Hello rain, goodbye slugs (hopefully)

The rain is back – hoorah! And with it, the slugs – boo! I spent all spring worrying about the unseasonably dry weather. Now it’s over, I’m worrying about the slugs. So here are some top tips to slow them down.

Slugs like soft new leaves that don’t have much bite. So grow your young plants as large as possible in pots, before planting them out. Tougher leaves have more lignin, more lignin equals less munchin’.

Put your pots on a table, to deter molluscs. For a double deterrent, stand the table legs in a bowl of water. Don’t underestimate the ability of slugs and snails to ‘jump’ gaps with their hyper-stretchy bodies - keep your seedlings far from things slugs could climb.

Don’t water in the evening – slugs and snails are mostly nocturnal, and they like a damp environment to slide around on, so watering your plants just before bedtime is only making it easier for our one-footed friends.

Make your garden as full as possible, to minimise the risk of slug attack on the plants you really care about. You could chuck down a packet of old seeds as a sacrificial crop, or just weed less – easy.

Invite predators in to help out. Start by tidying less, because an old pile of leaves and twigs is home for ground beetles. If you have space, dig a pond for frogs, cut a hole in your fence to encourage hedgehogs, and pray a slowworm or two find their way into your garden.