- EP331 Slugs & Snails & How To Combat In The Garden ? Slugproof Your Seedlings

This weeks sponsor: 

Crann From  Probio Carbon 

https://www.probiocarbon.ie

Slugs and snails can turn a thriving spring garden into a patchwork of chewed seedlings almost overnight, especially when a mild, wet spell meets rising temperatures. We talk through how we handle that pressure in a way that protects young plants now and reduces damage over time, without pretending there’s a magic switch that makes slugs disappear forever.

We start with the long game: building a garden that recruits natural predators. From song thrushes and starlings to hedgehogs, frogs and ground beetles, we explain the habitats and garden choices that make a real difference, including why no dig gardening can support the beneficial insects that disrupt the slug life cycle. If you want organic gardening methods that work with nature rather than against it, this is the foundation.

Then we get practical about slug control and snail control when you need results fast. We compare ferric phosphate organic slug pellets, beer traps (including how much area one trap covers and how often you need to empty it), and barrier methods like copper tape, sheep’s wool pellets, dried seaweed and oyster shells. We also touch on Grazer’s G2 as a deterrent spray, plus what’s going on with slug nematodes and why they can be difficult to get at times.

We also share a quick note on Bloom, including our talk times and where to meet us for a hello. If you find this helpful, please subscribe, share the episode with a gardening friend, and leave a review so more growers can find the show.

Transcript

Welcome And Slug Problem Preview

SPEAKER_00 0:12

How's it going everybody? And welcome to episode 331 of Master My Garden Podcast. Now, this week's episode is covering a subject that we've spoken about before on the podcast, but whatever's happening this week, it is coming back with a bang, and that is the subject of how to deal with slugs and snails in the garden. And not the most glamorous topic, but it is definitely, I suppose, a topical one, and one that is, you know, it's a kind of an ongoing battle between gardener and slugs and snails. So it's off the back of two or three listeners' questions uh around how to deal with them, both in the polytunnel and outside. So yeah, we'll we'll we'll we're going to cover that in kind of a little bit more depth and look at all the all the ins and outs of it. Uh

Sponsor Microbes For Stronger Plants

SPEAKER_00 1:01

before we get into it though, a message from this week's sponsor, it's crayon by probiocarbon. And crayon is a brilliant product, it's um two uh microbes mixed, the Spacillus subtlas and pseudomonas, and they are native Irish um bacteria, they're they're mixed together, and then when you apply them to all stages of plant growth, you know, at seedling stage or at later stages, it has a brilliant effect of making the plants more resilient. You're getting a boost to growth, it acts as a natural fungicide and generally strengthens the plants. It also within the soil, it helps make nutrients more available for the plants. So it um you know it activates nutrients that are in the soil and allows them to become bioavailable for the plants. So really useful product. I've used it in the past, I've used it on basically well, I got it to treat uh a Portuguese laurel hedge, but then I used it on fruit trees, on potatoes, on tomatoes, and definitely saw huge results. Very, very quick, you know, kind of almost within a week or ten days, seen a reaction from the plant, a greening of the leaves, uh a strengthening of the of the leaf, a push out of new flush of growth. Uh so really, really beneficial. It has been used quite a lot on some estates to treat books' blight to great effect. Haven't personally used it for that, as I said last week. But a brilliant brilliant product, and that's available from Probiocarbon, where they get their biochar products and the crayon, which is you know for uh a plant uh plant growth stimulant and natural fungicide. Yeah, I'll put the link to that in the show notes. But on to this week's episode in relation to slugs and snails.

