Wormery kit, olla, and slug trap

The olla is a microporous clay pot that you bury among the plants and fill with water. The water seeps through the wall by capillary action and moistens the soil around it, so the roots draw from it continuously. You water less often, and your plants cope better between waterings. It holds 0.5 litres, with a diameter of 12 cm and a height of 18 cm, so it fits in an indoor flowerpot as well as in an outdoor planter. The article on olla watering explains how it works.

Before first use, leave the olla to soak overnight in a basin of water: the terracotta soaks up water, and the diffusion lasts longer from the very first filling. Buried near the roots, with the neck above ground for filling, it releases its contents over about 36 hours, a duration that varies with the heat, the needs of the plants and the age of the olla. The limescale in tap water gradually blocks the pores of the wall, so diffusion slows over the years; an olla that has become too watertight should be dug up and descaled with vinegar. Before going away for a few days, you can extend the diffusion by inserting a glass bottle filled with water into the neck, provided you bury the olla deeply enough that the bottle does not tip over.

The trap holds about 0.75 litre of beer, whose smell, that of the hops in particular, draws slugs and snails from a radius of around 4 metres; as they crawl in, they drown. Enamelled and closed with its lid, it stops rain from diluting the beer, which therefore lasts 5 days without being topped up, and it is designed so that hedgehogs can reach neither the beer nor the drowned gastropods. Place it outside the growing area, to draw slugs away from your young plants: one trap covers about 10 m², and two traps set on either side of a vegetable bed cover around twenty. Once it is full, tip the contents onto the compost heap, then refill it. Its enamel does not tolerate frost, however: store the trap in a dry, frost-free place over winter.

The Compostino spends the winter in the ground: it has withstood several days of hard frost without damage, down to -7 °C for 3 days, thanks to its sturdy lid and unglazed clay, and a layer of mulch is enough to protect it in a region with harsh winters. You do not have to dig it up to harvest, since its compost already feeds the neighbouring roots; if you want to collect the compost, an opening at the bottom lets you take it out once a year, in spring, before replanting.

The set contains the 2-litre Compostino worm composter with its lid and its sachet of sawdust, the 0.5-litre olla with its lid, and the glazed slug trap with its own lid, along with their instructions for use. The olla and the trap are shaped in Alsace, from clay taken from a local quarry and with no chemical additives, and the set is designed in Haguenau. If you would like several traps around the same bed, the slug trap can also be ordered individually, and the annual accessory pack supplies the sawdust for the following years.