HOME & GARDEN

DIGGING DEEP

Living with slugs and snails

Here’s a controversial thing. If they aren’t interfering with your best garden displays, would you consider letting gastropods live free in your garden?

Slugs and snails have long been treated with contempt by green-fingered types, but things are changing; The Royal Horticultural Society has had a rethink regarding slugs and snails, and they are no longer being classed as pests.

Instead they will be promoted as a positive part of a garden’s ecosystem, and rightly so; those great big slugs that take our attention as they slowly slide around our outside spaces actually munch their way through dead and decaying plant material and other debris. You might want to think of them as important mini compost machines!

Aside from clearing the old plants, they are predated on by other garden residents, who are themselves struggling to survive.

Hedgehog numbers are declining, so too are many of our garden bird species. And both are partial to slugs and snails. Frogs and toads gobble them up too.

Slugs have their place in our outside spaces, and so too do snails.

It’s also a misconception to think that all snails and slugs attack your green stuff, but of course there are a proportion that do, and if your cabbages have been catastrophically munched, or your blooms devoured, it can be devastating - especially after so much hard work has gone into growing them.

A ban on slug pellets was brought in earlier this year – they often contain metaldehyde, which doesn’t just stop the slug dead, it is also harmful to birds, hedgehogs and even dogs. Recently, I have been volunteering with The Conservation Volunteers organisation, who work with the local council to improve some of the green spaces in Fenny Stratford.

Their aim is to bring people together to create, improve and care for green spaces that form a vital part of any healthy, happy community.

One of our projects is to reclaim the Pinewood Community Allotment as a productive space. In just seven months the site has been transformed from an overgrown jungle of bramble and detritus, to a fully operational community green place.

We have built raised beds, including one that can be used by people with mobility problems, filled them with topsoil and are now planting them up with fruit and vegetables. If you would like to grow food, but lack the experience or space at home, why not join our happy band of volunteers who share knowledge and the physical work involved? Bletchley and Fenny Stratford Green Gym sessions run on Thursday mornings. For further information call Jen on 07740 899633 or email Jennifer.zwetsloot@tcv.org.uk

No experience is required to join us and you will be provided with tools and any basic training needed on the day.

Meanwhile, of course, I still make time to help organise Bletchley Garden Club! Our July meeting is on the evening of Tuesday 12th when we will be visiting the Secret Garden in Wolverton. We welcome new members. Please email info@bletchleygardenclub.org for more information.

Pic: Marie Baeten - flickr Pic: Hans Splinter - flickr

How does your garden grow?

The RHS are taking a different line towards garden gastropods

And you should never reach for the salt pot, either. It’s important to remember that slugs just do what slugs do. Introducing salt causes osmosis and sucks water from their bodies until they die of dehydration. You wouldn’t pour salt into an open wound, or rub it into your eye because you know that it is excruciatingly painful. So please don’t do it to creatures that are all the more fragile.

Besides, no matter how you try, you’ll never eradicate them completely, but there are humane, natural ways to help keep your plant life happy; coffee grounds, recycled wool pellets, garlic and copper tape all annoy them, and could keep your marigolds looking marvellous and your pumpkins perky. You get the idea.

A ‘sacrificial bed’, comprising plants that snails and slugs can feast on, thus leaving your other garden growers alone, is a smart way to garden harmony.

Top Tip...

It’s a familiar sight in our herb gardens and borders, and English Lavender is currently in mid-bloom with its many pretty petite and very fragrant flowers.

The herb is also used to help with a number of ailments and conditions; most famously as an aid to sleep. If you are struggling with insomnia, lavender may be your new best friend.

If it’s growing in your garden, now is Jan Taylor a great time to prune the flowers – cut the stems by taking around a third of its > Bletchley Garden Club (BGC) meet each growth, but no more. Bunch them together month. New members welcome. For details and hang upside down for use later on. visit bletchleygardenclub.org

Pic: The Conservation Volunteers

Finding the right energy efficient windows for your character property

Finding the right energy efficient UPVC system for traditional or heritage projects, isn’t always easy. Striking the balance between design, aesthetics, energy efficiency and noise reduction while keeping a traditional look can be difficult to navigate. However, now there is a window design that offers the appearance of a historical wooden window, with the weatherproofing, low maintenance, and high insulating qualities of a 21st century UPVC design – let us introduce, the Flush Casement Profile 22 window.

Profile 22 have designed an elegant and striking Flush Casement Window, with the highest quality craftsmanship and design to mimic the appearance of traditional timber windows, offering the A-rated insulating benefits that are associated with modern UPVC, including achieving an impressive U value of 1.2W/m2K. This ensures your windows retain the charm and elegance of a 19th century character property with the energy-efficiency and upgraded PAS24 security of 21st century windows.

Profile 22, along with award winning Emplas manufacturing in Wellingborough,

Profile 22 have designed an elegant and striking Flush Casement Window, with the highest quality craftsmanship and design to mimic the appearance of traditional timber windows

have studied the finer details of historical window design, to ensure the windows give you complete peace of mind and enhance the aesthetics of your property. The system has been crafted using the highest standard advanced technology and smooth weld tooling. This now allows the windows to be designed with Mechanically Jointed Sashes, Deep Bottom Rails, Blacksmith style forged monkey tail handles and dummy peg stays, all of which complete the window design to look completely traditional.

Not only will they transform the warmth and feel inside your home, but they will revolutionise how your home looks to others from the outside. In addition, they now come in a wide range of 25 colours to choose from. Or, if you prefer you can even select your own a bespoke RAL colour to match a current colour in your home. These colours can have added textures of a traditional woodgrain finish, or a more contemporary smooth option to suit your home.

>> To find out more or to view the Profile 22 Flush Casement range visit our Wellingborough Showroom at Huxley Close, Park Farm South, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 6AB.

T&K Home Improvements is a family run business that provides quality windows, doors and conservatories since 1979 in Northamptonshire and the surrounding areas. To find out more on high performance energy efficient glazing options and how much you can save visit our website: www.tkhi.co.uk. Established 1979

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