Sunflowers and Slugs

Frog floating on flotsam in pond

Frogs and Slugs

We had hoped that by creating our sunflower patch in a sunny, south facing field, near to a pond inhabited by hundreds of hungry frogs  we would be safe from slugs and other night-time munchers. Some hope!

Even if they didn't eat the slugs, you'd think that the frog chorus 24 hours a day would keep slugs away, but unfortunately not a bit of it.

Organic soil taken from roots of fallen tree

Fallen Trees After the Tempest

We had planted the sunflower seeds in soil collected from the stumps of trees in our wood that had been blown over in the storm last year.  We are using this soil for all of our seeds and cuttings as we don't want to use potting compost that has added artificial fertiliser or that has been obtained in an ecologically damaging way.

Sunflower patch in field with deer proof fencing

Total Devastation

After carefully nurturing our seedlings in the cloche until they were a couple of inches high, we decided to transplant them into the freshly prepared bed, which is fenced in with reclaimed wire to protect the plants against deer, rabbits and hares. The 15 little seedlings were nestled into soft, weed free ground, lightly watered and left to take root.

The next morning we strolled out to see whether the sunflowers had grown overnight to be 6 feet tall, but instead …. Devastation! Complete annihilation! Not even stumps left to show were our beautiful seedlings once stood so proud.  Undeterred, we planted another larger tray of seeds and then scoured the internet for inspiration as to how we could protect our beautiful seedlings whilst adhering to our underlying ethos of only using organic methods and maintaining a frugal way of life.

From the dozens of blogs and articles on the internet two points shone out; slugs do not like to pass over rough surfaces and slugs tend not to like to climb (not true if you live in Milton Keynes!). Being rather short of broken sea shells and not wishing to add crushed glass to my flower bed, we decided to try and create a barrier for the seedlings. We needed something that would allow light and water in whilst creating a barrier to slimy insects, something that would give the seedlings a chance to grow large enough that they could withstand the odd nibble from a passing slug.

Sunflowers protected against slugs by cut-down milk bottles

Reuse is Better Than Recycling

It is then we hit upon the idea that instead of driving our recycling to the dump we could reuse some of it instead. After emptying the recycling sacks we found a large selection of water and milk bottles, cans and cardboard tubes. After cutting the tops and bottoms off the bottles and opening the ends of the cans a protective and ecological shield was placed around each of the seedlings.

Eureka! Two weeks on and not one has been nibbled and the plants are fit and strong! We watered the sunflowers last night with our homemade nettle fertiliser so we hope to see them put on a growing spurt.

A word of warning though, the clear water bottles cooked the seedlings so we would recommend sticking to coloured bottles.

How Far Apart to Plant?

Some may think we have planted the seedlings too close together. This is a deliberate move as we live on top of a hill, which is the only high ground for miles around. The result is that not only do we get terrific winds sweeping across the land making it difficult for any plant to stay upright, but the wind changes direction every few minutes, which makes it even more difficult. After some of our sunflowers fell in the wind last year we decided to follow the farmer’s practice of planting the plants close together so that the sunflowers support each other.

Sunflowers protected against slugs by cut-down milk bottles

Our intention is to harvest some of the seeds for eating and for planting next year, with the remainder left for the birds and other animals.

This year's seeds were taken from a small bag of bird seed bought from CJ Bird Foods for the birds in our old garden. Living in the town we regularly feed the birds however here we do want the birds to rely on bird feeders. We are give the birds a helping hand by planting bird friendly plants, leaving openings to the barn and adding nest boxes in strategic places though. We want to give them every chance for survival.