Slugs

Slugs - a perennial problem! Some gardeners go after the pests with scissors, others try to collect the eggs laid in autumn before the young slugs can hatch in spring.

Beer traps work quite well. Take a few old pickle jars and fill them with about 3 cm of beer. Slugs are hooked on it. They fall into the jar overnight and can be disposed of the next day.

It also helps to check the garden after the first warm rain and pick off the first specimens you find, which helps keep the infestation reasonably under control.

If you lay a few wooden boards near your vegetable patch, the slugs will use them as a daytime hiding place, so you can easily collect them from underneath.

Never put all your weeded plants straight onto the garden compost heap - always leave some behind for the slugs. They love wilted plants and will go for them instead. This is an effective way to protect your tender young vegetable plants without having to use slug pellets. If it's ever too late and your young plants have already been eaten, it's best to use a slug pellet that doesn't harm the soil or beneficial creatures. There are special products with iron(III) phosphate as the active ingredient. Iron phosphate also occurs naturally in the soil and is fully broken down into iron and phosphate by soil microorganisms.