DIY Solutions

There's an argument that's for letting nature take it's course. We can tip this in our favour by providing environments in our gardens where natural predators can be encouraged to set up home. A small pond will soon be populated by frogs, and the damp banks will keep toads if shelter is provided. A pile of logs makes a good home for toads and hedgehogs can be encouraged if it's dry and there's enough space.  

All these predators will eat slugs and snails, hedgehogs are particularly beneficial being nocturnal and having strong teeth and jaws to cope with even the toughest snail. It's no coincidence that our rhubarb patch remains completely untouched by the pests due to an old Belfast sink housing a small number of frogs, and a large number of hostas never get eaten thanks to a family of hedgehogs that have taken residence under a nearby shed.  

This has the added benefit of keeping other pests at bay too as an environment suited to a particular beneficial predator is probably suited to others. A log-pile (even a small one) would be good for hedgehogs and also make an ideal home for ladybirds to over-winter. In general the diverse environment provided by a small corner of the garden left untouched encourages a wide range of creatures to set up home, keeping the pests at a manageable level.

Predators can be imported to get things off to a flying start, I've been giving some of our garden frog population away to friends and family to act as greenhouse guardians. They seem to thrive on the bugs and slugs that manage to wander in. Given a sunken bowl of water and a clay pot or two they live for many years, my parents kept a toad in his greenhouse for over 10 years until it finally croaked it (groan!).

There are other predators that can be used against slugs, the  nematodes described next for one, but none come close to the effectiveness, ease of use and staying power of a frog or toad.