Ever stumbled out in the morning from an all night party, only to find that your beloved Hostas or zucchini have been ravaged by a ravenous group of slugs and snails?
Well, if you have – you may have, like so many others, immediately sought revenge in the chemical cupboard of the garden shed.
Intent on revenge you may have spread handfuls of slug-pellets all over the garden- unaware that you were killing more of the cuddly and loveable creatures- such as mice, hedgehogs and frogs (who all feed on these molluscs) instead of the actual pests- in the process!
You may be forgiven for thinking that revenge is easily sought with powerful chemicals but little did you know that the finest and by far the most organic revenge of all for those slugs and snails in your Italian garden was in fact waiting in the kitchen – the left over red-wine from the party! Snails and slugs etc just love getting “off their shells” on the stuff too and just can’t resist diving head over heels into a glass if you leave one in the garden.
OK, but all joking apart, a jam-jar buried in the soil and filled with diluted red-wine, or any liquid containing yeast, such as beer etc will drive slugs and snails on a crazy suicide mission as they simply cannot resist diving head-first into the wine to die a very happy death- and all totally organic too…!
Although studies have as yet failed to prove the level of enjoyment that slugs and snails experience while embarking on this suicide mission, or, for that matter, which wine they prefer…
…it is clear to anyone that there are far worse ways to ‘go’ and that using this as a solution will certainly help the environment at large.
Happy gardening!!
By Jonathan Radford
