Slugs and counter Slugs

(ok so its not a slug but a snail ! a slug proved too horrendous to photograph !!)

In the past two days I have been offered much sagely advice on how to deal with that stickiest of characters, the loathsome slug.

Both sets of advice were imparted to me with a kind of reverence and double  dip of the head as though these were trade secrets indeed. Let’s be honest there is not that much to endear slugs to you. That ghastly tutu frilled undulating skirt is not winsome and a reminder of a ballerina , no -more the reminder of a grotesque puppet show mannequin. And that attractive  leopard skin look is not visions of Africa but more visions of a ghastly drag queen soiree  in Belgrade.

The first recipe  involved copious bulbs of garlic , hot water and a judicious decanting and mixing of the liquor with water . The idea was to then water this mixture over the beleaguered plants and voila !  but questions arise from this already .. how many times do you water this in ? ratios of mixture to water..? another drawback mentioned by the partner of the sorcerer was the fact that you have to put up with your house stinking of garlic for days , whilst and during the miracle product is created.

The second recipe went for the completely chemical approach. The lady suggesting this anti slug remedy advocated the use of WD40 sprayed all over the upper and under side of hosta leaves . The Wd40 spray apparently works a treat and deters all slugs. Mention was not made about the long term effect on the plant !

Read Full Post »

Pizza da action

ready for the toppings !

The pizza like the mumma makes or in the case the ever cookingful Paul… gem of a gourmet chef always in the kitchen. Here we have a prime example of his super culinary skills … homemade pizza .

Now ,not only is the wonderful pizza tomato sauce made from our own tomatoes , but Paul also makes his own very special hot pizza oil : garlic, homegrown chillis, black peppercorns, rosemary, oregano, top quality olive oil.

The secret to the amazing tomato sauce is all down to long slow breakdown of tomatoes cooking for hours on end until they are concentrated into a heavenly quintessence of  tomato –yness. Hours later the whole house smells of tomatoes (in a good way I hope) … you can get these amazing candles that smell of bruised tomato  leaves … but why bother when the unsubtle perfume of cooking tomatoes pervades the whole house anyway… our long suffering b and b guests had had a lot to live through this week… starting with the fridge shelf falling mysteriously in the early hours, to impromptu sheep herding (getting roped in ) and the crazy cook at his best !

Read Full Post »