How do you get rid of slugs in your garden? It’s that time of year again. The slime monsters are back and taking hold.
Slugs (and snails for that matter) are the enemy of pretty much all gardeners and can divide and conquer pretty quickly. They love young seedlings and any tender leaf plants which means your precious cabbages, broad bean leaves, tomatoes, soft fruits and all sorts of other things can be victim to those pesky beasts. It is so soul-destroying when you go to check in on your beloved garden and see that there are slime trails everywhere, your seedlings pretty much gone, great big holes in your leaves and all your soft fruit eaten into. NIGHTMARE.
There are some things you can do to get rid of slugs in your garden and stopping them from ruining all your hard work. Without using a load of pesticides either! Easy, natural ways that aren’t going to harm the surrounding environment. Read on to discover our top tips!
Wool, wool, wool
Slugs HATE wool which makes it the perfect natural slug repellent. Who knew?! But honestly, it’s true. They hate the texture and the prickly surface which means they steer clear. So, barricade your most vulnerable plants with wool!
We love using our Felt Shillies made of Herdwick wool felt which we either pile around the base of our more delicate plants and our potted plants or spread them across a full bed to protect multiple plants. To add some extra woolly protection, mix in the Felt Shillies with some of our Organic Sheep Wool Pellets which should fill in any potential gaps for those sneaky slugs to get through!
The great thing about using wool is it actually benefits your plants in lots of other ways too –it adds lots of nutrients to the soil as it composts down, has excellent moisture-retaining properties and the wool shield also deprives weeds of light so helps to keep those at bay too! Win, win!
Go natural with deterrents
Deterrents can be a great way to get rid of slugs in your garden if you use the right ones! Synthetic pesticides and deterrents can pose a serious threat to the environment and can get into the food chain causing harm to other wildlife species.
We prefer using natural, environmentally friendly deterrents like the Grazer G2 Slug and Snail Deterrent which you can just spray onto your plants and it will keep them protected for about six weeks. Once sprayed the plants taste rather bitter and not particularly appetising which means slugs just leave them alone! As well as deterring pests, the solution also enhances growth and strengthens the plant too. Hooray!
Use your local wildlife
Making your garden more habitable for other sorts of wildlife can make it less habitable for those nasty slugs! Your local wildlife can act as natural predators to slugs and help to keep them at bay. Predators such as toads, newts, hedgehogs and song thrushes all love a slug steak with a side of…snails, so if you are able to encourage those sorts of species to your garden do so!
The way to do that is by ensuring you have things that attract those sorts of animals to your garden. For example, hedgehog houses for hedgehogs, bird boxes and some bird feeders for a range of birds or a pond and some reeds for toads and newts.
Create a jute fort!
Just like wool, jute can also work to stop slugs and snails from getting to your plants due to the rough texture of the jute fibres.
We use our Jute Mulch Mats which slot around the base of a plant in just a hot second and give each plant a full surround of slug deterring jute! They are easy to put on, effective and once down, you can just leave them to rot. We have had a lot of success from pre-soaking the mats in our own slug-proofing garlic drench concoction to pack an extra punch.
And that’s it! All our ways to get rid of slugs in your garden naturally. Use one of them, or use them all together to ensure no slug within a 5-mile radius comes near your lovely garden!
