Thoraiya DyerGrow Organic Vegetables, Get Organic Slugs!
April 17th 2008 01:04
Now that the rest of the world is finally jumping on the sustainability bandwagon (funny how we had to wait to be on the Brink Of Impending Doom before we started thinking about how Consuming Things That Can’t Be Replaced Makes Them Run Out), it’s nice to see even the local television stations giving advice on recycling and going green.
Yesterday, the helpful recommendation was that everyone have their own backyard chooks to supply organic, free-range eggs, and that we all plant veggies in our backyard.
Now, I’m not really for chickens in suburban backyards, for the simple reason that humans living with livestock created ideal conditions for viruses to jump species barriers.
I’m not having a go at chickens. I like chickens. But they belong on rural properties, and so do pigs, both for the same reason. If you try to visit the Steggles Hatchery in Beresfield, NSW, you have to pass through a special kind of quarantine involving taking off your clothes, shoes and jewellery, scrubbing your body and hair with disinfectant, then dressing in (extremely attractive) Steggles overalls and gumboots. If you want to bring in a truck, you have to drive through a swimming pool of disinfectant, wash your hands, spray the steering wheel and the floor mats, and change your shoes before you get out.
And if you have a pet bird at home, you’re not allowed in.
Why this seeming extreme biosecurity?
Influenza epidemics over the last century have killed more people than anything else Really Long Link ).
We’re all aware of the H5N1 bird flu outbreak that killed a few hundred people in Asia, but was eventually contained because the virus couldn’t spread from human to human, only from bird to human. Killing all the birds did the job, for now, though the virus survives in wild ducks and geese who are tough and don’t get killed by the flu.
If H5N1 or any other bird flu ever changes to become capable of spreading from human to human, we’re going to be in big trouble.
How can it change? Flu viruses are tricky that way. If two different flu viruses infect the same person, they can swap genetic material. All that has to happen is for a person with human flu, which is easily spread from person to person, to pick up bird flu at the same time, and BAM! We could be talking millions, if not billions of people dead. We live in crowded societies. We like to travel on boats and planes and in cars. Worse than rats, we are!
After all that, if you want to have chickens in your backyard, I’m not going to stop you. Australia is a vast country, and bird flu has not arrived here yet (though it flourishes in Indonesia, which is not that far away). Enjoy organic eggs from your backyard chooks until such time as the government detects bird flu in Australia, which might never ever happen.
Personally, I know where to find organic, free-range eggs in the supermarket. I’d rather pay a bit more and get them from a place where the animals are monitored and regulated. But that’s your choice. Just don’t be like these people (Gulf News, July 2007):
“Imphal: More than a dozen poultry farmers in the country's bird flu-hit northeast have been caught trying to smuggle flocks of chickens out of the quarantine zone, police said yesterday.
Local residents helped police to stop people sneaking chickens and poultry products out from within a five kilometre radius of a small farm at Chingmeirong village in Manipur state, the site of the latest bird flu outbreak this week.
The virus detected in Manipur is the most worrisome H5N1 strain, which can in rare cases infect and kill humans, usually those who spend a lot of time around infected birds.”
Heads up: If someone official tries to take away your chickens, for heaven’s sake, hand them over. Don’t be like the Turkish guy who smuggled his prize-winning rooster across the border and infected half the Middle-East with H5N1. Judging by the number of idiots sneaking their horses around during the NSW horse flu epidemic, though, there will always be people who only think of themselves.
On to the vegetables.
Organic, backyard vegetables, now, seem to me a GREAT idea.
Anyone who has a large proportion of migrants in their neighbourhood has seen them stare with puzzlement at vast expanses of lawn.
“Why you grow grass?”
Take a peek over the fence and you will find Italians, Greeks, Lebanese and Yugoslavs growing tomatoes, figs, olives, herbs, spinach, beans, and whatever else they have room for.
Six months ago, infected by the spirit of Spring, I admit to planting a whole lot of vegetables in my back garden. The previous owners had left a legacy of citrus trees and roses, which were already much appreciated. I love cut flowers. I love lime juice in salad dressings.
Into the lovingly prepared beds, I put parsley and lemon grass, oregano and basil, green onions and chives, strawberries and passionfruit. Dreaming of free, everlasting green salad, I planted mini tomatoes, Lebanese cucumbers and perpetual lettuce.
I fertilised. I mulched. Everything started out organic – because of laziness and cheapness more than anything else. My husband installed a water tank. I weeded, I watered and I watched.
Three days later, the lettuces were gone.
Eaten. Zilch. Nada.
I found the greedy little slugs just polishing off the last of the cucumber seedlings.