Why Slugs Surge In Spring

SPEAKER_00 2:47

So I suppose weather-wise, it has been a funny old week, and we've obviously had a very, very cold, you know, the earlier part of this week even was very, very cold. But as the week progressed, we you know the temperature started to come up, and you know, the weekend is giving it very, very warm, and we're actually to be dry for a little bit as well, so that could help a little bit with the slugs and snails. But what we have had is an awful lot of wet for a long time, and the slug populations are probably quite high. Uh, we didn't have much cold over the winter period, but we did have, as I say, long, prolonged periods of wet. Uh, and when I say we didn't have much cold, we didn't have much frost. So you have probably relatively high slug populations, and now once the heat comes and that moisture remains there, you will get you know slug problems. It's very, very crucial at this stage because these are the first kind of you know, the earliest days of us getting planting out, you know, our seedlings and so on. It's also you know, within the ground, it's where you've you've dahlia tubers in the ground, it's where they're they're starting to peep up, and it's where your young shoots and young uh seedlings are pushing up. And that's at the point where the slug and the snail can do the most damage.

Build A Garden Full Of Predators

SPEAKER_00 4:11

So there's a good few elements to it, but we will start with I suppose what I generally start with in relation to gardening and in relation to plant health, and that is to initially try and increase the natural predators, you know. When it comes to plants, we try and grow resilient plants that are going to be less susceptible to these things. But when it comes to when it comes to natural predators, you know, there is quite a few in that we can have in the garden. So the main ones are the likes of birds. So some birds are you know their their main food source is slugs and snails. So for example, this the the song trush. Uh so the trush is a brilliant one for that. Uh starlings will also eat them. I actually have a family of starlings nesting in the roof of the house. Uh don't love having them there, but they are there, and yeah, they're they're they eat a lot of slugs, so they're good from that point of view. Um magpies is another one. Some of your you know, your domestic uh birds, your your hens, and particularly ducks, they would eat slugs as well. I suppose the the problem with the letting the hens into a vegetable garden is that they'll pull up everything else as well. So it's more you know for reducing the numbers in areas that you don't mind. You know, for example, if you had a a vegetable bed that you're after clearing out the veg, it would be a good thing to let the hens through that area and they will pick and you know take out all the slugs in that area. So, generally speaking, though, to increase the birds in your garden is a good thing. So they're a natural predator. The other thing that you can do is have a wildish area in the garden, um, create things like log piles, things like that, because what you can get then is you'll get you'll be creating potential shelters for the likes of hedgehogs, and again, a hedgehog, one of their biggest food sources is slugs as well. So if you have create an environment where you could attract those into the garden, that would be really really helpful. Then the wildlife pond, brilliant for bringing in frogs. I haven't seen a frog in this garden here, which is why I'm considering uh a wildlife pond here. Um, I haven't seen frog here in years upon years, so that's something I'd like to add. And by attracting in or given the creating the environment for frogs, you might attract them in, and then those frogs in turn will take out slugs and snails. So the final one then is ground beetles, and ground beetles are going to be in healthy soil, so they're going to be in uh particularly in no-dig beds, they really work well there. Uh, soil that's not been disturbed, soil that's not being rotivated, um, they're going to be really beneficial, or they're going to the numbers are going to grow in that type of no-dig system, and ground beetles then will eat the eggs of slugs and snails, so they'll take out your population, but you have to have the right conditions for all of those to come into your garden. So that's the that's the kind of first element of it is to think of the garden again a little bit more holistically, uh, by increasing natural predators within the garden. But the battle with, I suppose, slugs is such it's an ongoing one. And it's probably one that it's never going to be you know, like there's never going to be a time where there is no slugs and snails. Uh they've been around since since forever, and there's not going to be a time where there is none. So your your treatments, your different methods, they're all only protection for that moment in time. So, you know, that generally generally the best um scenario or the best thinking in this scenario is to think firstly to build up the predators and to reduce the numbers over time by having a lot more predators to the slugs and snails than you know than than there would be in a garden that you weren't actively putting things in place for for the predators. So that's the first thing. Um

