Sharp-Tailed Slug Eating Snake

Sample Photo of a Sharp-Tailed Snake

A few years ago, I had the good fortune to come across the endangered sharp-tailed snake while hiking through the Berkeley hills. It was about 5 or 6 inches long and about as thick as a pencil. It caught my eye because although it looked like a worm, it was moving gracefully like a snake. When I took a closer look, I saw its cute, tiny tongue sticking out and confirmed it was a snake.

Later I learned that these snakes only eat slugs or slug eggs. How amazing is that?! I wish I had these little guys in my garden to help control the slug population in my garden.

Emerging Hosta leaves

Last fall slugs or snails stripped my lush hosta plant of all of its leaves overnight. I thought I had lost the entire plant, but yesterday I discovered the first signs of life since the incident.

Worms in my Pots

One of the worms I found today

I was pleasantly surprised to find a couple of worms hanging around my plants today. I hope they work their way into my pots and decide to stay.

Benefits of Having Worms in Your Garden:

• Worms eat decomposing organic materials and/or raw dirt, and produce "worm castings." Worm castings is another term for worm manure or worm excrement. The castings are dark and granular like soil, and are rich in nutrients that are easily digested by plants.
• Worms help aerate the soil.
• Worms improve drainage.

Dahlia Bulbs

White Dahlia Bulbs

In 2006 I planted a Dahlia seed. By the end of that growing season, the seed had grown into a 1" by 1/4" bulb. When I pulled up my bulbs today, I was amazed to find 8 new "baby" bulbs. The mother bulb is about 3" long, and the baby bulbs are anywhere from 1/2" to 2". You can see a photo of the Dahlia bulbs above. I had gently pulled away the 8 baby bulbs from the mother bulb to replant them in new pots.