I'm still experimenting to see what I can grow around my new house. We have a once-wooded area that the builders covered with about 6 inches of chopped wood mulch. It has the best sun on our property so I have been clearing the mulch away and amending the miserably rocky soil bit by bit and putting in flowers there. Daffodils did very well this spring and the perennials I planted have survived for over a month, but slugs have destroyed all the marigolds and salvia I planted--stripped the marigolds of leaves and put big holes in the salvia leaves They've also seem to have eaten the summer bulbs I planted.
I've read up on slugs online and since we're on the edge of a large forest and the ground is quite damp at this time of year, I think I'm going to have to live with them and plant things they won't eat. The fun is going to go out of gardening very fast if I have to collect slugs every morning. Trouble is, when it comes to things they won't eat, I don't really know what they are, and buying flat after flat to find out gets expensive.
So far, they have left the verbena and alyssum alone. It is too soon to tell if they will leave alone the portulaca and the impatiens that I planted in shadowy areas. I really want something that is bright and colorful and can be seen from a distance. Any one have any suggestions? I'm in Western Massachusetts right on the border of VT.
-- Jenny