Ferric Phosphate Pellets Explained

SPEAKER_00 8:34

then when it comes to the actual methods of control when you have them, so there's there's a few things that that are out there. Um so for example, you can get organic slug pellets. Uh now they do kill the slugs and snails, they're based on a ferric phosphate, and they're they're very different, and a lot of people still get them confused with the old pellets that used to be around years ago, which were based upon uh metaldehyde. So they're they're not based on that, they're based on ferric phosphate. Uh there's most of them are certified organic. The ferric phosphate itself comes from uh an ingredient within the soil, so it is a very, very natural product, but it does kill the slugs. Uh it doesn't have any further toxicity, so there's no such thing as um killing anything else while applying it, but it does kill the slugs, and it is highly effective for if you have a problem and you need to treat a little small area or you need to you know solve an issue around uh your your crops or certain you know dahlias or whatever it is that's coming up, and just for that period of time where they're peeping above the ground, you can give them that extra bit of protection protection by using you know a ferric phosphate organic slug pellet. Um they're the only type that it that's on the market these days, so there isn't there isn't any other ones available. Uh and they are uh a slug killer, and they're kind of it, as I say, that's kind of the only killer that is available on the market these days. It's also like even if you're you're growing organically, they are you know certified for use within organic systems. So there is, you know, there's they're they're still a slug killer, but they're definitely um effective but not harmful outside of the the target, which is the slug or the snail.

Beer Traps That Actually Work

SPEAKER_00 10:22

Um then there's loads of different methods, and what prompted this um was a message from uh a listener on Instagram who had put down slug traps and was sending me a picture of the amount of slugs in it, and it was I happened to look at it in the morning time just just as I was uh about to have Brexit wasn't the best thing in the world, but um beer traps, so they are very effective at containing at attracting and containing slugs within it within a given area. Um so they are useful and they certainly they certainly do work, but you're I suppose you're going to have a never-ending job of putting in a little bit of beer, uh allowing the slugs and snails to go in, and then pretty much if you have a big infestation, you'd need to be changing that every day, every second day, you know, not leaving it for a long period of time, because what happens is after a day or two, the the smell goes off the beer, uh the slugs that are in there have obviously drowned, and the the the scent is not as nice, and yeah, you don't they don't attract once you go past day one or two. So it's only in that first day or two after you put in the fresh beer basically that it is effective. So you do need to continually do that. Now you will notice after, you know, if you're protecting a certain raised bed or whatever the case may be, you will notice that you'll have if you have a slip problem, you'll have quite a lot in the first couple of days, and then the numbers will reduce, and that's a good sign. It means that you are reducing the numbers within that bed. You will need to continue to do it a little bit until your plants get established, but certainly over a couple of weeks period, uh it's very, very effective. The other thing to note with a beer trap is that it really only does a certain square meterage. So if you put down a bear trap, um you're you're going to approximately get one square meter. If you could picture that the the bear trap was in the middle of that square meter, it'll give you that square meter of coverage. So pretty much you know, for 30, 40 centimetres on all sides of it. And that's kind of the area of coverage. So if you had a big raised bed, you might need to put in three, four, five, six bear traps to ensure that everything in that bed stays protected. So the organic slug pallet that was mentioned, you could put that specifically around your your target plants, the plants that are are are vulnerable, and then you'll protect them that way. But with a bear trap, it's different. You do need to put lots of them in because the the area that they're able to cover is a lot smaller. So if you had a, as I say, a raised bed that's you know five or six meters long and maybe a meter wide, then you could need to put four or five traps in that to get effective control across the whole bed. But bear traps are highly effective. Obviously, if you're using them, empty them, as I say, every day or every second day at the max. Don't don't allow it to go past that. It isn't a pretty job, so if you're a little bit squeamish, get somebody else to do it. But very, very effective, albeit that it's a small area of coverage per

