Thursday 11 February 2010

Half Term Hurrah

"Urgent news about slugs," announced The Accountant, sticking his head round the door and then disappearing again.

"He'll be back," said The Small one, coolly turning the page in her copy of How It Works magazine.
"He knows he can't take them all on his own."


Which is true. Turns out, he'd just discovered that garden slugs can live for 3 years. Who knew? I didn't. But now I realise why we're having trouble getting rid of them. Any ideas would be very much appreciated. They ate a (very) big hole in our attempts at growing our own vegetables last summer and it really wasn't funny. So if we don't make it to Ikea at the weekend, you know where to find us. In the garden. Shoring up our defences.

I've finished my page about Sunday's post and here it is:

The envelope holds a copy of the letter and the text from my blog post. The design is based on one by Celine Navarro, found at Studio Calico

Today I'm Loving...How It Works magazine. Amazing photography, so much detail. Fabulous for budding scientists. But what sold it to me? It has a history section as well. Perfect.


27 comments:

Liberty :) said...

This layout is simply lovely. "some sunny day" ...is that from "we'll meet again" by Vera Lynn or is it just co-incidence? We had that at my Gdads funeral and the whole church started singing, it was beautiful.

I love the colours in this, it looks old and vintagey but the turquoise really brightens it up and makes it look modern!!

humel said...

Lovely, lovely layout :-)

How It Works looks very interesting - would it be suitable for a 10-year-old (with interests beyond his years)?

One more day till half term.... And Roman Day at that! I'd be more excited if we didn't have The Tudor Project and The Roman Project to complete over the week. *sigh*....

Ruth said...

Re the slugs ~ put out low sided containers of beer. It works!
Re the LO ~ I love it!
Re 'How It Works' ~ I'm going to check that out right away!
Great post, thanks.

JO SOWERBY said...

yep, if the Accountant can bear to part with it the beer is g8, or else course grit/ egg shells.
ooh history, i loved medieval and also the enclosures and poor law we did at o'level.
Jo xxx

scrappyjacky said...

Bad news,Sian....slugs are indestructible....not individually,of course, but in general.The answer is to move to Finland [or similar] it is too cold for them there...unchewed hostas are everywhere....though the way we are going it seems likely it will be too cold for them here in a couple more years...tell The Accountant to just hold on a bit.

Alana said...

Beautifull LO, is the origional letter in the envelope?

Raised beds for your veggies helps deter the slug feast. If I find any slugs I put them on the bird table hopeing the birdies are hungrey!!!

Maria Ontiveros said...

No help on the slugs, but a point of interest for the small one. Tell her to check out banana slugs, which we have here. Large and bright yellow!
Rinda

Lizzie said...

That's a really lovely layout, Sian. Yours always have some special point of interest too.

Slugs...bleagh! Beer traps, copper strips round flower pots (they hate copper), salt and nasty little sharp gravel strips round beds, raised beds... of course there are slug pellets, but no good if you have pets or encourage birds in your garden. Speaking of which, do encourage birds by feeding them - start now! - they eat slugs!

We saw the How it Works mag in WHSmith. Pity its sooo expensive.. but we might buy it. J. would love it!

debs14 said...

Salt! Or failing that, buy an ugly plant from the garden centre. Plant it well away from anything you value, then say in a loud voice - so all slugs can hear - 'Oh I do hope that those slugs don't touch my lovely new plant.' They will not be able to resist the temptation of upsetting you further and will leave all the nice plants in peace.

Alix said...

love your LO sian...and i'm so with you on the slugs!! we have a monstrous problem and we only have some concrete with pots on!!!

one tip tho...don't leave food on the birdtable overnight...if the birds don't eat it in the day...the slugs will at night!!!

Amanda said...

Beautiful LO Sian. We bought some copper rings to go around the bottom of plants, they look nice too. Same principle as egg shells, grit, coffee grinds, they aren't supposed to like moving over it. I have heard about the beer thing too but ours has never made it to the testing stage it normally gets drunk.