Running to the weighty tome that is “Burke’s Backyard: All The Fact Sheets”, I read:
“Protect your vegetables from snails and slugs by using snail baits. Take care as snail baits are toxic to pets, especially dogs and native animals. Other methods of control include collecting and squashing, and traps such as beer traps or barriers.”
Well, I have to admit, the idea of poison revenge immediately appealed to me.
I sprinkled snail bait around the remaining cucumber seedling. Not only that, but when my roses started getting spotty, I sprayed them with a black spot preventative. When my yummy, extremely productive lime tree got covered with bronze shield bugs, I hit them with the most toxic and powerful concoction on the shelf at the hardware. Goodbye, organic garden!
Did the chemicals work?
Not really.
I mean, the snail bait worked like a treat. Without it, I know that my cucumber and strawberries would not have survived. The tomatoes were OK as long as they were kept tied up to their stakes, well away from the ground. Apart from the oregano, the herbs were all safe and untouched.
But the black spot spray was a bit useless. I pruned off the diseased bits, picked up the dead leaves and mulched again, and that was the end of that problem.
As for the stink bugs on my lime tree, the toxic stuff didn’t hurt them, but it made the leaves of the tree go all shrivelly and sad. The bugs swarmed like a black plague over the new leaves, and if you went near them they sprayed this God-awful bum juice like miniature skunks.
An organic gardening show suggested knocking them off the branches into a bucket and pouring boiling water on them to kill them, and it was MARVELLOUS. The first time, we got half a bucket full of bugs. The second time, a fortnight later, we got quarter of a bucket. The third time, there was only a couple of dozen individual bugs.
I haven’t seen more than one or two since then.
To summarise my little experiment, choose vegetables that don’t get eaten by pests, and if they look diseased, pull them up and throw them away. Even if you throw away half of them, you’re still going to come out in front. A tomato plant costs $2.50, which is the same as half a kilo of tomatoes. My tomato plants have easily given me two or three kilos of tomatoes each, and all I had to do was water them and whack some cane straw around them every couple of months.
Plus, they are taaaasty.
Since I stopped using snail bait, it’s rare that I get to eat a strawberry before it gets little teeth-marks in it, so I’m hoping somebody can tell me how to keep fat, juicy organic slugs away from my fat, juicy organic strawberries. I’d like to cultivate resident blue-tongue lizards to eat the slugs, but I also have cats, so that’s not really an option.
Other than that, I’m happy with the backyard produce. Now excuse me, I’m going to make a salad and enjoy some fresh lemon-grass tea.
Yesterday, the helpful recommendation was that everyone have their own backyard chooks to supply organic, free-range eggs, and that we all plant veggies in our backyard.
Now, I’m not really for chickens in suburban backyards, for the simple reason that humans living with livestock created ideal conditions for viruses to jump species barriers.
I’m not having a go at chickens. I like chickens. But they belong on rural properties, and so do pigs, both for the same reason. If you try to visit the Steggles Hatchery in Beresfield, NSW, you have to pass through a special kind of quarantine involving taking off your clothes, shoes and jewellery, scrubbing your body and hair with disinfectant, then dressing in (extremely attractive) Steggles overalls and gumboots. If you want to bring in a truck, you have to drive through a swimming pool of disinfectant, wash your hands, spray the steering wheel and the floor mats, and change your shoes before you get out.
And if you have a pet bird at home, you’re not allowed in.
Why this seeming extreme biosecurity?
Influenza epidemics over the last century have killed more people than anything else Really Long Link ).
We’re all aware of the H5N1 bird flu outbreak that killed a few hundred people in Asia, but was eventually contained because the virus couldn’t spread from human to human, only from bird to human. Killing all the birds did the job, for now, though the virus survives in wild ducks and geese who are tough and don’t get killed by the flu.
If H5N1 or any other bird flu ever changes to become capable of spreading from human to human, we’re going to be in big trouble.
How can it change? Flu viruses are tricky that way. If two different flu viruses infect the same person, they can swap genetic material. All that has to happen is for a person with human flu, which is easily spread from person to person, to pick up bird flu at the same time, and BAM! We could be talking millions, if not billions of people dead. We live in crowded societies. We like to travel on boats and planes and in cars. Worse than rats, we are!
After all that, if you want to have chickens in your backyard, I’m not going to stop you. Australia is a vast country, and bird flu has not arrived here yet (though it flourishes in Indonesia, which is not that far away). Enjoy organic eggs from your backyard chooks until such time as the government detects bird flu in Australia, which might never ever happen.
Personally, I know where to find organic, free-range eggs in the supermarket. I’d rather pay a bit more and get them from a place where the animals are monitored and regulated. But that’s your choice. Just don’t be like these people (Gulf News, July 2007):
“Imphal: More than a dozen poultry farmers in the country's bird flu-hit northeast have been caught trying to smuggle flocks of chickens out of the quarantine zone, police said yesterday.
