I'm sharing my bedroom with a slug



http://kroma.co.uk/photo/common-yellow-slug

OK, in my time, I've been known to be up close and personal to the odd slug, even take a decent photo of one (although this brilliant photo kindly copied from stuart brown)- but I'm not a fan of sharing a bedroom with them. Imagine what desperate dark acts they might get up to whilst you are asleep, plotting all kinds of havoc. It really doesn't bear thinking about, especially when you spend many an hour plotting their demise, they can probably tell you're not keen. They do seem to be quite acute, even for being a mollusc - cunning disguises and hidey holes - they are sneakier than they look, don't be fooled. The minute your back is turned they gang up and eat everything in the garden. An average pack of slugs is not to be underestimated, they have ferocious appetites.

A favourtie book in the bathroom, full of a great idea or two......

In fact if truth be told, in an odd kind of way, I quite like them - in a real arch nemisis type of a relationship - the evil advosary of the gardener.  I've many books on slug hunting and destruction - all in the bathroom for the odd bit of flick through to get a few new murderous ideas. Unfortunatley they are not edible to us humans (perish the thought), although I do know what it feels to have one in your mouth from inadequately washed lettuce - (never again will salad be shoddily washed). But the chickens are always grateful of the veritable delight which is a decent slug on a sunny morning. In fact, if truth be told I prefer them to snails (too aloof snails, a bit too posh for my liking) and to vine weevil (too scuttly and sneaky for their own good).

A native of African origin - pretty eh? Not for eating mr slug..... 

Anyway getting back to the slug in the bedroom - why on earth would I choose one for a room mate? Not entirely first choice - I had an inkling we had one in there - there were tell tale signs on the Eucomis autumnalis leaves were looking a bit sorry for themselves and a bit munched. On first inspection no slug - but as the leaves disappeared and the bulb started to look munched I have to say I was getting a bit annoyed. Blasted mollusc. Anyway - after a bit of slug investigation I find the belligerent beast down the pot in a burrow in the compost, probably arrived as an egg which you can often spot in a pot if you have a look - good to do this when potting up overwintered plants etc to check if you've any - just put them on the bird table or somewhwere a bird/chicken can nibble on them. Nevermind how they arrived - I'm afraid it still has to go, I don't want it as a bedroom companion and I'm not keen on the damage its done to my beautiful plant.  Well no more!

What the egg look like in a pot...........

Anyway its never to late to give the slug the treat of experiencing the power of flight, straight out of the window into the snowy garden - head first into a snow-drift,  that showed him/her/it. I have to say if the slug had been aware I'd grown the Eucomis from seed, sent to me from a friend and it had only flowered this year for the first time, I would hope it might have been less greedy when consuming it. My bedroom is now blissfully mollusc free - moral of the story? Don't keep a slug in your bedroom, whatever the slugs intentions appear to be, your Eucomis won't thank you for it.