Slug Solutions: Chemical-free Ways to Deal with Slugs

 

Ask any gardener which pest they fear the most and the answer will probably be slugs! A few slugs can ruin a healthy plant in just a few hours and are notoriously difficult to get rid of. There are of course, plenty of chemical products and slug pellets available but you might be reluctant to use these, particularly if you like to let young children help with the gardening, or if you have pets. So if you’re looking for a chemical-free way to deal with slugs, what are your options? Well, here are few ideas to try:

 

Create a Trap
By creating a trap using things that slugs are naturally attracted to you may be able to capture them and keep them away from your plants. You can use fruit or pet food to entice slugs to a specific area of your garden and then simply scoop them up and throw them away. Alternatively, a popular trapping method is to create a beer trap as slugs love beer! Simply dig a hole in the ground and place a bowl or cup in the hole so that the rim is roughly level with the soil. Then fill the cup three-quarters full of beer. Leave overnight and the next day you should find that the slugs have drowned in the beer.

 

Copper Tape
Copper tape gives slugs an electric shock so it’s ideal for wrapping around outdoor pots.

 

Gritty Textures
Snails love smooth surfaces so if you can make the area around your plants unpleasant for wandering slugs, they are less likely to give you bother. Grit, gravel, crushed eggshells or even coffee grounds will all create a rough texture that slugs hate.

 

Salt Warning

You may have heard that salt will kill slugs and whilst this is true, don’t be tempted to put salt in your garden as it will spoil the fine balance of the soil. Instead, you can use a bucket of salty water to discard your captured slugs.

 

Deterrent Plants

There are a number of plants which are thought to deter slugs from the garden and so you could try planting some of these and see if it keeps the slugs away. Plants that slugs are said to hate include ginger, garlic, chives and mint.

 

Citrus Fruits
Next time you eat an orange or grapefruit, keep hold of the peel as it makes an excellent slug trap. Half a grapefruit with the flesh removed works particularly well. Place the rind from citrus fruits on the surface of the compost around vulnerable plants and leave overnight. The slugs will be attracted to the rinds and will congregate underneath – they particularly like to hide underneath when the sun comes up. Then simply check your citrus traps and dispose of the slugs.

 

Night-time Manoeuvres
After dark is the time that slugs love the most so a simple but effective way to capture slugs is simply to head out at night with a torch. Take a stroll around your plants and pick off the slugs before they have chance to do too much damage.

 

For more advice about chemical-free gardening, visit: www.organicgardening.com

Categories: beer, chemical free, citrus fruits, copper tape, leave overnight, nbsp, plants, slugs, slugs nbsp

Beer Benefits: Why a Pint a Day Keeps Health Problems at Bay

If you’re a man looking to lose a few pounds or just enhance his overall wellness, you might consider – heaven forbid – cutting out beer. There’s a reason why they call it a beer belly, but could you be doing more harm than good to your wellbeing by eliminating beer from your diet? According to wellness writer Dustin Driver, ‘It turns out that beer and fitness really do go hand-in-hand, despite the beverage’s bad reputation (beer bellies, dehydration, public drunkenness, bar brawls, frat boys, etc.). The delicious brew is chock-full of natural antioxidants and vitamins that can prevent heart disease and even help rebuild muscle.’ So which beers can actually be good for you?

 

‘When it comes to health, some beers are better than others,’ notes Driver. ‘Generally, dark beers pack more of an antioxidant punch than light beers (antioxidants help reverse the cellular damage caused by oxidizing compounds that naturally occur in your body). Researchers at the University of Washington, bless their souls, found that dark beers —specifically Guinness — had greater health benefits than light lagers…Microbrews also tend to harbour more of the good stuff than mass-produced brews. For example, Men’s Health found that Avery Maharaja Imperial India Pale Ale contains 80 times the hops of big-brand lagers. Hops contain polyphenols, compounds that help lower cholesterol, fight cancer and kill viruses.’ So what health benefits can you gain from sipping on a nice pint?

