WHAT a year it’s been for slugs.
Even the RHS has admitted it’s a bumper season – with entmologist Hayley Jones stating: “A cooler than usual June has left little room for gardens to dry out, providing favourable conditions for these much-maligned molluscs.”
And what’s worse, is that so many of the old classic remedies like beer traps, copper rings and slug pellets don’t seem to be making much of a difference.
Step forward Garden Expert Michael Griffiths – AKA The Mediterannean Gardener – who has a top tip to stop slugs in their tracks.
Mix salt with every day vaseline – and then rub it around the edges of your pots, or hard borders. Simple – yet genius.
Michael, 39, from Bristol, told me: “The usual go-tos for slugs are wool sheets, nematodes, or copper.
“But copper needs buffing to keep the shine on if its to remain effective, and who has time for that?
“And the rest just didn’t seem to be working for me this year.
“I saw this method online and thought I’d give it a go. And it does seem to be working.
“Rather than kill them – and I can tell it’s not doing that as the area isn’t littered with slug corpses – it just seems to turn them around.
“And you don’t use enough salt for it to damage the soil.
“It’s definitely worth a shot.”
Vaseline is on sale at Tescos for £1.50 at the moment, and you can get Asda Table Salt for just 65p.
News, offers, competition and more
NEWS! A ROSE has been named after rugby legend and Leeds Rhino scrum-half Rob Burrows who died from Motor Neurone Disease last month. Currently 5000 adults in the UK are living with the disease and £2.50 from each rose sold by Harkness Roses will go to the MND charity he supported.
YouGarden are offering Sun readers a free bottle of £4.99 rose fertiliser with every order.
For more information visit www.roses.co.uk/SUNRB and use the code SUNRB or call 0844 502 0014. (calls cost 5p/min plus your network’s access charge).
Full T&C’s HERE
NEWS! AS part of the judging Panel on Robert Dyas’ Plant and Pause campaign, I’m delighted to announce that the winners of their Community Space competition are St George’s Hospital in Tooting, London.
The NHS dementia team put forward plans to turn a green space in the hospital into a sensory garden benefitting dementia patients, their carers and NHS staff. They’ll also grow vegetables in the garden to donate to a community fridge.
Moira Rowan, Dementia and Delirium CNS Team Lead at St George’s, said: “This is amazing and means our dementia patients will be able to enjoy a wonderful sensory garden filled with flowers and plants.”
NEWS! DRAGONFLY week at Exbury Gardens finishes tomorrow. The Hampshire Gardens are a British Dragonfly Society ‘hotspot’ where visitors can get close to the wildlife action on floating pontoons over large dragonfly ponds. For more visit www.exbury.co.uk/dragonfly-week
WIN! TEN lucky readers can win a pair of tickets to the Sunday of Gardeners World Live! Autumn Fair – worth £56 each. The show, featuring all your TV favourites, takes place from August 30 to September 1, at Audley End House and Garden, Saffron Waldon, Essex. To enter, click HERE, or visit www.thesun.co.uk/GWAUTUMN for more info. Or write to Sun Gardeners World Live! Autumn competition, PO Box 3190, Colchester, Essex, CO2 8GP. Include your name, age, email or phone. UK residents 18+ only. Ends 23.59GMT 27.07.24 Full T&C’s HERE
SAVE! IF you’ve got a small outside space, sometimes you just need a tiny shovel and Niwaki’s gold spade at £36 is a firm favourite. Or pick up a similar Roughneck microspade from Screwfix for £12.99.
THIS WEEKS JOB Cut back early Geraniums for a second flowering, and keep on top of deadheading in general.
FOLLOW ME! Find me @biros_and_bloom or email gardening@the-sun.co.uk
