Ask Mavis – Slugs and Bloated Chickens and Sun-Loving Vegetables, Oh My!

It’s that time again. You ask, and I pretend to know things and answer your burning questions. It really is so much fun to open my inbox and see the wide variety of questions you guys have. Reminds me that my readers are so diverse and pretty dang awesome. So keep those questions coming and I’ll keep racking my brain for answers.

Mavis – How do you keep snails and slugs out of your garden and not put your four-leggers and two-leggers risk with poisonous snail baits etc. ???? We recently moved to Oregon and the slugs here are what I call “Quarter Pounders” because they are huge! Help!

~Alba

The key to treating slugs organically {in my opinion} is catching them early. There are a couple of different methods you can try. First up: beer. Not for you as a coping mechanism, but for the slugs. They love the fermented yeast in the beer and will make their way into the beer where they will eventually drown. {If you aren’t into purchasing alcohol, no worries, you can use non-alcoholic beer.} Just take the can, a shallow yogurt cup or something like it {a kid’s to-go applesauce would work great} and stick it into the pallets, level with the strawberries. Fill the container with beer and check it in the morning. You should have dead-as-a-door-nail slugs floating in it. You can see more options HERE.

Hi! Just curious about your yardsale items? Since I can’t come from the east coast, I wonder what shipping would cost and if you would consider it? I like the white dishes and glass jars you’ve posted! Thanks.

~Dawn

Because I’ve been inundated with emails and requests about purchasing some of the items I was planning to sell, I’ve decided the only fair way to handle it {and to keep it from becoming a logistical nightmare} is to put everything out in the yard sale as originally planned. It will be a first come, first serve sale so unfortunately I won’t be shipping anything. Thanks for being wiling to help me out though. I appreciate it and you.

I have been looking for a recipe for BBQ sauce, now how do I make it without the brown sugar???? Any suggestions? Would like to use stevia, I’m on a low carb diet.

~Tracy L.

That is a tricky one. You can use my Quick and Easy BBQ Sauce Recipe, but you’ll have to sub in a bulk item since the consistency will be off if you just use stevia. I’ve never made it this way, but you can try replacing the brown sugar with plain yogurt and add some stevia drops, but that’s going to change the recipe completely. You’re better off using an actual crystallized sugar substitute and trying it that way. Hope that helps.

I thought you would be appreciate this. The free feast, dubbed Feeding the 5,000 Vancouver, used food donated by local grocers because it was too misshapen or too close to its best-before date to sell in stores. All of the ingredients were safe to eat, noted Elaine Cheng, one of the organizers.

~ Kirsten

That is the coolest thing ever! You know how I’m pretty passionate about food waste. I so wish more cities would look at this success and take note. Look how many people they feed with “waste.” Thank you so much for sharing!

Hi Mavis! I love your blog, it’s been my go to every time I add a new veggie to my garden. Recently I have started to add some raised beds to my backyard, and I already have a garden. Here’s my question, the backyard gets full sun, however it’s at different times of the day. Are there veggies that do better in afternoon sun, and others in morning sun? I know this is true for flowers, but what about veggies? Thank you!!

~Megan from Michigan

For the most part, any plant that requires a lot of sun prefers morning sun. Your veggies can still grow fine in afternoon sun, but I’ve found they are just happier in morning sun. As far as overall sun needs, here are a few helpful guidelines. Leafy vegetables, such as lettuce and spinach, will tolerate the most shade. Root vegetables, such as carrots, radishes, beets and parsnips, need a half day of sunshine, morning or afternoon. Vegetables, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, beans and squash need a full day of sun. Corn also benefits from full sun. A full day is about 8-10 hours.
I don’t have any chickens anymore, miss living in the country!  A few years back my friend and I were gardening together and keeping chickens.  We thought we killed them all one morning when we found them bloated and unable to walk upright.  They were on their sides thrashing around clucking furiously.  We called the vet and he asked what we fed them the prior day.  We had their regular food, plus garden waste.  We had just torn out all the broccoli and cauliflower plants at the end of their cycle.  We tossed all those stalks, roots and everything into the chicken pens.  We had done that with tomatoes, squash, corn, you name it prior to that morning with no problems.  The chickens normally loved it.  The Brassica family will make the chickens gassy and bloated for at least a day.  The vet said to toss that stuff in the compost bin next time.

~Jan from Roseville, CA

That is so odd. I fed my chickens broccoli and cauliflower scraps for years without any issues. I asked around to my chicken friend community and they have also all fed their chickens foods from the Brassica family and their chickens haven’t ever had that issue. I’m wondering if there was some issue with the particular broccoli they were fed. Was it possibly moldy? I’m not sure what happened but that certainly would have freaked me out!