Published on 12, July, 2020
I’m at war.
I’ve been doing some gardening. My mental health team suggested it last year because, and I quote, “it’s a no stress hobby that will get you outside in the fresh air and it’ll be good for me”. They were right about the fresh air, that can’t be denied. And I was feeling better with no stress until-they came. I am of course referring to the biggest pest in anyone’s garden: snails and slugs!
Crime scene photo #6.
Seemingly overnight snails and slugs have ransacked my garden and are terrorising my flowers and strawberries. I attempted to garden last year, wanted to grow some strawberries as they’re my fav to eat and they’re also healthy. I follow this guide sheet on healthy eating as I’ve got IBS and certain foods, generally the unhealthy ones-set off digestive upset for me.
So I’m trying to do healthy eating to better manage and prevent these issues.
But even with the healthy fresh summer air the stress is mounting up! Despite my best efforts these slugs have launched a devastating attack. Strawberries are at risk, some have been eaten whole or mutilated in severe cowardly attacks. These cowardice slugs dare not strike during the day-they only come out at night when I’m asleep, too afraid to face me honourably during the day.
Don't let this cuteness fool you!
Lol! Ok it's not quite that bad but seriously is there any advice on how to best deal with these little slugs? I don’t want to get any poison pellets as I live on a mountain in a rural area and the birds might eat them, I also despite myself don’t like the idea of hurting the slugs. But I also do get extremely stressed when my strawberries are looking nearly ready for picking and then a day later they’ve been devoured. All my hard work wasted.
It’s annoying but I do like the challenge lol-although it’s embarrassing that I’m being outwitted by a slug! Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions on how to deal with these garden pests are more than welcome...
lol your post made me right laugh That’s really good effort for giving it a go though, and don’t let the slugs win! You should get little CCTV cameras set up, electric fencing, on call security haha, no seriously…
I’ve seen crushed up eggs shells being used as a barrier as a way to deter slugs. I know birds like to eat slugs, but you could still put a bird tray nearby so the birds eat the food on the tray, keep the slugs away… and hopefully they only eat the bird food and not the slugs. I’ve also have heard of “beer traps”, where there’s cups of beer which slugs are attracted to the smell. Unfortunately it means they drown, but what a way to go.
or failing all that, you can always pop to Tesco and buy a punnet of strawberries lol.
keep at it though, it’s really good that you’re giving it a go and I’m sure one day you’ll be enjoying those strawberries
CCTV and electric fencing-you have no idea how tempting that is lol. I’d have the army in to protect my strawberries if I could but somehow I don’t think they’ll agree it’s making full use of their time and services. Pity.
Seriously though thanks for the tips. I’ll try with the egg shells first and see how that goes, using the beer as a last resort, though chances are my dad would probably drink the beer lol. I might have to defend the cans from him then too. Why can’t gardening just be simple?
To be perfectly honest I’m considering just getting my stuff from the shops. I mean, by the time I’ve bought the eggs, the beer, the new strawberry and gardening tools I probably could have bought several packs of fresh strawberries from the shops-but this is war now and I’ll go out fighting! I’ve considered making a snail/slug friendly patch for them in the garden, sort of meet them halfway in the hopes they’ll settle for that and leave my strawberries alone.
Thanks for the suggestions though I really do appreciate it. I’ll give them a try and hopefully it will put an end to this and maybe, just maybe, one of my strawberries may grow and be picked. ️