A few days ago I received an order of a few lovely plants that I have been after for a while. One plant that I have had in several gardens and have long loved is Parochetus communis (Shamrock Pea). This gorgeous little clover-leaved plant has the most fantastic bright-blue pea-shaped flower in summer. It isn’t overly hardy, Coming from the unusual range of Africa and Asia, but either brought in in winter, or in the very mildest, sheltered spots, it will often survive.
I had a plant in my last garden that I eventually planted in a very hot, quite dry border against the house. It survived for several years without any real trouble and continues to grow. It was dormant and had died back when we moved and I forgot to dig some up and hadn’t bothered to collect seed so didn't bring with us.
Two and a half years later, I have finally gotten around to replacing it and I was delighted to unpack it last week and plant in a large shallow terracotta bowl in my front garden.
Just two days later, I am furious to say that the damnable slugs and snails have eaten almost all of the foliage from the plant. Where I was excited about seeing it flower again on Wednesday, I am now trying to keep the plant alive.
A couple of months ago I was given a bottle of Grazers G2 Slug and Snail treatment, which is a plant strengthener. I’ve finally been able to use it to test its potential. Ideally I should have been spraying plants before the pests started to attack, but needs must!
Obviously it is too early to say it works, but I’m going to stick with it as it doesn't harm the slugs or snails, instead improving the plant. I’m not against killing pests per se, but I‘d rather not if I don’t have to and since slugs and snails are important parts of the food chain for small mammals and birds, I would rather they could eat them than to weaponise these pests in turn poisoning lovely hedgehogs and song thrushes, both of which I’ve seen in my garden.
To read more about Grazers G2 Slug and Snail click here to visit their website. They do a number of other non-toxic animal deterrents and plant foods, which seem to do the job well.
So, while I would love to be sharing a pic of my gorgeous Parochetus here, today, at least, you will have to see this horrible pic of a near leafless plant.
I will shortly repot it and place it somewhere less slug/snail friendly. I’ve been thinking about non-toxic slug solutions today and I may even set up an experiment to see what works best against them.
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