Gardening expert details natural ways to deal with slugs
Slugs and snails can cause havoc in the garden, especially during the spring and summer months, eating plants and crops. Damage also doesn’t stop with foliage, the pests also feed on fruits such as strawberries and tomatoes, causing gardeners to lose crops completely. Luckily, Monty Don has shared a variety of friendly ways to deter them.
Writing in his recent blog post, Monty said: “Slugs and snails are widely regarded as the gardeners’ public enemy number one.
“But they are superb at recycling waste vegetative matter but do not discriminate between a fallen leaf and a delicious young seedling.
“Slugs live largely underground in the soil and like damp conditions. Snails live above the ground and love dark nooks and crannies such as old brickwork or a nice dry yew hedge, as well as clustering around the base of containers.”
According to the expert, there are over 30 species of slug in the UK, and there are four main garden ones and the biggest do not often do the most damage.
So what can gardeners do to prevent slugs causing any harm to plants outside?
Monty said: “Avoid slug pellets as they are chemicals that can harm other wildlife. Instead have a small slug-free cold frame or tape where you can raise tender young plants and check for slugs daily.
“Do not feed plants any more than is absolutely necessary and always feed the soil, not the plant.
“This will avoid a spurt of soft, sappy growth that slugs love. Without stressing them with sudden temperatures or cultivation changes, grow your plants as hard as possible which means do not mollycoddle them.
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“Finally, encourage a wide range of predators into the garden. I have masses of thrushes, frogs, toads, beetles, centipedes, shrews and a few hedgehogs.”
All of these animals love eating slugs and snails which make encouraging them into the garden great for annoyed gardeners.
Snails and slugs will also struggle with sharp or rough textured surfaces, so adding some crushed eggshells or gravel mix around the base of the plant can act great as a barrier.
It will help to prevent the animals from crawling up the side of pots, but if you are growing crops like tomatoes and strawberries, they can also be grown in hanging baskets.
Eggshells only act as a deterrent when they are clean and dry and so it is important to remove them when it is wet outside.
When peeling an egg, try to remove the inner membrane and rinse if it is needed.
Shannen Godwin, a gardening expert at J Parker’s, said: “The good news is that slugs won’t attack all of your plants.
“In fact, many plants can deter slugs. These are typically the plants with strongly scented leaves or textured leaves that are particularly glossy, leathery or hairy.
“Some slug-resistant plants include roses, ferns, hydrangeas and grasses.
“It can also help to combine some slug-resistant plants alongside your seedlings, known as companion planting.
“Aromatic herbs are usually great to plant next to your vegetables and seedlings to avoid slugs.
“For example, mint and chives can be helpful for companion planting between rows of vegetables.”
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