Living with Snails

The Micro-Farm has shown an impressive display of snails this Spring.  The heavy rains and super-sized Hairy Vetch ground cover, provided a wonderful breeding ground and all you can eat buffet.   The first rainy evening of the snail invasion, I counted ten Chocolate-Banded Snails within a four or five square foot area.  I was in awe of these tiny garden creatures, as they munched away on last years rotten pepper plants and fading Hairy Vetch tendrils.  These were the preferred mollusks of my childhood. They rated right up there with the ditch tadpoles that I collected in Mason jars in order to witness their toad-let transformation up close.

My admiration of the little beasts faded after only a few days.  It was time to put the seedlings into the ground- Marigolds, Calendulas,  Morning Glorys,  and a few nameless others that had lost their haphazard labels.  Most of my little seedlings didn’t last more than a week.  Every morning, I’d find two or three more sprouts taken by the snails.  I didn’t understand it- I had the seedling trays right next to where I planted them and before the seedlings were in the ground, the snails didn't touch them.  I had even seen snails and snail trails in the seedling trays, but they didn’t seem to want to eat the seedlings until the plants were in the ground.  Well, in all fairness, I cannot solely blame the snails. My  kitties were also responsible for ten seedling deaths.  As soon as dirt went into the raised beds, the kitties claimed them as camouflaged hunting grounds and litter boxes.  Where I planted the Calendulas- the cats repeatedly dug them up until dead.  I now have a handy collection of sticks to shove in the ground to create a fortress around my next set of sprouts.

                        Snails don't have ears but instead use their bottom set of tentacles 

                         to pick up sound vibrations in the air.

I didn’t have the heart to kill any of the snails at the Micro Farm. In fact, while I was taking pictures of them, I accidently crushed one and I felt absolutely horrible.  I did, however, research future tactics in snail/slug control.  Next Spring, I will be armed with barriers to protect my new seedlings such as: coffee, eggshells, sawdust, or fine coarse rock.  Strips of foil and copper could also be used.  There are two theories on copper.  Either copper carries a charge that the snails don’t like and they are repelled by it, and/or it oxidizes into several types of salts, which dehydrate the snails. 

Of course, there are also plants that I could interplant the seedlings with.  Plants that may repel snails and slugs include:

• Garlic
• Lavender
• Wormwood
• Thymes
• Sage
• Stinging nettles
• Borage- Shown on left
• Older marrows, squash or cucumber
• Geraniums
• Mint
• Lemon balm
• Tansy
• Hyssop

There is also the predator route of snail control- hedgehogs, large frogs, centipedes, blue jays, owls, ducks, nematodes (Heterorhabditis marelatus), and my vary favorite slug and snail eater – CHICKENS. 

Isis the Hen

My chickens ate the snail I accidently crushed, but I couldn’t bring myself to just pluck the snails off one by one and send them to their death by ravenous hens.


I did a little searching on escargot.  It seems that snail farming could have been an easy personal side project if it wasn’t for this upcoming drought Central Texas is entering in to again.  The Chocolate-Banded Snail, Eobania vermiculata lives in Central and Southestern Texas and is related to the Garden snail- both can be used for escargot.  There are tight state regulations on snail production and a limited Texas market, and I don’t think I could eat something that I’ve raised (even a snail). I thought of having a whole snail set up in a box just to watch them- like my tadpoles.  I’d keep the snail box next to my worm box.

Snails have primitive eyes (referred to as 'eyespots') that are located on the tips of their upper, longer pair of tentacles. Snails don't see in the same way we do. Their eyes are less complex and provide them with a general sense of light and dark in their surroundings. The short tentacles located on a snail's head are very sensitive to touch sensations and are used to help the snail build a picture of its environment based on feeling nearby objects.

The Spring Garden

The all too short Spring Garden is always my favorite in Austin. Waiting in anticipation for the first rose bud, the first poppy bloom, the first fig leaflet- and just as the fig tree has fully leafed out- it's time for the grueling Texas heat. We prepared for Summer this year. We installed wonderful rain barrels from Austin Green Water. So far- in this El Nino Spring, I can't use the water fast enough!

The transition from Winter to Spring is always a tricky one at my house. The garden spaces are strategically positioned between 50 year old Sycamores and a lone giant Pecan tree. No garden plot receives full sun. The North Garden is home to the Sun Lovers - Tomatoes, Peppers, Cucumbers, and Summer flowers. Not a drop of Winter Sun reaches the North Garden's soil, thanks to my house casting shadow during the Sun's low Zenith. Plants often get a slow start here. My new Bailey's Red Rose is currently getting only a few hours of morning sun before the house and the large Sycamore shadow it. So far, the Bailey's red Rose has had only two blooms- but that will change as the Sun reaches higher in the sky.

California Poppy

The West Garden, or Backyard Garden, or Winter Garden is home to Winter and Spring Greens- Arugula, Kale, Chard, and Herbs. For about two months, February and March, this garden gets wonderful Sun and the Greens burst forth with crazy tidings. In April, the three 40+ ft trees encircling the little garden start to leaf out- stealing the garden's show.

Arugula Blooms

The most prominent species in the Spring Garden is the beautiful 'crop cover' Hairy Vetch. I planted the Hairy Vetch early last spring with a Vetch inoculant and let the lovely flowers go to seed. Well, it reseeded itself and puts on another lovely- yet wild and a bit overgrown show this year. The bees absolutely love it and so do the night time pollinators- moths and the like.

Bee on Hairy Vetch

You cannot go wrong with this plant. It's a nitrogen fixer if inoculated, a pollinator feeder, it puts on a show of delicate blooms that lasts for a few months, and is a great mulch for the incoming tomatoes!

Hairy Vetch

I plant my tomatoes and peppers right in the Vetch. I clear a spot large enough for the transplant and am sure to use a tomato cage for peppers and tomatoes alike- that way I am sure to not loose them in the Vetch. There is a little Vetch maintenance involved with this method- the Vetch tendrils tend to affix themselves to anything- especially tomato cages.

Tomato in Vetch

I love the Vetch even though it is a bit invasive and needs to encroach on another's space. The Vetch spills over the sides of the raised beds, onto the ground, and into the neighboring raised bed a foot and a half away. In the picture below, it looks as if the Yarrow and Vetch are planted in the same bed. I don't mind this temporary invasion- once the short Austin Spring warms to near Summer temperatures, the Vetch will turn to seed and it's tendrils and leaves will wilt into a thin layer of mulch until next year.

Vetch over taking Yarrow