Barriers Copper Wool Seaweed Shells

SPEAKER_00 13:35

trap. Uh the next one is copper tape, and copper tape or copper piping, something like that is highly effective. And that's effective for containers or even raised beds. But where where you where you can get fall down here is that uh, you know, if it's a pot, for example, if you have slugs in the pot and you know that they're eating your plants in the pot, then there's no point in getting slug tape at that stage because you'll put your slug tape around it. And effectively the slugs are inside now, and they you know they won't they won't have any the copper tape won't have any positive effect on them. So what copper tape does basically, or copper, any type of copper, so copper pipe or anything like that, is that the slug or the snail will not crawl over it. They get a little bit of a shock when they crawl across it, so they won't do that. So it's what's known as a barrier type treatment. And so again, if the if the slug is already in the pot and you put your copper tape around it, effectively you're locking them in. They're not they're not um you're not going to get any benefit from it. But if you're buying a pot and you're buying your plants and you're filling it for the first time, then it's a brilliant method because you know what the growing media that you're putting in, that's going to be you know slug-free. You're going to put your copper tape around it, and the only way for the slug or the snail to get in there is to crawl up the side of the pot, in over the top, and into the compost. But with the copper tape, they'll crawl up, they'll come to the copper tape, they'll try and find a way all around. And if you put that the whole way around the perimeter of the pot, then they won't crawl over and then they'll go back down and forget about it. So copper tape, really effective so long as you're starting fresh and you're guaranteed that there's none in there. Uh other products that are really good, again, barrier type, we're looking at things like sheep's wool. That's highly effective. It's there's a new Irish company, I don't know the name of them offhand, but there's a new Irish company who are um making them. And essentially what it is, is when you're shearing the sheep, you get the the dirty wool, not the not the not the full white fleece as such, but the dirty wool. Uh that that's taken, it's ground up, and then it's put through a little pelleting machine, and they create little pellets like um you know, like you'd see poultry manure or you know, calf food or something like that, basically little pellets. And what happens is that has some obviously some fertilizer element in it, and when that is applied again in a barrier method, so around the plant. So if you have a dahlia, again, for as an example, if you have a dahlia in the ground, you sprinkle this sheep's wool pellets all around it. What happens is it gets a little bit of moisture, the the hair uh within the within the the wool sort of pricks up a little bit and creates like little prickles that the again the slug or the snail won't crawl over. Obviously, as it breaks down, then it becomes less and less effective, but you will get probably a good six to eight weeks out of it, at which point your dahlia, again to use that example, will have got it tall enough to sustain any sort of attack from a slug or snail. So, yeah, a brilliant method, and obviously it is adding some um organic matter to the soil, it is adding fertilizer to the soil, so it's a really, really effective product. Um, as I say, a new company I've seen in Kerry, I think it is, making them might be another one included there. I can't remember the names offhand, but there is some good companies doing that. Another brilliant thing to use for slugs is dried seaweed. Um, so again, applying drying out the seaweed and then applying it so it looks still like seaweed, except it has it dry and crispy, and that's applied all around the plant. And it's the same sort of principle. Uh the sharpness of that won't allow the slugs and snails to get to crawl over. Obviously, as it gets wet, then it does add fertilizer to the side, it does add organic matter. But in those initial week or so, the slug of the snail doesn't like crawling over. So that's another effective method. I've personally never used that one, but the last time I covered this episode, somebody mentioned that it was they tried it and it was working really well. But even you know, seaweed off the beach, that is that is effective as well. Um, the next one is being sold quite a lot now. I would question it's how effective it is. I I I'm sure I can understand why it might work, but I've never used it again. But it's oyster shells. So I have oyster shells here, I feed them to the hens to make sure that their eggs, that the shell of their eggs is hard. Um so I have some here, but basically it's the same principle, you create a little barrier around your plant, and the the slug or the snail won't crawl over it. It kind of washes down into the ground a bit though. So as I say, you might have to apply it a few times, but you only really need to get that bit of protection for those first few weeks, and once the plant gets up and and gets moving and gets strong, then you know sometimes the little bit of damage that it's going to do won't have any do any harm to it. But it's at that young stage, that seedling stage, or that stage where the you know the plants are peeping out of the ground that it they'll just shave them off and basically kill them before they get going. So uh oyster shells is another one. So there's kind of three barrier methods your sheep's wool, your your seaweed, and your oyster shells. They're all good options. Another one that is a barrier method, but it's sprayed on. So it's a liquid, it's called grazer's G2. So that's a liquid, it effectively taints the leaf uh so that the slug or the snail finds it inattractive to eat it. So it's a little bit like you know, people using garlic spray, for example. Effectively it just it just taints the leaf to a to a certain extent that it's not attractive to eat. Uh and grazer's G2 is very effective at that. And it's again, you just need to do it for those first early weeks, and then once the plant gets established and gets up and gone, then it's able to fend for itself. So that's that's um grazer's G2 is a really good option.

