Vegetarian Worldwide

Slugs are number one enemy for those of us lucky enough to have a garden.

Recently I planted 25 strawberry plants, a selection of salad leaves, some spring cabbage and a few other greens.

My hostas have made an appearance and with them, at least it seems that way, an army of snails and slugs. Now while I’m not a one hundred percent organic gardener I try as hard as possible not to use chemicals, I never use them on, or around, my fruit and veg.

The organic route is probably the road that most vegetarian gardeners take, so here is one or two suggestions to help keep those pests at bay.

1. If you are lucky enough to have access to used coffee ground – grab them and bag them. Spread the coffee liberally all around the base of your snail loving plants and it should dramatically reduce the number of attacks.

2. Here is a Garlic Wash Recipe I’m testing this year. I’m using it on my strawberries, cabbage, salad leaves, and hostas. To date there has been no attacks on the fruit and veg but the hostas are still under sustained attack, it doesn’t seem to be making any difference here.

Garlic Wash Recipe

• Take 2 bulbs of garlic, crush them, and boil them rapidly in two pints of boiling water for approximately 4-5 minutes, or until there is a very strong garlic smell.
• Let the liquid cool then strain it.
• Top up to the two pints mark again and bottle the result.

To Use – Put one tablespoon of the Garlic Wash into one gallon of water and water over the plants with a fine rose making sure the whole plant is covered. This is a completely natural product and should do none of the other plants any harm.