Prevent your plants from falling victim to slugs this spring with this key gardening item (Image: Getty)
Spring is a wonderful time to tend to the garden, with many plants and flowers gearing up to bloom brightly. However, the unpredictable weather in April can bring about issues that can easily be prevented, if you know what to do.
Slugs can appear in the garden for all sorts of reasons, primarily motivated by consistent moisture, shade, and high-protein food sources. However, the presence of the critters can often lead to plants and flowers being ruined when they get hungry. Gardening expert Ish recently shared some of his top gardening jobs everyone should be doing in April, with one helping to prevent any problems you may face with slugs.
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Give them a water to help them expand (Image: Getty)
He noted that slugs can be particularly fond of plants like hostas. And with spring ushering in new growth on hostas, they will become a prime target for slugs.
Ish warned that with wet weather in April makes garden prime locations for slugs to fester. Damp soil, excessive mulch, and debris create ideal, humid environments for them to hide and survive.
Other factors like watering in the evening, rotting organic matter, and tender seedlings, such as hostas or lettuce, act as major attractants for the critters. Gardeners will need to protect the plant from any slug invasion.
Ish recommended using wool pellets as a deterrent. Wool pellets are natural, biodegradable gardening pellets made from compressed, low-grade sheep’s wool.
Scatter a generous amount of the pellets around all of the plants you want to protect. Ish said: “They’re organic, meaning they’re not going to do any damage to your garden or the slugs.
“The way that it works is there are thin felt in them that soaks in moisture, so when they go on top of it, it dries them out a bit, and as a result, they don’t want to go anywhere near your hostas.”
Once you’ve applied the wool pellets around the plants, give them a gentle water to help them expand. Not only do they act as a deterrent for slugs and snails, but they also act as a slow-releasing fertiliser for your plants.
If you’re in need of some other natural methods of defence, garlic has also been tipped as an effective deterrent. In a previous video, Ish explained that garlic can be used to deter slugs as a “last-minute defence” if you’re in need of a quick fix.
Garlic works particularly well if you want to protect leaves which hang close to the ground and are still within reach of slugs.
He said: “Garlic spray has a very interesting ingredient that makes the plant taste absolutely disgusting, and as a result, not only will they stay away from it, but they won’t eat them either.”
To whip up your own homemade garlic spray, fill a jug with 200ml of water and add three to four gloves of crushed garlic. The garlic can also be diced. Leave the garlic to soak in the water for a day or two.
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