Attention all South Walian gardeners,  A new species of worm eating slugs are chomping their way through your veggies and worms 

Selenochlamys Ysbryda, or ghost slug (this is the first time a slug has been honoured with a Welsh name btw)

Creatures of this type are more usually found in Turkey and Georgia.

The origin of the ghost slug, and its route into Britain, is completely unknown, and specimens have not been seen in Europe before this was discovered in Cardiff last year.

Another was was spotted in nearby Caerphilly. (Well, knowing Caerphilly that is no surprise to be honest)

Unlike most slugs, the ghost slug is carnivorous and kills earthworms at night with powerful, blade-like teeth, sucking them in like spaghetti. <shriek>

It has no eyes or bodily colouring and lives underground.

"The Ghost Slug belongs to an obscure and almost unpronounceable group of slugs - the Trigonochlamydidae," said Ben Rowson, a biologist at National Museum Cardiff.

 The slug's teeth are about half a mm long and blade-like

"We had to thumb through lots of old publications in Russian and German to find anything like them - but then discovered they were something entirely new."

Between the downpours, its good weather for weeding and that's about all you can say for it.  Oh, and the Iris ensata quite like it.  Even the garlic has gone rusty. 

Nice looking peppers and toms.  My peppers are just coming into fruit but have a long way to go; first toms are on the point of turning and thankfully, still no sign of blight.  Since I (brilliantly) managed to mix up my toms and can't be sure whats what, I'm experimenting with not pinching out what I think are indeterminate growers and stopping the side shoots after the first truss.  In theory this should work as long as I keep the trusses down to a manageable number, but as ever in gardening, we shall see....   
Early spuds seem inclined to break up on boiling - even the waxy ones and I wonder if this has anything to with the rainfall pattern this year.  They taste fine but have a slightly granular texture raw - will have to ask Alan Romans THE authority on all things solanum tuberosum.

Surely you have a green house already, marty?

On my local Freecycle - would anyone like the following for their garden?

OFFER: Barrel of Bees!

We have a blue plastic barrel with lid (I think originally a water
butt with holes drilled in) which has amongst the old grass cuttings
inside it, a lot of bees! I know nothing about bees really - they are
not bumble bees, and they are definitely bees not wasps.

I haven't investigated very far into the grass cuttings, but could see
some yellow bubble like structure / eggs and lots and lots of bees! A
little like the photo I have taken from the internet and put in my
photo file 'Becky's stuff'.

Being a little afraid of angering them, and not wanting them in our
garden near our toddler and baby, I was going to pop the barrel in a
big sack and take it to the tip, but thought I'd see if there are any
apiarists? (bee enthusiasts) out there who would like to adopt them!

Sounds interesting! I'll look out for the TAKEN post...

None so far...Maybe if I mention bees, bee-keeping, hives and honey again they will...
I wouldn't fancy transporting those bees home in my car!

MJ, great Bee story.

Must say, I have not seen many bees in our garden this year; most of our flowers were ruined by the rain.


I've taken an interest in 'weeds' this year, some unusual 'weeds' have appeared in the garden, and in the gravel path at one of my customers, so I've rescued a few from the weedkiller and potted them up. I've identified a few as 'wildflowers' (which is what weeds are, eh) but a few remain unidentified, waiting for them to flower. The little collection looks a bit frail and straggly at the moment, I may post some photos later, and I might even make a little 'meadow' for them in a corner of the garden 


John

Careful George. You know what happened to me the last time you went into bee mode ....