It rained today. We went to IKEA to look for wardrobes for our bedroom. By the time we got home again, the rain had stopped, and it looked like all the slugs and snails in the garden had come out to enjoy the moisture. They were everywhere. Ingrid and I went out slug picking. We kept count: she because I pay her per picked slug, and I because I was curious. Our combined total was a mind-boggling 281 slugs.

I don’t want to honour those marauding bastards with any photos so here is a shot of its less annoying cousin, the grove snail (parksnäcka, Cepaea nemoralis). Although some people on the internet say that these snails also eat live plants and not just dead plant material, so who knows, maybe I should be picking these as well. They are also very numerous.

Because of the slugs and snails, we are not getting a single carrot or broccoli this year and probably no peas either. The carrot and broccoli seedlings grew to a few centimetres’ height and then vanished overnight, one by one. At that stage they were far too small for deer to bother eating them so it’s got to be the work of the molluscs. If I had lots of time, I’d protect the seedlings, but I don’t. Maybe another year. This year I guess I’ll just enjoy my tomatoes.