After hearing about poison ivy, my battles are very, very small:

this year there was
--tons of garlic mustard sprouting up everywhere--harmless but everywhere,
--I had my first red lily beetles,
--there's a lot of snails all over leaves (it's been a moist July which is rare)....that sort of thing

but honestly, while it's created some work, I'm thankful it's not something like poison ivy. Knock wood.

~Melissa in Canada
[my garden blog] [my garden art/junk]

It's always been slugs and earwigs here. This year we have a new 'kid' in town, though - our nurseries/garden centres have imported from the other side of the country - these really BIG slugs. I'm horrified and totally grossed out.

poison Ivy for me too..and I get it just by saying the word too..Japanese Beetles are worst than ever this year also.

Dee can, I've heard about those slugs just recently on CBC radio! They said they came from England to the Halifax Gardens years ago and are slowly making their slimy way around the Province! No sign of them on the South Shore as yet(knock on wood). Have you tried spraying them with 10% amonia and 90% coffee? (a tip from Tiffy in Prospect) M

Pattioh,

A few years ago my oldest son came down with a very unusual rash. It was really hit and miss over his body - a bit on his neck, his arm, a lot on his torso etc. After trying to treat it at home, we finally took him in to be examined.

Our doctor said it was poison ivy, which amazed us because none of us could determine where he had had contact with it.

We found out that dogs who are exposed to poison ivy carry it on their fur. Plus, we had spotted some poking up along our fence line, a favorite running spot for our pets.

Since both dogs like to jump into bed with our boys and snuggle up to them, it didn't take long to explain that strange, hit and miss rash!

If you have been playing with pets that may explain your exposure to poison ivy. It's nasty stuff!

Marilyn

Marilyn,
You're absolutely right about being able to get poison ivy from pets! My cousin who is not an outdoor person AT ALL kept getting it. It took a while to convice him that he was getting it from his cat! Fortunately I keep my cat indoors at all times, so no additional dangers there! I just took my THIRD shower of the day. . . found two more areas of PO. One was in my astilbe and fortunately it was in vine form there, so I was able to spot it. . . leaf shape is very like astilbe!

Melissa, sorry to hear that you have the lily leaf beetle. I'm leaving all of my lilies in Ohio when I move to Massachusetts. It has truly infested that state, and it's winging it's way west. I'd advise people in NY, etc. not to buy any new lilies. No joke.

Dee & Mora, so THAT's were the giant slugs are coming from! I used to squish the little ones with my shoe. Now the old "Fearless Fly" cartoon enters my mind and I invision one of these monsters grabbing my foot with a slimy tentacle and using a jujitsu move to fling me across the yard. I'm squishing them with a BRICK now, to be on the safe side!

Keesha, I was just congratulating myself a couple weeks ago that the JBs weren't bad at all. OMG, they have really desended on us now. I used to collect them all in a can, but now am too terrified to wade in to the middle of the garden where they're having their orgies, because of fear of getting poison ivy again! So my address is quickly turning into the JB version of Sin City. *sigh*

Patti

OMG Patti,

The JB's are so gross this year. Wondered what a brown patch in the grass was. It was a roiling, churning, (gagging) clump of JB's. They've nailed our Rose of Sharon, nut tree, wheeping cherry, mint, snow peas, beans, spirea bushes, cone flowers. DH found 3 of them in my hair when I came back from the garden. Did the creepy dance!!!!!!

After rains I check the sidewalk and sprinkle a little bit of salt on all the slimey slugs there.

We also had a lot of lightning bugs which was really fun for my GK's and the kid in me.

What a summer, georgeanne

I understand they are attracted to Rose of Sharon....many of my friends have removed the Rose of Sharon in a effort to control them. I am not willing to do that extreme measure....yet...

I have several Rose of Sharon, and my neighbor has a huge one right next to our property. So we do "JB Duty" daily where we go over to his ROS and dump all the ones we can reach into soapy water. It has made a dent. There were some days where we killed 500 easily, just on that one tree.

Other awful pests this year, other than slugs (which killed countless seedlings) have been mostly veggie pests -- especially squash vine borer. UGH! I have removed at least 80 borers from squash-type plants in the last week, and probably killed a couple of them (the plants -- I always kill the borers) in the process (not that the borers wouldn't have done that anyway; at least they didn't get to see adulthood and make more borers!)

Oh, and all those milkweed beetles. They keep trying to eat the blooms!!

:-) Mel