angeli

B...You sound like Laurence of Arabia....all that talk of parched deserts...
Like pomegranetes have bought one (plant) at market here and planted but small approx 1m high and bushy...not a tree...are there different varieties....its fruits fell off last year...the size of marbles...
Dont want horse meat and love cats...will stick to chicken and fish....

PAT M

Sorry, going off topic, horsemeat is very popular down here in Puglia, and I was also told that it is rich in iron but could never bring myself to eat it willingly as I love horses. We had relatives here last summer and we went to a local trattoria, the menu was in dialect and said "carne ferrata" so I told my relatives oh that's probably meat roasted on a skiddle... wrong, it meant meat with horseshoes (ferro means iron as in horseshoes), doh, however they said it was tasty. B, about cicoria, there are two different types with same name, the small dandelion is the one you see people searching for in fields and roadsides, the other one you saw being sold from the lorry is also known as "catalonia cimata" it has a centre with beak like things with tendrils if you see what I mean, this is great raw in salads or cooked, it's a bit bitter.

37100

Horse meat is very popular here. I don't eat it , but son loves it especially pony. I don't like that sweet smelling smell it gives off when cooking. I do like donkey though.

angeli

Think I'e just become a no large animal meat eater.....

davehornet6

i was told that surrounding susseptable plants with broken egg shell stops slugs/snails. they cant 'slide' over it.
i have a carrier bag of smashed shells ready to put around my hostas and dahlias. i would advise to rinse them off if they are going to be hanging around for a while they can smell bad if not
i have also cut round O's of material and will stick the egg shell to that around the plant base, so i can hoe around everything and not lose the shell into the ground within weeks.
took bloomin ages to collect the large amount of shell i need.
i just had another thought, maybe sea shells smashed up might do the trick too?

angeli

Sounds good to me....have tried grit / eggshells and yes, it is a deterrant...A frind also told me coffee grounds have similar effect...will check them out.....Cheers.

bricwood

where I live there are often big piles of seaweed on the beach I wonder why the don't put it on the land? I thought seaweed was good for the soil, I was going to try to compost it or something

angeli

Seaweed is good....think the irish use it...saw it in a film once....Back to coffee grounds yes, friend says they deter slugs and snails and apparently B ants wont cross a line of coffee grounds! Cats hate them and orange peel too so a scattering over veg patch good, they are also a good source of nutrients and enhance acidity of a compost heap whilst acting as a natural fertiliser. Finally house plants benefit from them too as give them an acidity boost.....Wow, off to make some fresh coffee now .......so many uses !!!!

davehornet6

cool i drink loads of fresh coffee. just thinking of the amount of grounds i have thrown away since christmas i could have 'mulched' the whole garden.
does it really deter cats?
my gf has 4 cats and as you can imagine they really screw up the garden.
fingers crossed they will pack their bags (the cats i mean not the gf)when i cover everything with coffee!!

angeli

Could coffee grounds smell of tom cats ???? and sure, cats hate citrus...you used to be able to get citrus pellets to scatter...not sure if you still can......
Cats are nice but need controlling....I have one....his name is Tom and is Italian.

davehornet6

does tom pose more than an english cat?
i like A cat too. i used to have one.
if coffee smelt of tom cats i think you would attract more cats.
just one cat can be great and a cat on its own usually wont destroy a garden. problem is , with 4 its a scent laying competition and the 'done' boys spray all over the garden which kills certain plants (our 7 year old acer died in weeks when our small tom started spraying on it) it stinks when its damp, most of the time in england.
because there are 2 toms spraying we actually end up with most of the streets cats in our garden!! curiosity i suppose.
also i dont mind planting things and while digging finding the occasional poo,
but last spring i dug over the flower beds ready for planting and found half a bucket worth!
i noticed a couple of years ago that they ate the leaves off quite a few perrenials too ?
i think rather than kill the slugs i might train them to get rid of the cats, lol

angeli

Ummmmmmm, seems like you do have a bit of a problem and not a nice one....Have seen electronic beam things in magazines that is supposed to keep cats out...maybe you need to make an area of garden a cat free zone - using electronic thing coffee grounds and orange peel and dig over area for them as far away as poss to use as cat toilet..... Its either that or a re-homing job, or a big row with the gf (not good).....

davehornet6

thats funny i just had the brilliant idea of an area of garden with just soil and planted around the edges..... CATNIP!!
could combine that with an electric fence to keep the cats on the soil permanently and with my trained sniper slugs...

oh dear i think im getting a bit carried away. better take my horse tranqs

angeli

Yes, yes,yes...catnip and......sure there are other plants cats hate...create a garden full of them....Tom does pose...see avator...likes bowls.....strange but true.....

davehornet6

i just made a coffee and my gf's young female cat was hovering around it.
i put the cup on the floor to see if it would be put off and it started drinking it!!!!!!!!
when the coffee machine cools down a bit ill put some grounds on a plate and offer them to it.
i really hope it doesnt eat them?