FEELING SLUGGISH
The £1.89 supermarket buy that STOPS slugs eating spring blooms – it’s perfect for lazy gardeners & works instantly too
Scroll down to find out why there are so many slugs in your garden
WITH spring finally here and the weather heating up, if you want to ensure your garden is guest-ready, you’ve come to the right place.
There’s nothing more annoying than spending days looking after your plants, only to find pesky slugs crawling all over them.
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And if your plants have been chewed by the slimy creatures, don’t worry, we’ve got just the thing.
These soft-bodied molluscs can quickly become a gardener's nightmare, leaving ragged holes in leaves and causing significant damage to plants.
But luckily for you, one savvy gardener has claimed to have found a super simple remedy that solves this problem.
Sharing their wisdom on a r/GardeningUK Reddit thread, a user recommended using a cheap supermarket buy to eliminate the pests for good, and beamed: "It's bye-bye slugs!"
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According to this social media user, using melon - yes, you heard that correctly - will enable lazy gardeners to wave goodbye to the nocturnal creatures that thrive in damp conditions.
The answer was in response to a fellow gardener's call for help on the online forum.
The gardening enthusiast wrote: "I'm Looking for a pesticide-free deterrent...I'm not looking to kill as there's no point and the stuff that does harm beneficial insects and bugs."
While many people suggested picking slugs up at dusk every evening as they begin to crawl on plants, one Reddit user pointed out that the melon method proves to be effortless.
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They said: "Get a honeydew melon. Cut in half. Eat the melon while preserving the skin in two hemispheres.
"Then go and put the melon skin in your garden near the crops, facing downwards, so it forms a dome."
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The Reddit user claimed that the melon - and this trick also works with watermelon too - should then be lifted the next morning, as they continued: "You will see (nearly) every slug in your garden is in that melon because they would rather eat melon than your crops.
"You can then put the melon miles away, or at least as far as possible, and it's bye-bye slugs!"
Why are there so many slugs in my garden?
ARE you at war with slugs? Are you crying out for help to get rid of them?
Fabulous' Associate Editor and gardening enthusiast, Rebecca Miller, explores why gardens are overrun with slugs this summer.
"Not only has the lack of sunshine ruined plants, flowers and crops reaching their potential this summer, but the slug invasion is also ruining any chance of success.
"Up and down the country, gardeners are going to war over the army of slugs appearing in their back gardens.
"So why do we have so many slugs this summer? Well, because of the weather - we had a damp spring and arguably the wettest summer on record, which has created a perfect breeding ground for slugs.
"They became 'active' earlier in the year, which is why there are so many of them around now.
"As for whether they're sticking around...that all depends on, yes, you guessed it, the weather!
"We need more sunshine to dry out the ground and soil, and then gardeners need to alter their watering schedules - avoid watering plants at night because the moisture encourages the slimy critters, instead water late in the afternoon, the last few hours of sun sun can dry the top layer of soil."
If you want to give this handy trick a try but are being stared at by an empty fruit bowl, don’t worry you’ll find honeydew melon in all major supermarkets.
And if you’re on a budget, you’ll be pleased to know that using a honeydew melon is an incredibly purse-friendly trick, as it will cost you just £1.89 from Asda, Morrisons and Tesco.
You can then put the melon miles away, or at least as far as possible, and it's bye-bye slugs!
Reddit user
You can also use watermelon, which you can pick up for only £2.28 in Asda, £2.30 in Sainsbury's and £2.99 in Aldi.
According to the , the netted field slug, brown soil slug and common garden snail are some of the species most likely to be found feeding on garden plants.
Why having slugs in your garden is a good thing
Yes, they chomp your precious plants, but having slugs in your garden should be celebrated.
Rebecca Miller, Associate Editor for Fabulous, and novice gardener, believes we should work in harmony with slugs and not try to get rid of them altogether.
"We've been conditioned as a society to believe we must have gardens with straight edges, short lawns with pretty stripes and perfect borders with flowers constantly blooming.
But unruly hedgerows, abundance of tall wildflowers buzzing with insects, and bugs and slugs galore in flowerbeds is totally natural - and necessary.
I understand that your plants might be very precious to you, but we need slugs and snails. They provide food for all sorts of mammals, birds, slow worms, earthworms, insects - and they are part of the natural balance.
By removing them, we upset the ecosystem and can do a lot of harm - thrushes in particular thrive on them!
It is said British Gardeners use some 650 billion slug pellets per year! Please find a natural alternative – the poison from slug pellets enters the food chain and can kill hedgehogs, who consider slugs and snails as a tasty treat.
If you're truly desperate, consider using Diatomaceous Earth - it is a naturally occurring compound approved for organic use, that can be used for pest control.
And while you're at it, challenge yourself to grow "sacrificial plants".
Sacrificial planting, commonly known as trap cropping, is the deliberate act of growing plants to attract pests. Pick a slugs favourite vegetable or ornamental plant for them to nibble on, and they will leave your more precious plants alone."
But it turns out that other kinds, like the leopard slug, can be beneficial to your garden.
The RHS explained that these slugs don't pose a threat to plants, and are highly territorial against other slugs.
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In fact, the RHS claimed they can "be a gardener's friend".
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