Finally, a morning that dawned clear, cool, and moist.
Tired of being holed up wherever it is they hole up during the dry weather, the gastropods came out to play.
They were not, as it turns out, waiting in the new gastropod shelters we put up Sunday. Instead, they seemed quite content frolicking among our “ground cover” plants — the lemon thyme, the violets, and the edges of our wee patch of lawn.
It’s actually somewhat frustrating, living in the land of perpetual drought (and yeah, I know it’s not so much that there’s less water than normal as that there are too many people using too much of that water) that planting a drought-tolerant garden amounts to planting a gastropod-friendly garden. The plants that grow lushly without much water do a great job of catching dew — and thus, of providing cool, moist places for slugs and snails to spend their mornings.
But at least it means I know where to hunt for my slimy prey.
It was cool but not finger-chilling cold. There were about a dozen high-altitude snails. The rest were at ground level.
Today’s take: 151 slugs and 56 snails.
I take great comfort in these reports — because if you think you’ve got perpetual drought, try central Arizona. The compensating comfort is that it’s too freaking dry for gastropods (not that there are all that many which enjoy 45C temperatures.)
Grilled squash and eggplant this weekend, the peppers are coming along nicely, the tomatillos haven’t set fruit yet and the tomatoes are plentiful but not ripe.
Bon Appetit!