The message
from "Zizz" contains these words:


This year I stopped using any form of killing slugs and found that whilst
slug damage still occured it was less than when actively trying to kill
them!

Similarly, if you avoid spraying poisons onto greenfly, caterpillars
etc, you'll get far fewer of them because you won't have inadvertently
killed their natural predators.

Janet

The message
from Janet Baraclough contains these words:

Similarly, if you avoid spraying poisons onto greenfly, caterpillars
etc, you'll get far fewer of them because you won't have inadvertently
killed their natural predators.

If greenfly etc. get out of hand I boil some rhubarb leaves and spray
them with the liquor.

But don't tell the EC police as it's not tested and approved - except by
generations of gardeners.

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Mary Fisher" contains these words:

Perhaps everyone here knows about it but I was interested in the CT
method
of laying comfrey leaves round a vegetable plot. Trouble is, I can't
remember anything else about the system except that it's time critical
....

What's CT?

I've been advocating fresh comfrey and dried bracken as slug
deterrents for years; slugs really dislike going under or over scratchy
stuff.Cut whole stems of a comfrey such as Bocking 14 (which produces
lots of huge rough leaves each up to a foot long), and lay them around
new transplants of brassicas beans and corn etc. In years when the
comfrey comes up in time, I also put chopped fresh leaves in the
planting holes with seed potatoes.

Slugs also dislike seaweed mulches; fresh seaweed is salty and the
older stuff becomes dry and scratchy.

Thanks, Janet!

Now, where's the nearest source of seaweed for Leeds ...

:-)

Mary

Janet.

In article ,
(Janet Baraclough) wrote:

Similarly, if you avoid spraying poisons onto greenfly, caterpillars
etc, you'll get far fewer of them

That explains the mistake I made with my broad beans. They got blackfly
despite me taking the tops off. There were loads of ladybirds around but
I waited in vain for them to move off the fuchsia and onto the beans.

After about a week, I got fed up and sprayed the blackfly and got rid of
the lot. I didn't realise that if I'd not sprayed I'd have had even
fewer blackfly!!!

Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com

On Wed, 10 Dec 2003 16:48:09 GMT, Jaques d'Alltrades
wrote:

The message
from Janet Baraclough contains these words:

Similarly, if you avoid spraying poisons onto greenfly, caterpillars
etc, you'll get far fewer of them because you won't have inadvertently
killed their natural predators.

If greenfly etc. get out of hand I boil some rhubarb leaves and spray
them with the liquor.

The greenfly or the leaves?


But don't tell the EC police as it's not tested and approved - except by
generations of gardeners.

There are no EC police, do you mean the local trading standards
officer with a pile of rule books and forms under his arm?
--
Martin

In article ,
(Janet Baraclough) wrote:

Similarly, if you avoid spraying poisons onto greenfly, caterpillars
etc, you'll get far fewer of them

That explains the mistake I made with my broad beans. They got blackfly
despite me taking the tops off. There were loads of ladybirds around but
I waited in vain for them to move off the fuchsia and onto the beans.

After about a week, I got fed up and sprayed the blackfly and got rid of
the lot. I didn't realise that if I'd not sprayed I'd have had even
fewer blackfly!!!

Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com

On Wed, 10 Dec 2003 16:48:09 GMT, Jaques d'Alltrades
wrote:

The message
from Janet Baraclough contains these words:

Similarly, if you avoid spraying poisons onto greenfly, caterpillars
etc, you'll get far fewer of them because you won't have inadvertently
killed their natural predators.

If greenfly etc. get out of hand I boil some rhubarb leaves and spray
them with the liquor.

The greenfly or the leaves?


But don't tell the EC police as it's not tested and approved - except by
generations of gardeners.

There are no EC police, do you mean the local trading standards
officer with a pile of rule books and forms under his arm?
--
Martin

On Wed, 10 Dec 2003 20:47 +0000 (GMT), (Steve
Harris) wrote:

In article ,
(Janet Baraclough) wrote:

Similarly, if you avoid spraying poisons onto greenfly, caterpillars
etc, you'll get far fewer of them

That explains the mistake I made with my broad beans. They got blackfly
despite me taking the tops off. There were loads of ladybirds around but
I waited in vain for them to move off the fuchsia and onto the beans.

After about a week, I got fed up and sprayed the blackfly and got rid of
the lot. I didn't realise that if I'd not sprayed I'd have had even
fewer blackfly!!!

I can't believe you said that on this group :-)
--
Martin

The message
from (Steve Harris) contains these words:
In article ,
(Janet Baraclough) wrote:

Similarly, if you avoid spraying poisons onto greenfly, caterpillars
etc, you'll get far fewer of them

That explains the mistake I made with my broad beans. They got blackfly
despite me taking the tops off. There were loads of ladybirds around but
I waited in vain for them to move off the fuchsia and onto the beans.

After about a week, I got fed up and sprayed the blackfly and got rid of
the lot. I didn't realise that if I'd not sprayed I'd have had even
fewer blackfly!!!

Probably not. The life-cycle of the ladybird is too long to have a
noticeable impact. (Talk on R4)

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)

The message
from martin contains these words:

But don't tell the EC police as it's not tested and approved - except by
generations of gardeners.

There are no EC police, do you mean the local trading standards
officer with a pile of rule books and forms under his arm?

