This means war!

I am officially declaring war on the snails trying to attack my garden. Initially when I planted my garden about, I tried to give them a chance hoping they would not harm my plants. But lately I've been noticing holes in a couple plants. 

My poor basil plant being eaten away

Today I discovered two snails on my plants eating away and learned that my assumption of peace was wrong. So now I bust out the salt and will do all I can to protect my little plants. Matt helped me with my war strategy and I have decided to begin the war with two simple tactics - one is lining the outside of my garden with salt, the other is creating my own pests traps consisting of planting plastic cups throughout the garden holding milk or yeast. Supposedly the milk and yeast will attract pests and will trap them in my cups for me to destroy (or move to somewhere else for those with weak dispositions). 

I wish it didn't have to be this way but alas, the snails have chewed on my plants for the last time. Hopefully those are the only pests I have to battle with.

Below is a picture of my garden, complete with six homemade traps, just about two months after planting.

My first sign of real life - my tomatoes

The other problem I am running into is overcrowding in one area. My cucumber plant and squash are overtaking my little pea shoots and my basil plant. Check out the pictures below for evidence. Any advice would be appreciated on how I can fix this.

Cucumber plant on left the small stem plants in the middle are two pea shoots completely knocked over because of the cucumber.

Closer views of the peas and cucumber

Squash plant overshadowing my basil

My cilantro bush is also battling the squash but I'm not as worried about it and it seems sturdy enough to fight back.

Here is a before and after comparison of my garden today compared to my planting in May:

BEFORE: My garden in May

AFTER: the right side of my garden today

The left side of my garden today with my thriving tomato plant

As you can see, the strawberry plant in the middle of my garden has not changed much. I did notice a new shoot today though so it may just be a late bloomer. Someone told me these plants spread so I gave this a lot of room which look silly now.

As you can see my plants are really growing and I could not be happier! But now I have to figure out how to keep them alive and producing! It's like a part-time job.