 

1. Energy: ‘Ounce-for-ounce, beer has one of the highest energy contents of any food or drink,’ says Driver. ‘Only pure fat can top it. So keep that in mind when you guzzle three or four at the local pub. Your average beer has about 120 calories, and four have as many calories as a Big Mac. That many calories can have dire consequences if you’re trying to lose weight. One beer after work probably won’t tip the scales in either direction, though.  Drink beer in moderation and you won’t hold on to all those extra calories. If you’re looking for an energy boost, beer is definitely not the answer. Alcohol is pure caloric fuel, but it does funny (and fun) things to your physiology — it makes you tired and sluggish. Beer and fitness do complement one another — as long as you’re not trying to enjoy both at once.’

 

2. Recovery: ‘Work your muscles and they’ll start to fall apart,’ Driver points out. ‘Your body rebuilds them, makes them stronger and gets them ready to face the next workout. Protein, carbs, vitamins, and specifically antioxidants help put things back together. The latest research has found that beer has almost as many antioxidants as red wine, which is saying something. So how do beer and fitness go together at the recovery stage? A dark beer a few hours after a workout can deliver a good dose of antioxidants. Still, you’ll probably want to reach for water and a healthy snack — like fruit and yogurt — immediately following your routine at the gym.’

 

3. Hydration: Driver details, ‘Researchers at the GranadaUniversity in Spain have found that beer can provide better hydration than water in some instances, like after a workout. Professor Manuel Garzon, the head of this study on beer and fitness, asked students to sweat it out in 104°F weather. Then he gave half of the students water and the other half beer. He found that the students who had a pint were slightly more hydrated.  So does this mean that you should slam a cold one after a run? Probably not. While beer is 93% water and appears to hydrate you better than H2O alone, it’s not the best thing after exercise. Drink water and have a piece of fruit instead. However, don’t pass up a pint the night before a big workout for fear of dehydration — seems that some beer won’t dry you out as much as you thought.’

Categories: Antioxidants, beer, beers, driver, Health Benefits, recovery, Water

The Best Ways To Get Your Stomach In Shape

What do you think is the most common thing people want to improve about their body? Many people will love to have better hair or longer legs or stronger arms. But probably for most people asked, the answer would be that they would love to have a flat stomach. There is just something about the toned abdomen that is so visually appealing to people. They would love to have a stomach that does straight down instead of curving into a bump. So given that this is something that almost everyone would love to have, why do so many people fail in their attempts to achieve it?

 

Well, part of the problem is the way in which human beings store fat. We all need fat to survive, but the moment that we get any excess, in accumulates around our mid-section first. This means that the first place to suffer if you’ve ingested more fat than you should have is your stomach. That means it can be very difficult to get a flat stomach in the first place, but even harder to try to maintain it. But that does not mean that all is lost and that there is no way for you to achieve that flat stomach that you’re looking for. It just means to you need to know the right tips and tricks if you are going to succeed.

 

Interestingly, it is also true that having a flat stomach is good for you in more ways that just it means you’ll look the way that you want to. Indeed a recent study has shown that focussing on yours abs and stomach can help to reduce your risk of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. So clearly even if you don’t want a flat stomach for the cosmetic reasons, it really is something you should do for the good of your health.

 

So with that in mind we’ve come up with some great tips to help you avoid stomach fat and stay slim around your midriff. The number one on our list is that you should avoid drinking beer. We’ve all heard of the phrase ‘beer belly’ and it’s more than just a stupid cliché. Beer is surprisingly heavy on the calorie side of things and drinking lots of beer is simply empty calories that you’ll never use because you’re sitting in a pub, a bar or just at home. So definitely avoid beer if you want to slim down.

 

The second tip on our list is that you should start eating more blueberries. Blueberries are a superfood that is full of a fantastic range of vitamins and minerals perfect for keeping you feeling full for as long as possible. These will stop you from gaining because you will be getting so many of the vital vitamins and minerals you need from them.

 

Unsurprisingly we would also recommend that you do more crunches if you wish to strength your stomach muscles. When it comes to improving your abs there really is nothing better to do that the simple crunch. So you should start doing them and you will soon see some impressive moves forward in your dream of a toned stomach.

 

Finally, we would recommend eating more eggs. Eggs are a great source of protein but that have very little fat in them, so in this sense that are very good for you because they keep you filled up for longer without making you put on any weight and thus increasing the level of fat that begins to build up around your midriff.

Categories: beer, blueberries, flat, Flat Stomach, nbsp, people, Slim, stomacb, stomach