Quick & questions answers
Q
A
Can I compost old, rotten bulbs? Dave Harker, Nottingham
By all means. But because they are mucilaginous, mix them with other ingredients, such as weeds, shredded twigs, dead leaves and household vegetable waste to avoid creating a pool of slimy tissue.
Within a few months, slugs and other compost residents will have devoured them and reduced them to raw and beneficial humus.
Q
A mad question, but are there any beneficial slugs? Mel Hynes (via email)
A
All slugs are a vital part of the garden’s ecosystem. Not only do they feast on organic matter, such as that in your compost heap, converting it into crumbly humus, but they are also food for frogs, toads, hedgehogs, slow-worms and ground beetles.
Thankfully, only a few species – the netted field slug and brown soil slug which ribbon lettuces and other soft-leaved vegetables, and keeled slugs which tunnel into potatoes – are a problem.
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How can I attract pest-eating insects? Sheryl Reeves (via email)
The best way to encourage ladybirds, lacewings, hover flies and parasitic wasps is to grow single-flowered, pollen and nectar-rich annuals, such as calendula, cosmos, Limnanthes douglasii (poached egg plant), nasturtiums and Rudbeckia ‘Cappuccino’. Also perennials, such as single-flowered sunflowers, sedums, buddleja, lavender, hardy geraniums, mint and marjoram.