Nematodes Supply And How They Help

SPEAKER_00 19:42

One option that used to be really popular in Ireland, uh, going back three, two, three, four years ago, it's less popular now, and there's a good reason behind it. It's the nematodes. So nematodes are natural predators of of um basically the likes of slugs and snails, but there's also nematodes for vine weevil and and and and others. It's actually an episode we should cover sometime, is is you know a good proper uh examination of nematodes and their benefits in the garden. But the one that was for slugs, what's hugely popular, I think it was Mr. Middleton used to sell it, and it was Nemeslug was the main brand out there. Really, really effective, but there was a couple of things that happened. Number one, from what I'm told, it is the most difficult and slowest uh nematode to produce. So these nematodes are produced in you know laboratory type scenarios where they they multiply the beneficial insect to a point where they multiply it enough to the point where they can basically package it up, mix it with a a carrier material of some sort, and then distribute it to gardeners and growers, professional growers all around the world. But the the slug nematode is apparently unbelievably slow to reproduce and very, very fickle as well in that reproduction um process. So sometimes you could have, for want of a better word, you could have a great harvest of nematodes, and then the next time, for no apparent reason, there might be very few or none. And that the process is very tricky and very delicate and quite you know quite difficult to replicate and to multiply. And as a result, the supply ends up being very, very sporadic and you know, just difficult to get. So, from the point of view of commercial crops and and when it comes to slugs and things like that, when the problem is there, the product needs to be there to match it. There's no point in having the product two months later, but because it's so fickle and because it's so you know difficult, anything that is being produced is kind of filtering into the professional channels and not so much going into the the Retail channels, which is you know the likes of the Nemeslug that would have been bought by gardeners across Ireland over a number of years. So that option is less available to people than it used to be. But that was, and if you still can access it, that is a very, very good option. So a nematode by its nature is a beneficial insect or bug, and its food source is whatever the target pest is. So in this case, slugs. So you apply these nematodes through a watering can, mix them with water, apply them to the area, and you're releasing into the side. Now you won't see them, they're microscopic. You're releasing into the side these beneficial insects that will seek out the likes of slugs and snails. And their food source is slugs and snails or the eggs of slugs and snails. And because that's what they what they want to eat, that's what they're they basically scavenge the ground, they go through the soil and they search out and seek out their food source. And by doing that, then they take out their life cycle and they clean up the bed so that you don't end up with with slugs and snails. So from the point of view of you know even vine weevil treatment or um some other leather jackets and different things, from from those pests perspective, the nematodes are super way at getting into a into an area and getting after them. But just as I say, that slug one is a little bit trickier to get in these times. Um so they're kind of they're kind of the main options. So but the biggest the biggest point is to really set up your garden to attract in the natural predators, because regardless of what else is going on, those natural predators are the ones that are are going to continually, you know, seek out those the the pests, in this case slugs,

