Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
skybirdforever

Escargot!

Yum!

For a "rainy" day, it sure was beautiful out today! So---I was out today, cutting and trimming, and cleaning things up! In the past I've left my Acanthus standing all winter, but this year I've just been getting way too many seedlings coming up, so I decided to cut it down before the seeds could fall out---and it wasn't looking that great this time anyway!

Well, when I cut it down early this spring, I had found a bunch of snails living between the stems at the base of the plant. I cleaned out as many as I could find---maybe a dozen---and HOPED that would take care of them! (Yeah! I know better!) So I get it cut down today, and I see "shiny things" between the stems! I start digging, and, lo and behold, everywhere I look there's SNAILS! Not slugs! Well, I guess they ARE slugs, but the kind with a backpack house! At the bottom of the Acanthus is the ONLY place I find them in this yard! I, gratefully, don't have very many (homeless) slugs in the yard, but the Acanthus is absolutely THICK with snails! What's up with that!

There were way more than in the pictures! I first started collecting them and throwing them in the dumpster, and when I got tired of walking back and forth, I got a tray to throw them in. After cleaning out as many as I could see, I took the pictures---and then I found some more crawling up the remaining stubs of the stems! The nice thing about snails is that you can pick them up with your hands without getting all slimy! I'm amazed, especially considering how many there were, but they don't appear to have done any damage at all to the Acanthus! But this time I decided to not bury my head in the sand, and I liberally sprinkled slug bait around the base of the plant, and between all the cut down stems. It'll be interesting to see what I find out there in spring next year, but I'll be surprised if any of them survive their free dinner!

And the ones in the pictures? Well I was considering going the butter and garlic route---but I decided I probably wouldn't be able to find a teensy, tiny little escargot clamp holder thingie, or a teensy tiny little escargot fork---so they went in the dumpster along with the first ones! They're probably all out there partying together tonite!

Does anybody else around here find snails---a/k/a Backpack House Slugs---in their yards?

Skybird

P.S. Yeah, I know they're really two different creatures---but in the garden they're IDENTICAL---with or without the backpack house!

Comments (4)

Sponsored
Pristine Acres
Average rating: 5 out of 5 stars46 Reviews
Leading Northern Virginia Deck/Patio Specialist- 10X Best of Houzz!