Slugs and snails!

Slugs are part of a garden's natural habitat, so I prefer to think about keeping the little blighters away from my plants, rather than necessarily destroying them.

With this in mind, I have learnt that regular weeding is imperative as this ensures there are less hiding places for slugs and snails. Similarly, regular picking of crops, particularly leaves, can be effective. Picking strawberries, beans etc. regularly means there is less to tempt the creepy crawlies anyway.

One of the stranger pieces of advice I have received was to think like a slug and act accordingly. A bit weird but also oddly handy. Slugs like to hang out on and in walls, so it makes sense that if you plant things near a wall, the slugs have less far to travel and are more likely to munch your crops there. Canny planting can thus make a real difference to the survival of your crops.

Also, slugs are partial to a midnight snack or two, so a night-time patrol and launching a surprise attack can catch quite a few in the act. I've taken to doing this and (maybe I lead quite a dull life) but it can get quite exciting. Peering behind a leaf, only to discover a slug mid-munch, then removing it carefully to the safety of a distant patch of undergrowth, can be really rather satisfying.


I can anticipate, however, a time when my nightly sojourns become slightly irksome. When this happens, I'm reserving my special weapon- beer. It turns out that slugs and snails are both partial to a drop or two of ale. Place a glass of beer next to the plants and the sugary, hoppy liquid will attract them. They'll then climb up the glass, plop into the beer, get drunk and drown. No all that ceremonious but it's a way to get rid of slugs and snails more permanently, when you're really fed up, without resorting to chemicals or sprays.