Simple Husbandry To Reduce Damage

SPEAKER_00 23:58

and they're going to continually reduce the numbers and reduce the numbers. There is other then kind of husbandry things. Um so generally speaking, slugs like wet, warm and dark. So nighttime is when they're active, generally speaking. And you will hear stories of you know gardeners going out with flashlights and a bucket and picking off slugs and snails off their dahlias and and hostas and whatnot. But you know, so that is the time of night they're out. But it there is other ways. Personally, I just would not be bothered um going out at night time and picking slugs and snails. I generally don't do anything personally here in the garden to to treat for slugs and snails. I just obviously I watch if something is getting really badly affected, I would do something, I will act. But typically I try and do as little as possible. Um I don't need to, so because I suppose I am attracting in ground beetles using no dig and so on. But um yeah, the the the other option is kind of husbandry. So what you can do is get, for example, a plank of timber. So not nothing too big, but something about two foot long, maybe about thirty centimetres wide, and just leave that board sitting. So if you have, for example, a a crop of cabbage that's just gone in or lettuce that's just gone in, you leave this board sitting right beside it, or even if there's space allowed to sit right up through, you know, between the between the rows of of cabbage or lettuce or whatever the crop may be, and leave it there, don't touch it for about two to three days. And if you turn that over after two to three days, you will see on the back of it, probably if you have a big slug problem, probably a good few, maybe 10, 20, 30 slugs. And you take those slugs, discard them however you will, give them to your hens or whatever the case may be, but it's a good way of capturing them underneath. You will also find that where you gather slugs and snails underneath there, if you're practicing no dig, for example, then the ground beetle beetle will be attracted to them because they're gathering in one location. So the ground beetle will um I suppose get itself and mobilize itself to get into that area as well where its natural food source is. So that's uh an uh you know, a good it's a husbandry rather than a treatment. So you're practicing little things like that to to do it. You can do the same thing with a a pot, you know, a heavyish pot with a kind of a sunken bottom bottom on it, leave that sitting in it, and you turn that over the next morning, and it'll be you know, there'll be lots of slugs and snails under there, and then you take them and discard them somewhere like that. It's a yeah, it's as I say, it's a little husbandry thing and worth doing. Another thing to note is try generally in their areas then to not leave um things that would allow them to harbour. So if you had raised beds that were made out of wood, for example, and the wood was starting to decay on decay on the sides, the likes of the cracks in the wood would be would be ideal homes for slugs and snails. So try and keep those fresh if you can. Ideally, don't use don't use wood. If you do have wood, just watch it. When it starts to break down, that can become a haven for for slugs and snails. Out from that, then generally keeping the area you know clean, like don't be leaving buckets hanging around unless you're using them for the purpose of you know trapping them, like I mentioned a minute ago. But don't be generally leaving the area too dirty, don't be giving them too many hiding places. Allow the area to be as open as possible, and the slug, you know, the birds will come in and clean up um slugs and snails. So that's it's it's a battle that will it'll go on forever because no matter what people do, there will always be slugs and snails. It's a little bit like the battle with weeds, there will always be weeds, there will always be slugs and snails. So it's just a case of I suppose navigating and you know looking after your plants to ensure that they're able to establish while still there's a presence of slugs and snails in the area, you're still able to get your plants established to the point where they're strong and it doesn't really matter then. If they do get a little bit of damage here and there, that's to be expected. And you know, generally you get a lot more balance and you have a better, a better functioning, better functioning garden in that scenario. So I hope that helps. Uh as I said, a person sent me a picture of a fit a filled uh bear trap this morning filled with slugs and snails. And the question was, you know, was one trap enough? Was emptying it one day enough, or what was the you know, how often did it have to be done and all that? So I think I've answered that with the likes of them. Small area coverage, about a square meter, roughly, or maybe a little bit more, and then regular every two to three days max, you're going to empty that. Keep the fresh, keep the fresh beer going into it. It doesn't have to be deer stuff, it can be the cheapest, the cheapest of the cheap. It's just that scent, that sweet smell that attracts them in. And yeah, it's really effective. Really effective. So hope that answers the question. And uh yeah, it's uh an ongoing battle, as I say, one that will never end and one that will never be won by one side or the other. But um there's ways to bring a sort of a balance to it and a natural harmony to it

