Japanese painted fern

Karen, I have only ever tried growing one Fern, with no success.

Today I bought one bottle of beer, considering we are tee-total it was odd, but I'm hoping the slugs will love it. Your comment saying they are messy and unpleasant has somewhat put me off though!

You’re about to discover the ‘joys’ for yourself! I gave up and bought pellets. Then I removed all my Hostas.

I have one of these but the unrepentant sun this last few weeks has crisped it up nicely. Leaves on my acers are going the same way. Hottest day this year yesterday here at Heathrow. I'm hoping they'll all come back as they did last year after the forty degrees we had in September 23. In the last ten years I've lost more plants from the heat than in winter from the cold.

Karen, last night I placed three small containers filled with the beer ... this morning two are empty but one had six slugs in it. Easy to empty them into a plastic flowerpot over a bucket ... then they went into the brown bin. Job done!

Well done Shirley. I’m afraid I don’t do it every day, and that’s where my problems begin!

I did leave it until after my breakfast! While I was sitting outside, in the shade of the vine, a brown insect/beetle landed on the table, I knocked it off and a male Blackbird, beak full of worms, managed to fit it into his beak!

The food chain was definitely in action there ...