Slugs and Snails: How to Protect Your Garden Without Chemicals

Slugs and snails are the nightmare of the urban garden: they attack at night and can wipe out a tray of seedlings or the leaves of your lettuce and strawberries in a single early morning. The good news: they're easy to control without chemicals.

How to know you have them

• Leaves with irregular holes and chewed edges, especially low down.
• A silvery, shiny trail (their dried slime) on leaves and soil.
• Damage appears at night or after rain; by day they hide in damp, dark spots.

Chemical-free control

1. Barriers: a strip of copper around the pot rim gives them a "shock" and they won't cross it. Crushed eggshell or ash also slow them down (less effective when wet).
2. Beer trap: sink a cup to ground level with an inch of beer; it attracts them, they fall in and can't get out.
3. Night collection: go out with a flashlight 1-2 hours after dark and pick them by hand. Most effective if you have few.
4. Trap shelters: a board or half a grapefruit face-down; they hide under it by day and you remove them.

How to prevent them

• Water in the morning, not at night: a garden that's damp at night invites them.
• Remove leaves, pots and damp hiding spots near the crops.
• Especially protect seedlings and tender shoots, their favorites.

With copper barriers, beer traps and the odd night round, you'll keep the garden safe. Odd damage on your leaves? Compare it in the AI diagnosis.