be other versions of slug nematodes.
The poppies are lovely. A whole load more flowered today.
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Your poppy looks a lot like my ‘Lauren’s grape’. And Alice looks highly guilty to me, I hope she was sentenced accordingly!
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Community service in the garden helping put weeds in her wheel barrow.
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I should think so too.
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That is a lovely looking Hydrangea. Glad the demon barber if your garden was only small.
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I was never that keen on the hydrangea when we moved in but I’ve come to like them for the long season of interest. There definitely right plant in the right place. All the water run off from the patio seems to to help them. I’ve got the limelights and another white one showing signs of flowering.
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Your dahlias are looking very healthy. I’ll be interested to see how the nemaslug does. Great lilies and poppy.
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It’s going to be hard to know how much of the protection is down to the nemaslug, how much is down to barriers and what’s down to beer traps and the mass birds that visit. But so far dahlias are low on nibbles.
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Beautiful poppy! I would be interested to know how the slug control works. I could do with a keen waterer too!
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The website has more details on how they work. As for Alice, she’s keen but accounting for a lot of the poppies not lasting long when they get the full force of the hose. https://www.nematodesdirect.co.uk/6-nemaslug?gclid=Cj0KCQjwjYHpBRC4ARIsAI-3GkEIWqWuRwS-k-dC7W0N1D8YrByT690lc3nuxVjZoyhvnG1QlZNwv5gaAtJAEALw_wcB
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Your garden helper is adorable. So are the martagon lilies. That is one lily I haven’t had any luck with. When I see these beauties on other blogs/gardens I want to try again.
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I would like to know how you get on with the Nemaslug. It’s something I haven’t tried as I’m worried it will harm all the frogs I have. Alice is a super cute helper.
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All the details say it doesn’t harm other creatures. Just targets slugs and snails. They stop feeding then die. As a biological control it should be safer than now defunct pellets but time will tell. Normally I’d trust the gardens natural predators but with all the hostas and dahlias I’ve put in fancied a bit more defence so they can establish. https://www.nematodesdirect.co.uk/6-nemaslug?gclid=Cj0KCQjwjYHpBRC4ARIsAI-3GkEIWqWuRwS-k-dC7W0N1D8YrByT690lc3nuxVjZoyhvnG1QlZNwv5gaAtJAEALw_wcB
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I’ve not tried Nemaslug, although the garden could do with a good dose of it, but I used Nemasys last year against the dreaded Vine Weevil and it was very successful. I’ve just ordered some for the first application this year. The Hydrangea is still putting on a great display despite the little helper’s pruning
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I like this post. Sweet. Little helpers are little for such a short time. Enjoy and embrace the ‘help’
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