What a race!

I don't have a very big garden!  Actually it's not really a garden at all.  Just some decking surrounded by narrow flowerbeds and a few pots scattered around.  But it's my little domain and refuge, and I like to keep it nice.  I like planting stuff, digging with a spade is good therapy, or simply getting stuck in with your bare hands is also very therapeutic and rewarding.  And it's great to watch the results grow, literally!

But for years I have had to share my little plot with some of the other creatures on this earth!  Ugly one's that leave a slimy trail behind them.  And they eat all the nice stuff that I plant. Apologies to all slug and snail lovers.  But, lets call a spade a spade (ha!) and live with the fact that, snails are ugly - in my opinion, and a nuisance - in most gardeners opinion!  We have a constant battle for domination, which every year I lose! 

So today I noticed an article in the newspaper about snails and I thought, before reading it, great, this will give me loads of useful tips on how to eradicate them or at least, keep the creatures at bay!  Well, to my dismay, that wasn't the case.  It just told me some interesting facts about how they have great homing senses (that must be how they keep coming back after I throw them over next doors wall!) and how they have amazing reproduction skills (yes, that is very evident by their increasing numbers in my garden!) and how they are very hard to destroy (eh...like I didn't know that already!). 

But I also learned a very interesting fact!  There are annual World Snail Racing Championships!  Yes, you read that right, and they even have their own web site http://www.snailracing.net/!  I'm lost for words.

I am going home this evening to check out that website and look upon my snail community with renewed interest and perhaps some respect.  I might even think about planting some nice leafy plants to encourage them in!!  If I play my cards right and look after them, we could, at last, have an Irish World Champion on our hands!

Maybe I should give them names, any suggestions?  How about "Winning streak", or "Slime your man"...

I better go round and pick up all those slug and snail pellets I put down last night......I hope I'm not too late....