Bloom Talks And Listener Meet-Up

SPEAKER_00 29:26

that doesn't it doesn't affect you too badly in your garden. Uh in other news, so bloom is coming up. Um, I'll probably do a bit of an episode on that in the coming days, but I'm asked to speak at the um Eat Well Garden. So the Eatwell Garden is in bloom, right in the middle. There's like a polytunnel, several raised beds, and it's in that area that Eatwell Garden that I'll be speaking. So I'm speaking on the Saturday, so that's Saturday, the 30th of May, it's Saturday of the Bank Holiday weekend. And two short talks, one from 10:30 until 11 on home composting, and one from 1230 until 1 on no dig gardening. Also in that area across that day, Klaus Leythenberger is talking, I think uh about 2 o'clock, maybe or 3 o'clock. Um good few of the Chagas advisors are talking in that area, but that area is generally speaking about uh horticultural education, it's about growing growing vegetables at home, growing fruit at home. It's a yeah, as the name suggests, to eat well garden. And yeah, it's right in the middle. But my first talk's 10:30 till 11, second one 12:30 till 1. It would be brilliant to meet some people there. So I've said it before, the the podcast, I'm quite removed. So while I have a lot of people listening on a weekly basis, and over the years I've got to know a good few of you. I made a call out there recently for people to contact me to say hello, to introduce themselves, and a load of you did, and that was brilliant. Um, but if there's any of you in Bloom, or if there's any of you planning to go to Bloom, it would be brilliant if we could gather together at that time. It'll mean there's a good few there from my talk, number one, but it'd also be brilliant to meet you know, a lot of you guys to meet you in person to say hello. Um as I say, there's always um a little bit of a gap between me here on a weekly basis, sitting in in my office in in upstairs in the garage and you know talking to you guys, but me not actually ever or often getting to see or meet you guys. So that'd be a brilliant opportunity on that day, 10 30 to 11 or 12 30 to 1. I'll be hanging around that area during those times. Be lovely to meet you, lovely to say hello, and uh yeah, lovely to hear whether you're listening to the podcast or if there's anything that you'd like to see on the podcast and anything like that. So yeah. As I say, I might cover Bloom a little bit more in the coming days. I know the super garden is coming to an end, so I might maybe let that finish out and then kind of chat about that and chat about the the speakers at Bloom this year. It's brilliant. Uh as always, it's over five days, so it's over Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, all of the bank haul of the weekend. So that's the June bank hall of the weekend, and uh the weather is looking like it's going to be very good for that. Uh, it has been quite good weather over the last couple of years for Bloom. So again, yeah, it looks like it's gonna be a good day up there. But would love to see a lot of you um on the Saturday. So yeah, 10:30 to 11 and 12:30 to 1.

Blight Warning And Garden Growth

SPEAKER_00 32:44

Um just another buy-to-bye kind of goes hand in hand with the slug numbers increasing this week, is that their first blight warning of the season has been issued or is being issued for this week. So temperatures coming up and moisture, you know, quite a bit of moisture in the air. So just keep an eye on that. Um it'll be interesting to see if it does get warm and dry, then the the pressure will come off a little bit, but there is a blight warning currently for the for the next couple of days, so just watch out for that. And uh yeah, there's an unbelievable amount of growth over the last week. While we did have a very, very cold start of the week, all of that lovely, lush, fresh um growth that you get, you know, in in April and May, that is now really coming out, and you know, everything the perennials are starting to push up out of the ground. Obviously, you know, some of the early ones are well up and flowering, but you know, the likes of dailies are coming, uh, lots of lots of flowers just on the point of opening. Um Wildflower Meadow is pushing on. There's a little bit of colour this month from the the meadow buttercup and from the the cow slip and things like that, and you can see the next batches of flowers coming. So yeah, it's really, really growthy now. Things are growing well, everything looks kind of well and vibrant, and that lush growth of this stage of the year is always is always beautiful. Hopefully, we're getting you know some sort of continued warmer temperatures now at this stage. Um, for me this weekend, tomatoes go into the tunnel. Again, for for a lot of people that might be late, but for here it's just perfect. Um, around the same time every year, roughly speaking, middle to end of May, they go into the tunnel. Kind of last frosts around here can be at this time, but we're not going to get one in the next 10 days, so that we're good to go now, and we'll get them up and running. Um, so that's pretty much this

Wrap-Up And Final Thanks

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week's episode. Before I finish off, a huge thanks to this week's sponsor. It's Crane from Probiocarbon. Super product, as I mentioned before, brilliant for vegetable and the edible garden, ideal for boosting crops, for uh adding vigor, adding plant help and help plant health, and really utilizing the nutrients that are in the soil. So you can check out that on probiocarbon.ie. I'll put the link to that in the show notes, and hopefully we'll get to see some of you guys next week at Bloom. That's been this week's episode. Thanks for listening, and I'll tell the next time. Happy garden.