LIKE all gardeners, I love spring. But so do snails and there are hordes of them in our garden after a mild, wet winter. We need some snail-gobbling ducks but my partner says we have enough livestock – and he’s right.
What to do? I’m reluctant to use lots of traditional bait, modern pet and bird friendly ones are not exactly cheap and I know from reading the research those other ‘organic’ methods won’t win the war.
Well, now I’ve found a new tactic. Raewynne Achten, of Silver Trail Snails, New Zealand’s only commercial snail farm, wants gardeners’ healthy, strong-shelled biggies for breeding purposes (see reader promotion on page 20).
She recommends collecting them at night, especially after rain (that’s easily organised) so it’s time for an after-dinner snail hunt with the grandchildren. Raewynne says if we find one snail – only one! – there’ll be whanau nearby because they live in families and one snail can lay 80 eggs.
Snail hunting aside, we bring you lots this issue to celebrate spring – glorious tulip displays with colour schemes to copy (page 14) and the lowdown on tomatoes (page 18) because it’s almost sowing time. And if spring storms topple a tree don’t despair – this can be a garden asset, as our feature garden shows (page 22).
