"souci" johnsturdytwo(use digit)atyahoo.co.uk wrote in message ...

I only sow with easy hardy annuals but I rarely get good results. When I
sow in open ground they usually don't appear at all ?eaten by
slugs/snails.
I have sown nasturtiams, calendula and trailing sweet pea in pots, a
basket and a window box all in the same (smallish) back garden. As usual
a lot of disappointment despite dead heading and having put in a slow
release fertiliser tablet at the beginning of the season. I have an
automatic watering system so I suppose the fertiliser is washed away
after some time, but then don't annuals just make leaf and no flower if
overfertilised?
Fortunately my field poppies do well, but the dead heading is a bit
laborious.
I pass gardens with hardies much earlier than I get them and full of
bloom too.
Those in the widow box do better than in the smaller pots.
I've bought lobelia before and it has been ok , but not like the
abundant waterfall that I see
Where am I going wrong?

I gave up trying to keep snails & slugs away with mint and other natural remedies. Diatomaceous earth is natural and supposed to work but never tried it.

100% sure fire remedy I have seen personally is cannibal snails. The next door neighbor put them out one year and after that, I didn't see a snail for 10 years. Now I'm starting to see one every few weeks -- but nothing like before.