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Problem is - bracken isn't out yet, but the slugs are! I'll keep it in mind for later in the year, though. Good idea.

If your short on dead bracken to mulch with you could always whip them around the garden with the fresh stuff!

Haven't seen much of the fresh stuff yet, either - I think it's just starting to come up. (Or maybe my colleague was so successfull in slashing the bracken last year that there isn't any left! But I'm sure I'll find plenty... If not on this hill right opposite, then the next one down the road.)

Thanks to all for your replies and advice. Well, I used the slug pellets once but my plants still got eaten. I don't think I'll be using them again as I am not really happy about using them. I will continue with the beer traps because they have managed to trap quite a few slugs and snails. The trouble is that they go for a slurp of beer AFTER they have filled up on tender leaves. I have got a fairly unkempt garden so I suppose I will need to tidy up a bit and rigerously check for slugs and snails by torch at night and dispose of them in an imaginative way.

Don't forget biological controls. I'm not a big fan of nemaslug but if you encourage beetles through habitat, or perhaps have a little pond for toads etc or even a duck, you'll change the balance of your garden over several years.

I agree with Muddy, but it's not just grass - any plant debris will encourage slugs. Good garden hygeine is the key - nothing overgrown, all rubbish removed. *snorts* Not like my garden, then - between the gales and the slugs I've lost two of my hard-won squash plants :-(

Thank you for your suggestions Hedgewizard. I am going to put in a small wildlife pond to encourage frogs and toads. I have got two chickens but they would rather eat the plants than the slugs and snails. One good thing about my tatty old garden is that I've noticed loads of ladybirds so that can only be a good thing.

No problem. The rest of my pumpkin and squash plants went the same way over the next few days which really upset me. Still, I've re-sown. They're heritage variety though and you only get a few seeds! I mean, it's not as if they grow on... er, hang on a minute...

Has anyone tried slug-x? I've been looking on t'internet for slug remedies and this seems to be just a posh sort of beer trap, yet it has very good reviews. I'm just not sure whether beer traps attract all the slugs from my neighbours' gardens as well, once they hear about the party at our place....

there was a good thread on this subject running on the River cottage thread, very amusing commentary:

here