Local residents helped police to stop people sneaking chickens and poultry products out from within a five kilometre radius of a small farm at Chingmeirong village in Manipur state, the site of the latest bird flu outbreak this week.
The virus detected in Manipur is the most worrisome H5N1 strain, which can in rare cases infect and kill humans, usually those who spend a lot of time around infected birds.”
Heads up: If someone official tries to take away your chickens, for heaven’s sake, hand them over. Don’t be like the Turkish guy who smuggled his prize-winning rooster across the border and infected half the Middle-East with H5N1. Judging by the number of idiots sneaking their horses around during the NSW horse flu epidemic, though, there will always be people who only think of themselves.
On to the vegetables.
Organic, backyard vegetables, now, seem to me a GREAT idea.
Anyone who has a large proportion of migrants in their neighbourhood has seen them stare with puzzlement at vast expanses of lawn.
“Why you grow grass?”
Take a peek over the fence and you will find Italians, Greeks, Lebanese and Yugoslavs growing tomatoes, figs, olives, herbs, spinach, beans, and whatever else they have room for.
Six months ago, infected by the spirit of Spring, I admit to planting a whole lot of vegetables in my back garden. The previous owners had left a legacy of citrus trees and roses, which were already much appreciated. I love cut flowers. I love lime juice in salad dressings.
Into the lovingly prepared beds, I put parsley and lemon grass, oregano and basil, green onions and chives, strawberries and passionfruit. Dreaming of free, everlasting green salad, I planted mini tomatoes, Lebanese cucumbers and perpetual lettuce.
I fertilised. I mulched. Everything started out organic – because of laziness and cheapness more than anything else. My husband installed a water tank. I weeded, I watered and I watched.
Three days later, the lettuces were gone.
Eaten. Zilch. Nada.
I found the greedy little slugs just polishing off the last of the cucumber seedlings.
Running to the weighty tome that is “Burke’s Backyard: All The Fact Sheets”, I read:
“Protect your vegetables from snails and slugs by using snail baits. Take care as snail baits are toxic to pets, especially dogs and native animals. Other methods of control include collecting and squashing, and traps such as beer traps or barriers.”
Well, I have to admit, the idea of poison revenge immediately appealed to me.
I sprinkled snail bait around the remaining cucumber seedling. Not only that, but when my roses started getting spotty, I sprayed them with a black spot preventative. When my yummy, extremely productive lime tree got covered with bronze shield bugs, I hit them with the most toxic and powerful concoction on the shelf at the hardware. Goodbye, organic garden!
Did the chemicals work?
Not really.
I mean, the snail bait worked like a treat. Without it, I know that my cucumber and strawberries would not have survived. The tomatoes were OK as long as they were kept tied up to their stakes, well away from the ground. Apart from the oregano, the herbs were all safe and untouched.
But the black spot spray was a bit useless. I pruned off the diseased bits, picked up the dead leaves and mulched again, and that was the end of that problem.
As for the stink bugs on my lime tree, the toxic stuff didn’t hurt them, but it made the leaves of the tree go all shrivelly and sad. The bugs swarmed like a black plague over the new leaves, and if you went near them they sprayed this God-awful bum juice like miniature skunks.
An organic gardening show suggested knocking them off the branches into a bucket and pouring boiling water on them to kill them, and it was MARVELLOUS. The first time, we got half a bucket full of bugs. The second time, a fortnight later, we got quarter of a bucket. The third time, there was only a couple of dozen individual bugs.
I haven’t seen more than one or two since then.
To summarise my little experiment, choose vegetables that don’t get eaten by pests, and if they look diseased, pull them up and throw them away. Even if you throw away half of them, you’re still going to come out in front. A tomato plant costs $2.50, which is the same as half a kilo of tomatoes. My tomato plants have easily given me two or three kilos of tomatoes each, and all I had to do was water them and whack some cane straw around them every couple of months.
Plus, they are taaaasty.
Since I stopped using snail bait, it’s rare that I get to eat a strawberry before it gets little teeth-marks in it, so I’m hoping somebody can tell me how to keep fat, juicy organic slugs away from my fat, juicy organic strawberries. I’d like to cultivate resident blue-tongue lizards to eat the slugs, but I also have cats, so that’s not really an option.
Other than that, I’m happy with the backyard produce. Now excuse me, I’m going to make a salad and enjoy some fresh lemon-grass tea.
| 74 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
Comment by DrNat
Comment by Thoraiya Dyer
Demented World
Consider it a trial in progress. Thanks DrNat!
Comment by DrNat
Comment by Anonymous
In my garden I caught a blue-tongue lizard taking a bite out of a strawberry one day and noticed that it had done the same to every fruit on the plant!
I now grow strawberries inside in a window box and that seems to work fine.