A slug infestation is a problem for many garden owners, especially when growing vegetables. If you don't want to resort to chemicals right away, try these simple household tips against slugs:
Fight slugs naturally
Lay out fir branches or pine needles against slugs
Simply Fir branches or Pine needles placed between the beds will make the little pests disappear again.
Repel slugs with smells
Slugs do not like onions, garlic, and Mediterranean herbs (e.g., lavender, rosemary, nasturtium, and thyme). For example, if you plant thyme in a ring around your vegetables, it will repel the slugs.
Keep the soil dry
Slugs need moisture to move around. Water the soil only every 2 to 3 days and do not keep it constantly moist.
Water beds in the morning
Water vegetable beds only in the morning, as they can dry out during the day. If you water in the evening, it stays too damp overnight, which slugs love.
No food for slugs
It helps to deprive slugs of their food. While lettuce is a favorite food for slugs, red-leaf lettuce is not. Slugs also cannot nibble on fleshy leaves like stonecrop, houseleek, and spurge. Slugs also do not like leathery greenery or hairy leaves. Monkshood, lily of the valley, peony, or foxglove are poisonous to slugs.
Sawdust
Sprinkle a ring of sawdust around the bed. The rough surface prevents the slugs from reaching the bed. Tip: Renew after rain.
Limescale
Lime around a vegetable bed also helps against slugs. Lime burns the soles of the slugs. Tip: Renew after rain.
Coffee or coffee grounds
Coffee is poisonous to slugs and protects your vegetable bed.
Settle natural predators in the garden
Slugs are a delicacy for hedgehogs, toads, shrews, and many bird species such as blackbirds, starlings, or magpies. Provide nesting sites, hedges, and shrubs for birds, or piles of leaves or brushwood for hedgehogs.
Read also: Garlic against voles in the garden
Image by Andreas, meinhaushalt.at
