Keeping slugs at bay through garden design

Beyond natural slug treatments, did you know the design of your yard, along with the materials and features used can also help deter the presence of these pests? Here are some great tips to help manage slugs through smart design.

• For pathways, consider using sharp and pointy gravel, which can injure the soft underbelly of slugs.
• For mulch, avoid using straw and leaves during the wet times of the year. Slugs love the moist, dark environment of almost every kind of mulch and love to crawl right through it to hide and lay eggs. If you use mulch, try adjusting your application to the dryer part of the growing season, when slugs are less active.
• If you like to use raised garden beds, add copper fencing to make it harder for slugs to access your plants.
• If you're not afraid of harmless, helpful critters, you can keep a pile of rocks at the edge of your garden to encourage garden snakes. And a compost pile will encourage beetles, which also prey on slugs.
• As soon as temperatures allow, remove protective ground covers. Anything that sits on top of the ground becomes a place for slugs to hide and multiply.
• You can build a berm around the perimeter of your garden about three inches wide which can serve as a place to sprinkle a line of eggshells and diatomaceous earth. These act as a natural barrier, keeping slugs away from your plants.
• With regard to irrigation, your best bet is to water at the base of plants, using drip irrigation, and maintaining well-drained soil. Space plants well away from each other also helps.
• If you've ever considered a water feature for your yard, here's one more reason why they're great. An irrigation pond next to your garden will encourage frogs or provide a home for ducks, or both, who will be some of the most effective slug predators.
• Potatoes, peas, beans, and celery are all particularly delicious to slugs. If you are going to spend time individually wrapping plants with copper, this is where to focus your energies. Watch this.
• Many aromatic herbs repel slugs, such as rosemary. These both look and smell good!
• Marigolds and Black-eyed Susan are also beautiful and help deter slugs when bordering gardens.
• Other plants are resistant or less affected by slugs. These include astilbe, campanula, lobelia, phlox, ranunculus, and viola.

If you'd like help in designing a garden that's slug-unfriendly, let us know. We can help. Give our team a call today at 541-729-8029.