Slugs, why did it have to be slugs?

Our latest articles in the Washington Examiner is now out. It is on using plants as a living fence or barrier on your property. Hope a few folks are inspired to use something BESIDES Leyland Cypress. Of course, the photo they used is of just that and without my "bad idea" admonition caption. Read the article online here (June 8 edition - page 52), or grab the print version at the red street boxes around town today - the article is on R4 (Real Estate section - page 4).

So, a relatively dry spring so far, but I have a big crop of slugs. Last year was a wet(ter) spring and hardly any slugs. Go figure. One thing I did discover - Tiger slugs can't swim and they float -- as two were belly up in my pond this morning. Lovely.

Now time to get out the Sluggo and sprinkle away. Luckily, they have stayed away from my hosta beds. I attribute that to my liberal sprinkling of crushed eggs shells that I distribute around the plants. I rarely bake these days, but when I do, I clean out the egg shells thoroughly than crush them up and put around my slug-vulnerable plants. The slugs now seem to be hiding out under the rocks and wild violet patch near my pond.

I will not disgust you with a photo of the slug floaters. Instead I share a nicer picture from my garden of a large Weigela shrub bloom, which I refer to in the aforementioned "Living Fences" article as a good choice for a boundary planting. Mine creates a solid barrier and reblooms in fall, which is always a nice bonus. I often cut whole branches for indoor arrangments as well.

And yes, that subject head was a paraphrase of the famous "snakes" line uttered by the fictional Indiana Jones. Did you know I used to run a Harrison Ford fan club back in the day? I'll save that story for a rainy day.