Sunday, March 25, 2007
Something nasty in the woodshed…
Well not actually in the woodshed but lurking under the weed suppressant fabric to be exact. The spring sunshine coaxed me out yesterday to do a bit of digging. I dug over one of the beds and planted out the broad bean seedlings that have been growing fast and furious in the cold frame. In went some sweet peas too. Didn’t get a chance to harden them off first so hope they’ll do ok. Anyway, as I was turning over the soil I chanced upon not one but three New Zealand Flatworms. There have been warnings about these on the allotment notice-board for some months but it was a bit disheartening to see them thriving on the plot. Garden Organic explain these worms like to hide under things and so the fabric has been a boon. Trouble is they also like to chomp their way through earthworms which isn’t so good. As Head Burro argues sometimes garden pests are just evil and must be seen off – in the case of flatworms their recommended mode of dispatch seems to be by squashing, burning or submersion in salt water.
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3 comments:
Eek. If you found three you can bet there'll be more lurking somewhere. Be araid. Be very afraid.
Not just evil, but Evil! Sent by Beelzebub himself. Never mind the salt water, try a salt pentagram and pray for the best!
HB - Fighting the Good Fight!
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Evil indeed!! The more I read about these flatworms the more I feel that I need to phone Buffy. Flatworm eggs are shiny and black and Garden Organic explain that: ‘When its food supply has been virtually exhausted, a flatworm will shrink and wait until there are sufficient earthworms for feeding to restart. This waiting time can be as long as 12-24 months’. Now that sounds like the stuff of witchcraft and no mistake.
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