Water the garden only where it is truly needed вЂ“ right at the base of the plants with a soaker tube or drip irrigation, for example вЂ“ to reduce the overall moisture level.

If you want to mulch your garden paths and beds, itвЂ™s best to wait until early summer when slug and snail activity has died down and seedlings have grown big enough to withstand being munched on. Loose mulch, sticks, thick vegetation and clumps of dead plant matter are typical slug and snail habitat, so maintaining a buffer of dry, bare soil around the most susceptible plants вЂ“ like lettuce seedlings and strawberries вЂ“ is one sure-fire tactic to help eliminate them. Slugs and snails are slow-moving creatures and never travel far from their daytime hideouts to their night time feasting grounds. Controlling slug and snail damage in the garden starts with reducing their preferred habitat. Completely nocturnal, they hide out in crevices in the soil or in moist, shady places aboveground during the day, and inch out to feed on nearby vegetation at night. They are most active in spring when the weather is cool and wet and plants are tender. Snails and slugs are cousins of shellfish and require a semi-moist environment at all times to survive. Other than that, the main body part of concern to gardeners is the radula, what has been called вЂa tongue of a thousand tiny teethвЂ™ вЂ“ thatвЂ™s the part that shreds up your plants.

They have a single, slimy foot that leaves a signature trail, letting you know that molluscs have been chewing on your plants, rather than beetles or some other pest. Different species trouble farmers and gardeners in different parts of the country, but they are all closely related and, from a pest control perspective, are dealt with using the same methods. Slugs are essentially snails without the shells.

The gunk gardener fight