Over the past couple of weeks, most of the conversations I’ve had with gardeners have been about slugs and snails.
There seem to be more than ever before, and they are also eating plants they would never normally eat.
Google search shows ‘slugs’ has received double the number of searches over the past few weeks compared with the same time last year, confirming what I’ve been hearing.
There are a couple of reasons for this, weather being the primary contender.
The wet weather has snails moisturised, in their lane, thriving
Greg Rosenke
We’ve had one of the wettest winters and springs on record. These cool, damp conditions are perfect for molluscs to thrive.
Many of us have rightly begun gardening in a less clinical way, prioritising nature by leaving leaves to decompose. This extra material in the garden could also go some way to explaining the increase.
“If you’ve tried growing hostas, you’ll know that really you are just providing a salad bar for slugs and snails.”
Just because they eat the plants we are trying to grow, it doesn’t give us the right to victimise slugs and snails.
Despite their destructive tendencies, they are an important part of the ecological puzzle in gardens, helping material break down and providing a valuable food source for cheery birds such as thrushes, starlings and blackbirds.
Instead of waging war in your garden, consider the ways in which you could adapt how you grow to limit the damage slugs and snails cause.
Living with slugs and snails is possible, but requires a multi-step approach:
Planting hostas? You might as well open a snail salad bar
Yoksel Zok/ Unsplash
If you’ve tried growing hostas, you’ll know that really you are just providing a salad bar for slugs and snails.
This is true for many soft-stemmed plants like dahlias and delphiniums, and young seedlings, where the damage can be devastating.
Choose plants that are evergreen, woody or that have fury or textured leaves, as these characteristics make eating a lot less important.
Protect the important stuff
The most at-risk plants in most gardens this time of year are seedlings. All are vulnerable, but young vegetable plants often seem particularly susceptible to being eaten.
Make sure the place you are germinating and growing your seedlings is clean and ideally elevated from the ground. Window sills are the perfect place.
Once the plants have reached a decent size, there is much less chance of them being devoured.
Encourage hedgehogs to come to snack on pesky slugs and snails
Alex Fotos/Unsplash
Attracting more wildlife into your space, will help restore nature’s balance and even out the number of slugs and snails at large in the garden.
Plant a tree if you can, install a bird nesting box, leave some fruit and berries for birds to eat, and ensure fences have holes that allow hedgehogs to pass through.
As a last resort, collecting slugs and snails after it has rained or once it has gone dark will reduce the problem.
But it leaves the slimy problem of what to do with them once you’ve got a bucket-full.
The RHS suggests releasing them in a local park or woodland (that might not go down too well with the parks team) and less than 20 metres away — or and the snails are likely to return to your garden.
If you really can’t bear to touch them, you can also turn to biological control in the form of nematodes, which eat the slugs alive. These work best in a controlled environment like a greenhouse or balcony.