Z. Leigh

That's hilarious! And good to know. Wet, but not muddy. I think the green house might be too hot for it, so I'm thinking just outside the greenhouse door underneath a broken pot or something.

Hello-

It's been a rainy spring up here in Maine, and the slugs are out with a vengeance. My tulips are getting chomped, and I walked into the greenhouse today to see a bunch of my celery seedlings munched on! I'm 75% positive it's slugs... possibly it could be another pest I'm not aware of.

I'm setting out beer traps and have sprinkled coffee grounds around the tulips (I know this might be an old wive's tale, but thought I'd try anyway). My next thought was that I could build a little toad house in the greenhouse. I'm wondering if anyone has done this before, had success or no? The greenhouse can get rather warm, so I'm not sure if the toad would like it. But I do like the idea of a toad eating slugs instead of me just killing slugs (perhaps I'm too soft).

Anyhow, ideas appreciated! Thank you.

Thanks James & Travis. Your input makes me feel more confident! Would you suggest mixing the straw and the decomposed leaves for the raspberries/blackberries, or just using one or the other?

Hello!

I am currently helping garden for an elderly couple on Mount Desert Island in Maine. They have a few berry patches -- raspberry, blueberry, and blackberry -- that are fairly mature. We don't exactly know how old they are, but I would guess at least four to five years old. We would like to apply mulch to these berries and are trying to figure out the best type.

The options that we have available are: wood shavings (Eastern White Pine), straw, and a moderate amount of decomposed leaf mulch. I know that blueberries do well with wood chips, so I am tempted to use the shaving on those bushes... a little worried about using shavings instead of wood chips. Another idea was to combine the leaf mulch and the shavings, to extend the amount of leaf mulch that goes around and to give the shavings a little bulk. Not sure about straw...

Anyhow, looking for ideas. Has anyone had experience doing this? Any thoughts?

Thanks a lot!