Slugs

Help! My garden is being eaten alive by slugs! I’ve tried making yeast traps (hot water, yeast, a bit of sugar) and that does seem to attract them, but there are still many more out there! I plan on eventually letting my guineas in there, but right now they are too small. What can I do?

D. McIlwain
Lowman, New York

Slugs sure can be frustrating! But there are several things you can do to get rid of them. First, mow the grass and weeds around your garden; they love to hide there. Then lay boards down between the rows where the most slugs seem to be. In the morning, turn the boards over and pick up the slugs and destroy them. Using slug bait such as Sluggo helps a lot. It is a natural product and has an iron base so it adds nutrients to your soil. Also, placing pie tins or other shallow dishes full of stale beer attracts a lot of slugs. They imbibe and drown. When your garden gets older, you can try turning in your guineas to see if they’ll enjoy the slugs. Ducks really love to eat them, as well. — Jackie

Head space in canning jars

OK, short and sweet. What importance does the head space in canning do. Can less than full jars be processed?

Larry
Sunfield, Michigan

Head space allows room for foods to expand during processing. It is not necessary to completely fill jars in order to have them process and seal well. But filling the jars to capacity saves jars. — Jackie

2 COMMENTS

  1. lol, it’s October, and i have 5 bottles still in the fridge, with a May expiration date. It was sent home via my daughter, from a bbq she attended. Wonder if stale beer works for beercan chicken. We have used the boards to help control slugs many times, it seems to work well for us. Off subject, but I faintly remember reading about using ‘usless’ boards to make a grid, with plants growing through the holes in the middle. They helped hold moisture in the ground, and also shaded young plants just after transfering them into the garden.

  2. I don’t drink much but I never understood where people got all this stale beer. Whenever I do drink, there’s never any leftover!

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