CREATING a luscious green garden with an abundance of plants and flowers can take years to achieve.
So you can imagine the frustration of gardeners who wake up one morning, only to find that slugs have wormed their way in and destroyed all of their hard work in an instant.
Well, the slimy creatures soon could be a problem of the past because one savvy gardener has revealed the 24p trick she swears by to help deter them – and it really couldn’t be easier.
In a clip shared to TikTok (@thelockdowngardener), the gardening whizz explains how she simply makes garlic spray to keep slugs and bugs off plants.
Cutting a clove of garlic, which costs as little as 24p from your local supermarket, into small sections, she then lets it simmer in boiling water for 15 minutes.
Once the time is up, she carefully tips the concentrate into recycled drinks bottles where it’s stored until she needs it.
Have used garlic spray for years. It works
Social media user
“Add 20ml of concentrate to a small spray bottle and fill with water,” she says.
“Spray once or twice a week – including the soil.”
The gardening guru concludes by urging social media users to remember to check the bottom of pots and rims.
Alongside the post, she penned: “I’m determined that slugs won’t savage my hostas this year!”
The post quickly went viral, racking up a whopping 53k views and several comments, with many sharing their success stories having already tried and tested the DIY garlic spray.
“Have used garlic spray for years. It works,” praised one.
A second noted: “Off to buy some garlic. Tried everything else!”
A third asked: “Where have you been all my life? I needed this. Thank you!”
Meanwhile, a fourth added: “Ooh defo gonna try the spray!”
Elsewhere, other social media users shared their own top tips to help deter slugs for good.
“Try mesh wire around your plants!!” one person advised.
Another chimed in: “Dried and ground up egg shells always works for me but you need lots.”
Common pests in the garden don’t need to be a cause for alarm. If you can identify them, you can work on getting rid of them and preventing them from returning.
Aphids (Greenfly, Blackfly)
Aphids are extremely common and can impact plant growth. They have tiny soft pear-shaped bodies, and are usually green or black. You may spot them clustered on the stem of soft shoots – look under leaves in particular – or may find a sticky substance on your plants that gives away aphids have been there sucking at the sap.
Whitefly
These small white-winged insects are related to aphids, at just 1 or 2 mm in length, and look very much like white moths as adults. They can be found on the underside of leaves, preferring younger, fresher leaves. They fly in clusters when you disturb them. Their lifecycle is only three weeks long, which means an infestation can occur very rapidly.
Slugs
An unmissable, squashy-looking body plus small sensory tentacles on its head. Slugs move along on one muscular foot. They range in scale from surprisingly small to terrifyingly large; limax cinereoniger species can grow comfortably beyond 20 cm in length.
Cabbage Moth Caterpillar
Cabbage moth caterpillars happily make their way into the heart of the vegetables, The caterpillars are distinguished in shades of yellow or browny green with no hair.
Mealy Bug
Mealybugs are tiny oval-shaped insects that have a white, powdery wax coating. There are several different species, many of which have what looks like legs coming from their sides and back end. In their earliest stage of life, it’s entirely possible to mistake them for fungus and not recognise them as insects at all.