Rhona said...

Lovely layout, certainly one you wanted to document.
Good luck with the slugs, we've been fighting them for a couple of years now. I didn't know they could live 3 years either! We were told to start putting slug pellets down about now but I think we'll be giving the beer a try too.

Scrappi Sandi said...

Somehow I missed a post...how negligent of me!!!! But I'm all caught up now...I loved your Spring LO when I saw it in SI...(how I miss them...sigh!)& it's so nice to put a face to 'the creator' after all this time!!!! Your page to record your Grandads coin/letter is stunning..true memory keeping at its best!!! Have 'Fun' at IKEA on Sunday...I will be at work but have some plans to surprise my trio of 'Valentines' in my abscence!!

Sarah x said...

ooooh love the layout. Thanks for visiting my blog. V jealous re Ikea - I may have to bully my hubby into going next weekend. Let us know if there're any bargains to be had!

Anonymous said...

Beer in saucers has worked for us as well. I think we did moth balls one year, too, and they worked. We haven't seen any for a couple of years, thankfully. Such a beautiful layout. Enjoy IKEA!

Micayla said...

Slugs......I never know what to expect when you post!! But you always make me chuckle Sian.
I adore the layout, so pretty. Those envelopes are too sweet....still on my to buy list!!
Have fun in Ikea.....I love it there.
xx

Denise said...

I seem to remember my dad used to put salt on slugs - but that was a long time ago ! I love your layout,and enjoy Ikea :-)

Amy said...

I'm a black thumb - daughter of a farmer and all ... he's ashamed at the reality!
A seriously beautiful page Sian :-)

Unknown said...

A beautiful page, lovely colours. No advice re the slugs, they seem to be winning in our garden!

airing cupboard crafts said...

Your LO is gorgeous I love the papers x

Becky said...

Gorgeous layout - just went back and read your Sunday layout - what a wonderful story, one that is just perfect to scrapbook.

Jennifer Grace said...

Hee hee I love debs14's comment. If only that would really work! I gave up on defending my plants last year as we have indestructible snails, there seem to be hundreds of the little blighters, I think because we have a nice moist gap down the side of our conservatory, they keep creeping out from there! And I feel too mean killing so many off. I'm gonna stick to indoor plants for now!
We went to Ikea today, I just posted about it! Some gorgeous fabrics in at the moment, I love the bird/woodland designs. Have fun!

Samm said...

Great layout, loads of detail.

Samm
x

Bubbles said...

Fantastic page - such beautiful colour combinations (again!).
Coffee grinds are poisonous to slugs and snails - you can get bags and bags of them free from starbucks, etc (used coffee grounds, of course!).
Remember: Brown slugs eat the roots of the plants - they're the horrid ones - dig 'em up and leave 'em high and dry for the birds. Black slugs are a pest too - but they only eat the foilage of the plants - they don't kill off the plant by eating the root... so black slugs aren't nearly as bad - best just to leave them on a plant you don't like as much to have a little munch - or give them a cabbage leaf to snack on :)
Upturned citrus fruit skins attract these pesky pests too - white pthy side to the ground, skin side up. The critters will congregate under them for you to clear up in the morning (eugh!)

Abi said...

Love the page sian, really beautiful. I am so glad it is half term too! About the slugs, my mum puts broken egg shells over the beds, doesn't look great but they hate moving over them! seems to work! xxxx

Sandra said...

Have to say, last year the beer really did work on our slugs, worth a try.

And how it works magazine is a big hit in our home too ... only with a slightly older person than yours LOL. My hubby! LOL

Fun Mama - Deanna said...

Love the page! As for slugs -ugh, hate those guys. When I learned that they aren't even native to the US. Bleh! Have you stepped on one in bare feet yet? Oh, how I hate slugs. Advice: stale beer in shallow bowls (drown the suckers), diamotaceous earth or crushed eggshells around your plants (cut them to pieces), copper wire around your plants (shock the daylights out of them). I don't know if any of these actually work. I hate slugs!

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