I hope I'm not hijacking this thread, but I have some related questions.

We have terrible clay soil in our backyard here in southern wisconsin.
Last fall, I prepped the new garden beds with shredded leaves and marsh hay in a lasagna style. There was a lot of intact leaves in the spring, but I used compost and worked it into the leaves/soil and ended up with a fairly decent harvest for our first garden ever. However, our cool wet spring led to a mass of slugs that nearly destroyed my seedlings.
The whole garden was mulched in marsh hay, which kept the weeds at bay, and kept the soil moist, but I think contributed to my slug problem.

My question is, this fall, should I lasagna mulch again with leaves and hay and risk overwintering more slug eggs and pests?
Or should I leave the soil barren to freeze solid, and then use the leaves and/or hay to mulch in the early spring before planting?

I'm so torn! The mulching definitely keep my soil more alive with worms and good things, but I'm worried about allowing pests to overwinter.

Your lasagna appears to have only one ingredient, hay. That is a carbon. If you add a layer of nitrogen, like coffee grounds and chicken manure, it will speed decomposition and heat up your layers. Fewer bugs. also I think the coffee grounds deter ants.

That makes sense. There is some lawn clippings mixed in with the leaves from the shredding process, but I will try o get some more green material. Last year I had a little bit of chicken manure from a friend but I won't be able to get any this year. I'll see if I can find some coffee grounds.

ReesaAnne said:I hope I'm not hijacking this thread, but I have some related questions.

We have terrible clay soil in our backyard here in southern wisconsin.
Last fall, I prepped the new garden beds with shredded leaves and marsh hay in a lasagna style. There was a lot of intact leaves in the spring, but I used compost and worked it into the leaves/soil and ended up with a fairly decent harvest for our first garden ever. However, our cool wet spring led to a mass of slugs that nearly destroyed my seedlings.
The whole garden was mulched in marsh hay, which kept the weeds at bay, and kept the soil moist, but I think contributed to my slug problem.

My question is, this fall, should I lasagna mulch again with leaves and hay and risk overwintering more slug eggs and pests?
Or should I leave the soil barren to freeze solid, and then use the leaves and/or hay to mulch in the early spring before planting?

I'm so torn! The mulching definitely keep my soil more alive with worms and good things, but I'm worried about allowing pests to overwinter.

Welcome to ATP.

I think it is always a good thing when the earthworms come and help break down any organics such as straw or leaves. I use both all the time and as much as I can.

Ok, you've convinced me that I need to mulch my beds now instead of waiting until spring. The 70deg weather this weeks is saying the same thing.
I think I'll mix some shredded leaves with alfalfa pellets (or coffee grounds if I can find some for free), and mix that into the top 1-2" of soil on each of the beds and then cover everything with marsh hay.

That sounds like a great way to improve the soil and be ready for spring.

I had a wacky idea for discouraging slugs in a raised bed ... I haven't even tried it yet.

I was thinking of putting a low hoop tunnel over the bed when winter gets warm enough that the plastic would thaw the bed and wake up any slugs. Maybe put beer saucers and some iron phosphate slug bait in the bed.

After giving the slugs a week or so to thaw and wake and drown, I would take the plastic away and let it freeze solid again, hopefully killing more slugs.

However, even if this turned out to be very effective, all it would do is create one small slug-free hole in the middle of your neighborhood. That would give you one, maybe two days of slug-less-ness before enough slugs wandered in from next door to make the effort futile.

"sluglessness" -- we should propose that as a new dictionary entry... "a state of euphoria due to a gardener finding not even one slug, nor any slug damage to plants, in any of his or her gardens."

How about "Slugless In Seattle"?

It hasn't happened yet, ever, but who knows? Climate change or rising oceans might accomplish what gardeners can't do on their own.

Like, anchor a buoy in your yard so that when the ocean covers it, the buoy will float and announce "Well, at least I don't have slugs any more."

Unless, of course, you then have sea slugs...

I guess my chickens take care of most of my slugs, I just don't have a problem with them.

tveguy3 said:I guess my chickens take care of most of my slugs, I just don't have a problem with them.

Wish I could do that!

Ah ha! Another argument that I can use in favor of getting some chickens!! And someone had an ad in our newspaper tonight, selling some Buff Orpington laying hens and roosters...

Weedwhacker said:Ah ha! Another argument that I can use in favor of getting some chickens!! And someone had an ad in our newspaper tonight, selling some Buff Orpington laying hens and roosters...

Oh yes, get chickens!

I really, really want to, Rita (I did have chickens long, long ago - in what I refer to as my former life ) -- but the collies and cats are bad enough in terms of ever being able to leave home (I don't think our kennel accommodates chickens), which really wouldn't bother me but DH seems to think we should go off on vacation every now and then

Weedwhacker said:I really, really want to, Rita (I did have chickens long, long ago - in what I refer to as my former life ) -- but the collies and cats are bad enough in terms of ever being able to leave home (I don't think our kennel accommodates chickens), which really wouldn't bother me but DH seems to think we should go off on vacation every now and then

I see your point.

I would have them if I could. Illegal in our town limits. Bummer. Vacations not a problem for me as I never go anywhere.

I prepped some of my garden beds today, and I'm glad I didn't let my fear of slugs stop me from mulching; the soil looks happier already :)

I think the mulch will break down better this year than last because I was able to shred the leaves smaller with my mower, and the added alfalfa pellets and coffee grounds should help balance it better. Is there such a thing as too much mulch? I was thinking 4"-6" of the leaves/pellets/coffee mixture above the soil, then 1-2" of marsh hay.

Already I can tell that my clay soil has improved since last year with the mulching I did previously. yay for organic material!

I wish I could have chickens, but I'm not sure our landlord would allow it.
I'm wondering where I could go looking for toads to put into the garden to eat the slugs the fencing around the outside is too small to let them in.

The city near me just finally approved chickens after many attempts.

I wish the town here would approve them. Not Roosters but should be allowed to have some hens.

I had heard that ducks are better at editing slugs without damaging your crop than chickens. And chickens are good for winter and the initial spring cleanup but can damage your produce if left to roam free in your vegetable garden during the growing season. DD's chickens like to sample every tomato within reach.