Is the moat leaking? Has the hot sun evaporated all the water? Has it subsided at one corner, leaving the opposite corner dry? Have wilting leaves bridged the barrier? Are there actually slugs and snails trapped inside the perimeter? Has a heron taken the goldfish? These are some of the worries of the carrot castellan.
Snail-racing is an old Scarthin tradition. As snails ( and slugs) are difficult to direct, we race then outwards form the centre of a sort of "Darts Board" with successive circles at 10, 15, 25 cms. etc. The fit snail can easily manange 10cms. per minute from a slimey start, getting up to a maximum speed of some 15cms. per minute. In our garden, where no vegetable bed is as much as three metres, ten feet , from the neasrest crannied dry-stone wall, the predatory slimeys meet in the middle soon after dark has fallen on a humid night. Many crops - peas, runner beans and beetroot - are badly set back, some - carrots and courgettes - are munched down to the ground in their infancy.
to be continued