Here's something I prepared earlier........

Stuffed Marrow. Tomorrow
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
One day, officious paper-riffling cops
Descended on my modest farm-gate sales:
Those keystones of policing standard crops
Mrought rules, straight-edges, calipers and scales.
They measured each tomato, bean and spud,
And seemed quite pleased how most of them conformed,
But then, their eyes lit-up, as, sniffing blood
And over my cucumbers swarmed.
Arraigned before the Common Market Court,
My curvy, cool and crunchy cues were tried:
The charge? Ignoring bureaucratic thought -
They'd from the straight and narrow bent aside.
I told them where to file their standard cues.
And next year, marrows is the crop I'll choose.

© A.E.Anson 1980

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)

The message
from (Steve Harris) contains these words:

In article ,
(Janet Baraclough) wrote:

Similarly, if you avoid spraying poisons onto greenfly, caterpillars
etc, you'll get far fewer of them BECAUSE YOU WON'T HAVE
INADVERTENTLY KILLED THEIR NATURAL PREDATORS. (sentence restored,
can you hear me now?)

That explains the mistake I made with my broad beans. They got blackfly
despite me taking the tops off. There were loads of ladybirds around but
I waited in vain for them to move off the fuchsia and onto the beans.

Careless lopping in the garden or in usenet often leads to mistakes,
doesn't it? :-)

After about a week, I got fed up and sprayed the blackfly and got rid of
the lot. I didn't realise that if I'd not sprayed I'd have had even
fewer blackfly!!!

A peanut feeder tied to a bamboo stake inserted beside the insect
population attracts lots of bluetits. They will very quickly eliminate a
large hatching of blackfly or other aphids.

Janet.

The message
from (Steve Harris) contains these words:

In article ,
(Janet Baraclough) wrote:

Similarly, if you avoid spraying poisons onto greenfly, caterpillars
etc, you'll get far fewer of them BECAUSE YOU WON'T HAVE
INADVERTENTLY KILLED THEIR NATURAL PREDATORS. (sentence restored,
can you hear me now?)

That explains the mistake I made with my broad beans. They got blackfly
despite me taking the tops off. There were loads of ladybirds around but
I waited in vain for them to move off the fuchsia and onto the beans.

Careless lopping in the garden or in usenet often leads to mistakes,
doesn't it? :-)

After about a week, I got fed up and sprayed the blackfly and got rid of
the lot. I didn't realise that if I'd not sprayed I'd have had even
fewer blackfly!!!

A peanut feeder tied to a bamboo stake inserted beside the insect
population attracts lots of bluetits. They will very quickly eliminate a
large hatching of blackfly or other aphids.

Janet.

On Wed, 10 Dec 2003 22:11:16 GMT, Jaques d'Alltrades
wrote:

The message
from martin contains these words:

But don't tell the EC police as it's not tested and approved - except by
generations of gardeners.

There are no EC police, do you mean the local trading standards
officer with a pile of rule books and forms under his arm?

Here's something I prepared earlier........

Stuffed Marrow. Tomorrow
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
One day, officious paper-riffling cops
Descended on my modest farm-gate sales:
Those keystones of policing standard crops
Mrought rules, straight-edges, calipers and scales.
They measured each tomato, bean and spud,
And seemed quite pleased how most of them conformed,
But then, their eyes lit-up, as, sniffing blood
And over my cucumbers swarmed.
Arraigned before the Common Market Court,
My curvy, cool and crunchy cues were tried:
The charge? Ignoring bureaucratic thought -
They'd from the straight and narrow bent aside.
I told them where to file their standard cues.
And next year, marrows is the crop I'll choose.

© A.E.Anson 1980

You have had ample time to correct the typo. :-)

"Just the facts ma'am"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...11/ixhome.html
--
Martin

On Wed, 10 Dec 2003 22:38:52 GMT, Janet Baraclough
wrote:


A peanut feeder tied to a bamboo stake inserted beside the insect
population attracts lots of bluetits. They will very quickly eliminate a
large hatching of blackfly or other aphids.

Our blue/coal/you name it tits quickly eliminate bags of peanuts.
--
Martin

On Wed, 10 Dec 2003 22:11:16 GMT, Jaques d'Alltrades
wrote:

The message
from martin contains these words:

But don't tell the EC police as it's not tested and approved - except by
generations of gardeners.

There are no EC police, do you mean the local trading standards
officer with a pile of rule books and forms under his arm?

Here's something I prepared earlier........

Stuffed Marrow. Tomorrow
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
One day, officious paper-riffling cops
Descended on my modest farm-gate sales:
Those keystones of policing standard crops
Mrought rules, straight-edges, calipers and scales.
They measured each tomato, bean and spud,
And seemed quite pleased how most of them conformed,
But then, their eyes lit-up, as, sniffing blood
And over my cucumbers swarmed.
Arraigned before the Common Market Court,
My curvy, cool and crunchy cues were tried:
The charge? Ignoring bureaucratic thought -
They'd from the straight and narrow bent aside.
I told them where to file their standard cues.
And next year, marrows is the crop I'll choose.

© A.E.Anson 1980

You have had ample time to correct the typo. :-)

"Just the facts ma'am"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...11/ixhome.html
--
Martin