Dear avid CB/NB area gardeners,
New to gardening here this year, but not to gardening in general.
I am up in the hills above Mingus Park. Weird amalgamation of dark soil and sand, sun and shade, have good wind protection in the back yard.
FIRST… the slug/snail problem here: What is your best slug/snail remedy for slugs/snails eating true leaves from transplanted seedlings like Rudbeckia and Zinnia? They won’t touch Shasta Daisy and Calendula starts, as usual, but the land mollusks here breed like rabbits.
I need help from those who can offer local knowledge. I’d rather talk to local knowledgeable gardeners, than post on Reddit.
I’m currently experimenting with 3” collars cut from yogurt containers bound with 2” copper tape and beer/salt in lids nearby to attract them away that will make unfortunate slug juice. At my wits end. Napalm is not an option, and I can’t afford it anyway… 😁
These are perennial flowers in the front yard, lots of sun and sandy soil. “Organic” isn’t so important, but I prefer to use natural if possible because I’d rather not use actual poison… the rain will make it end up in the backyard. Backyard is lower and will eventually drain down to Mingus Park.
Open to kind and helpful suggestions.
I’m terrified to plant food seeds at this point in situ in the backyard. I need a vegetable garden, but don’t feel that I will be able to get much of a veg crop this year unless I can figure out how to stop these land mollusks that are eating everything.
Veg seeds are expensive here even with Bi-Mart sales and food plant seedlings are more ridiculous if something eats them.
SECOND… piss ants are everywhere. Help?
Because of the sandy soil? They have invaded my home (even throughout winter). Every room in my home has a bit of awkward cardboard with a glob of Great Value Strawberry Jam mixed with Borax, away from pets, and these little bastards line up like piggies at a trough for a night or two of gluttony and then disappear.
…Take it to your leader. Your queen. Please, by all that is holy. Just stop. Please.
It has always worked for me in the Willamette Valley. Once. Maybe twice. And then no more ants.
Not here.
It works for a while, but then they keep coming back. And back. And back. I’m still finding ants in rooms I rarely go into. Despite the cardboard Borax and Jam.
I figure the sandy soil around my home is host to eight or nine independent, full-blown ant communities who don’t have social media. When one colony dies, they Queen another, as another is dying from Borax? Is this Ant Chess?
Or maybe there are just too many colonies to kill? Am I doing something wrong? What can I do to kill off these ants that keep waking me up in the middle of the night because they’re crawling on my arms?
I can’t afford “monthly pest control”. Has anyone successfully eradicated these tiny bastards with a home remedy here in Coos Bay?
Help.
THIRD… hummingbirds. I put out two feeders with an appropriately healthy mixture of sugar water three days ago. I used to get Hummingbirds lining up and fighting like dudes at a bar when I lived in the valley, an hour after launch.
Here? Not one hummingbird. Not. One. Hummingbird. Not an Anna. Not a Rufous. For three days.
Ants? Yeah. Those little fuckers are marching down the fishing line. Somehow ending up INSIDE of the feeder, floating like a dead Esther Williams and her swimming cohorts, or guys jumping out a plane together. Just dead piss-ants.
Very artistic, but not the intent.
Are there hummingbirds here? And why are there so many ants? And slugs? And snails?
How do I garden here with everything wanting to creep and crawl and eat and destroy?
I just really want to be a good neighbor. The meth folks who lived here before had large TIRE PILES in the front yard, according to the neighbor.
I just want to grow perennials and meet locals who want to share plants. I love sharing plants.
Helpful information is appreciated. Kindly, and with humor.
Also, any local folks who are plant/gardening nerds who want to share knowledge/plants/seeds/starts? Please DM. Happy to share and talk plants. I don’t have many seeds yet, but am happy to share info and plants. ❤️
Finally, I would love ROOTED starts of Lithodora for the parking area out front. It grows so beautifully here. ❤️❤️❤️
I’ve been really afraid to post here. I hope this is a welcoming community.
Thank you.