Hi there fellow Steemians. Wishing everyone a beautiful week ahead, with good intentions and loads of love to all.
This is an opportunity to learn.
Image creditI'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little upset about the slug problem. However, instead of being defeated, it was time to address the problem, see where we had gone wrong and look for solutions before everything was gone.
I'm a bit of a perfectionist by nature which has at times led me to give up on things I am interested in for my internal fear of failure getting the better of me. This is one of those character traits that I am working on changing. Not just for myself but also for my children. I used to have a fixed mindset and because of this I missed out on many opportunities in my younger years. Opportunities to grow and expand. I see with my children that sometimes they get angry with themselves if they can't get things right first time and on occasion have given up. I cringe when I think back on how I am sometimes the same way and that they have learnt this from me. So I am now very mindful of the way in which I handle challenging situations and learning something new. Leading by example is one of the most important things to be able to do when you have children regardless of whether they go to school or learn at home. They are learning all the time.
In fact we are all learning all the time...
I'm a complete novice when it comes to permaculture practices. I've read loads of books and watched countless videos but nothing compares to actually getting out there, gaining your own experience. This is the first year I am applying permaculture principles in the garden. I've started small as I knew mistakes were inevitable and that little bit of remaining fixed mindset, that inner voice said
" Hey don't plant too many seeds just in case they don't grow or you mess up. You'll have more spare to try again"
So, being conscious of that inner voice screaming
"You Will Fail"
I decided to ignore it and give a few things a try to resolve the problem.
Slugs. Slugs. Slugs...
As the seedlings were establishing themselves and looking really healthy I woke up the other morning to find they had been eaten by slugs.
These are, or rather were, the poor french beans
The Pak Choi took a real beating
Even this poor lemon balm which seems to keep fighting backThey even got my cucumbers. It's safe to say that these little monsters are well fed. But hey Slugs, can you leave some food for us too!
A friend suggested drying out some seaweed, crushing it and putting it around the vulnerable plants. Given that a trip to the beach is only a 10 min hike down the cliff behind the house we decided to take a family walk at low tide to collect the miracle plant.
The seaweed laid out on weed suppressant to dry3 days later...
Dried, and crushed ready to be sprinkled around the plants.As the little blighters are nocturnal, we waited until dark to see just how many had colonized the area.
As you can see in the two photos above there were quite a few... and big ones too!
We decided to collect them and relocate to the field across from us.
The verdict
I am pleased to say that last night the slugs kept away. The seaweed worked. I believe the high salt content deterred them from venturing over the lines of seaweed to feast on my vulnerable plants. I'm super happy about this. The best part is that both my plants and the slugs can live happy healthy lives. I'm really hoping that the slugs can find alternative food sources.
No further damage and the seaweed even looks nice and adds vital nutrients to the mulch
I'm grateful for being given many opportunities to learn and grow. I'm grateful for friends with knowledge and experience and I'm grateful that I didn't cave under pressure and give up. There's still loads more work to do and I know that there will be more obstacles along the way and with that comes the experience earned from taking the time to observe, listen and look for solutions to every problem.
