Speaker 1: Welcome to Gardening with Ben. You'll go to podcast for
all things green and growing in twenty twenty five. Whether
you're a seasoned gardener, a budding enthusiast, or just curious
about cultivating your own slice of nature, you're in the
right place. Join me Ben as we explore practical tips,
inspiring stories, and the latest trends in gardening to make
your outdoor space bloom with life, from allotment adventures to
wildlife friendly gardening. I'm here to help you grow your
passion and read the rewards. So grab your gloves, roll
up your sleeves, and let's get started on this year's
gardening journey. Hey everybody, and welcome back to Gardening with Ben. Well,
it's Tuesday, and obviously we're not down at the Allotment
now until the weekend, but hopefully you'll still get your
podcasts every single day. Entry record them all of the
weekend so that you've got them all to listen to
throughout the week, and so that we can talk about
different topics. Obviously it's Sundays and Mondays. Episodes usually talk
about what we got up to down at the Allotment,
and then in the week we talk about different topics
of planting or tips advice and we just share them
with you. So today's topic, what we're going to talk
about is why is there so many slugs in my garden?
That is the question we'd all like to know. But
there are ways of preventing them, and if you can
readiate them, please do let me know because I'd like
to know myself. But yeah, we're going to talk about
slugs today, The Gardener's Nightmare of Everything Now. I shared
a post on this on Facebook the other day and
it did quite well, so I thought I'll make it
into a podcast as well for you all to listen to.
For those that don't follow me on Facebook, you can
listen to this. We can talk about all the ways
of how to prevent them and why there are so
many slugs in the allotment and in the garden. What
attracts them specifically to your garden? Now, one of the
main reasons is moisture. Slugs are highly dependent on moisture
for survival and reproduction. They need damp environments to move
and feed effectively, and their soft bodies are vulnerable to
drying out. So the causes of excessive moisture is over watering.
Poorly drained soil or prolonged weather create the perfect environment
for slugs to thrive. Now, this is something that we
can't prevent and we can't stop. But one of the
things what I usually do is when I'm watering our
water in the daytime so that it seeps into the
soil and then it doesn't stay damp too long, but
it stays damp underneath, but it doesn't stay damp on top.
So if you're to water at the end of the
day at night, obviously it won't dry out as fast
on the top, so then slugs will like it and
they'll all come out. So I tend to water in
a morning rather than at a night. Shade and shelter
slugs are nocturnal creatures that avoid either sunlight, obviously, another
reason why water in the daytime. During the day, they
seek shaded, cool and protected spots to hide and conserve
the moisture. Common hiding spots dense plant foliage, mulch rocks,
fallen leaves, and garden debris such serve as shelters. These
areas provide the protection the slugs need to hydrate and
safe from predators. So one thing that you can do
is check around where they'd possibly be hiding and get
rid of them, hopefully abundant food supply. Slugs are voistless
feeders with a preference for ten the succulent plants a garden,
which in their favorite foods is a magnet for the pests.
What attracts them young seedlings, leafy greens, flowers, declare decaying
plant material are particularly appealing to slugs. Lack of natural predators.
Slugs naturally have many predators, including birds, frogs, hedgehogs, and
some insects. However, if your garden lacks these natural allies,
slug populations can grow unchecked. So yeah, attracting wildlife due
a lotment will prevent slugs as well. How can you
tell of a sign of slug infestation? Obviously you can
tell from time trails. You can tell where slugs are
being or where they're hiding. So follow the trail and
you'll often find the slug Chewed leaves. Obviously, when you
go down and you see that leaves have been damaged,
that's obviously when you know that it's one of their
favorite plants. Damage stems and seedlings, severed stems, tewed bases,
and collap seedlings as a sign of slug activity nighttime activity.
Like I said, slugs lights come out at night. They're
nocturnal and do most of their feeding under the cover
of darkness. Go out with a flashlight, inspect your garden
at night, Look closely at plants, soil and shaded areas.
Go and hunt them slugs down. So how can we
reduce slugs in your garden with these effective strategies, remove
any hiding places. Slugs thrive in shaded, damp environments where
they can hide during the day. Eliminating these hiding spots
reduces their presence. Clear away debris, fallen leaves, and overgrown vegetation.
Keep garden beds tiredy, prune dense foliage, and avoid using thick,
mult vulnerabul plants. This creates an environment that is less
hospital to slugs. Improve your drainage. Aviate the soil and
in short, proper drainage in your garden beds. Water plants
in the morning rather than the evening. Like I said,
That's what I do, allowing the soil to dry during
the day. Avoid over watering to minimize damp conditions. Attract
natural predators. That is one of the biggest things you
can do create a wildlife friendly garden to attract these
slug eating predators. Provide shelter like logs or rot palers.
Set up water dishes or installed birdhouses and hedgehog nesting
boxes to encourage these animals to visit your garden and
then they'll go around eating all the sugs up, so
it saves you a job going around. Use slug resistant
plants in corporate plants like lavender, rosemate, geraniums, and ferns
that slugs tend to avoid. Mix slug resistant plants with
more vulnerable crops to act as natural death terrant and
create a balanced planting scheme. Set up traps, Obviously the
biggest one is be it citrus, peels or damp cardboard
to attract slugs. Check traps daily and dispose of trap
slugs far from your garden to prevent them from returning.
Replace bait regularly for consistent results. Create barriers. Sprinkle crushed
eggshells or gravel around the base of plants. These materials
irritate and deter slugs from crossing. So yeah, those are
some of the things that you can do to stop slugs. Now,
one of my plot neighbors. He came up with this
invention what I've what thought was absolutely fantastic. I won't
be able to make one of these, so if you
are good we electrical things, try this out. He basically
put two wires around his raised beds and connected it
to a batterray so that when the slug went over
both wires, it shocked it and they fell off of
the raised bed. Now, I thought that were fantastic. Obviously,
if you're against like you might class that as cruel.
I don't know, but it kept the slugs off the plants,
and yeah, I thought that were a good little tip.
So if you're good at anything like that, have a
go and see if you can do it. So that
is basically all our tips and advice on how to
stop slugs from eating everything. So give someone a try,
or if you've got anything that you recommend, send me
a message, because I'd love to find out how to
stop slugs because they do eat everything on my plot.
But I tend to let a lot of the weeds
grow so then it deters them from the actual vegetation.
But yeah, please do let me know how you keep
slugs off your garden. So that has been today's podcast.
I hope you've enjoyed it. I hope it's giving you
some ideas on how to prevent slugs from eating everything.
So until next time, everyone, remember, keep smiling, keep shining,
and keep gardening with Ben. Everyone, thanks for tuning in
to today's episode of Gardening with Ben. I hope you've
enjoyed our chat and picked up some tips to help
your garden and allotment thrive. Don't forget to stay connected
with me on all social media for even more gardening inspiration,
updates and behind the scenes content. You can find me
on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Just search Gardening with Ben,
hit that follow button or subscribe button and join our
growing community of garden lovers. Until next time, everyone, remember,
keep smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening with Ben.