Little Winter Snails

As announced, this Sunday's 16^th food swap, Hutchinson Place, 2 to 3 pm, has the theme of Little Winter Snails.

Let me explain. Good gardening equates creating perfect snail habitat! Indeed, you pack the place with yummy fresh and tender food, water when needing, provide mulch for hiding and so on. Chemical warfare (snail pellets) has side effects – poisoning birds, dogs, little children – not good. Going snail hunting at night with a torch is great communion with your garden and … you may prefer your cosy bed. SO ...creating an even better snail habitat could be a fair solution. No, I haven't (completely) lost the plot: it is a fair solution as long as you bother collecting the snails regularly from the convenient habitat you created .

Here's what I do.

In strategic spots in the garden, I position upside down little pots (terracota or plastic) near good food, cool and wet environments. The snails just come to it, unawares these are traps – not just perfect hidey holes! I have many such pots scattered around; I check a few nearly every day (at convenient times!) and throw my findings to the chooks. If I spot slimy trails or snail damage, I just add some traps and check there more often for a while.

By the way, thick crunched up cardboard or black plastic is somewhat more unsightly but has great trapping potential. The key is to check regularly.

I sure know I'll never get rid of all snails in the garden– they must share my address by snail mail. However, from ongoing snails trapping, this autumn in my garden is a season for little snails only. I suspect this is a kind of spring garden preparation too. Hence the theme: Little winter Snails!

So why not start this yourself? At the swap, there will be small terracotta pots for you to take and try in your garden. At the start, you'll probably have plenty of Mammas&Papas (note: in one word as snails are hermaphrodite), but overtime, the size of snails you will catch (and their damages) may decrease just like in my garden.

Now, you've caught snails, what to do next? I am lucky enough to have chicken, perfect disposal method. But, you will cry, what am I to do without fowls aplenty?

Well, I'd like to try an idea and see what comes out from it. I made a snail donation box during the mending night at Catherine's. I suspect it is the first snail donation box in Newlands! WOW – possibly the world. Do come and check it out! The way it will work is that I'll hang it above my letter box on the fence after this Sunday's food swap. In the true spirit of sustainability and community, (rather than consumerism and wealth accumulation) it will be a 2 ways donation box: you can put snails in it or you can take snails from it for your own chooks.

I'll be introducing this wondrous contraption to the world at this Sunday's 16^th food swap, and I would simply love it if the trend was to catch on, so that Newlands has a whole network of snails donation boxes for all gardeners to have one within walking distance. Wouldn't that make the neighbourhood chooks happy?

Yep, there are times in life when one's needs a bit of a vision!

Other things about the swap. Yes, intemperant weather is catered for. I still have a few blueberries and can now tell which ones are Blue Rose (deciduous) and which ones are Sunshine Blue variety (not deciduous). Also bringing (so far) cabbage type seedlings, all must go; Canterbury Bells and lettuces seedlings. Collected a few seeds at the end of summer and have Persimmons, Tamarillo and greens to swap

What will you bring (besides snails maybe)? Catch up there.

Pascale