[Annie]

.......even a radish is wonderful.......but the next few hundred produced when your small person sews the entire packet....still they look like the ones on the packet and always germinate.

[Jeanieblue]

Thrilled you've got a super plot. Good luck with it. Our wild and weedy plot is slowly being tamed, but couldn't do much with recent rain and frost !!! Have been bashing up pallets instead to make frames for raised beds. So next nice day, I'll be down there with the old man's hammer and nails !!!!!    Happy Christmas all, Jean

[Puff]

Hey thanks for the lovely welcome folks!

Tomorrow it's off out soil testing and Mr Puff is keen to build a proper set of compost bins out of some pallets  (we'll see)  I was quite resentful of having to visit relatives today when I could have been down the plot.

I had another look through the 'Allotment Starter Pack' the Parish Council gave us and the following 'reminder' is on the top of the first page - "Remember with the wildlife we have in the village, you have to put in four seeds for every plant that you require. One for yourself, One for the birds and TWO for the slugs"  

I'd forgotten about our slug issues, having given up on hostas and other slug/snail fodder in our tiny garden years ago.

In the past, I've used beer traps, nematodes, nocturnal collection by torchlight, copper tape (pretty good for pots), grit, holly and a fair bit of swearing...

What does everyone else do about slugs?

[John]

What does everyone else do about slugs?

I tried nuclear depth bombs but it resulted in giant mutant slugs

traps, nematodes and the wildlife safe pellets.  They still get through   :cry:

And that's it from me - off to start  prepping for tomorrow.

[noshed]

Swearing at slugs is good but in the end I found that cut off pop bottles were effective and sparing use of slug pellets. Stuff by the fence where they can hide were more vulnerable than stuff in the middle of the plot.
Not much you can do if they go after yer spuds though - but the only ones they got of mine were 'Swift' - obviously not very.

[shaun]

slugs and snails love hiding places so dont give them any,piles of bricks,carpets,plastic sheets,tin sheets,buckets and spent seed trays/pots and stuff like that weedy areas is another if you get rid of these then you will see a big difference.
around your compost heaps/bins is another place but theres not a lot you can do here just keep it clean and tidy and dont plant your lettuce next to them,
some people actualy grow lettuce just for slugs  

[milkman]

Tread on snails, chop slugs in half and leave them for other wildlife to feed off.  Concentrate your killing spree in parts of the plot where it's going to matter most - like where you are about to sow carrots, or where you've just planted out your sweetcorn for example.  I patrol my carrot beds morning noon and night until my carrots reach 2 inches high.  Works nicely for me.

[Puff]

Whilst clearing out some old carpet by the hedge, I noticied a few frogs hibernating (I did move them into the hedge and covered them with leaves), so I'm wondering if doing something to encourage the frogs like having a few managed water pots with water plants would be a good idea to encourage both slug eating frogs and carnivorous insects?

This has sort of worked in the garden, we had 6 frogs living in 3 water tubs and I'm sure there were fewer slugs this year - might have been the hot spell that shrivelled them all up of course  :?

[cornykev]

Hi Puff and welcome, welcome them frogs with open arms, I buried an old washing up bowl in the ground to try to encourage some frogs bit small but it's a start. If the manure has rotted down pile it on your soil, I didn't bother digging it in, let the weather and worms do it but don't forget don't put manure where you are going to plant your roots.           happy digging you puffs and good luck.      

[muntjac]

im a slug ( shut up shaun ) i like dark damp places .if you dont want me lodging with you dont create the places . those blue slug pellets around the compost bin edge werk ...