Martin wrote:
On Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:49:37 -0000, "Ophelia"
wrote:

Rusty_Hinge wrote:
The message
from "Ophelia" contains these words:
Bob Hobden wrote:

Ok, see your point, we are only two as well and I've had
arthritis for
decades but we have a full allotment for the veg. Regarding slugs
and snails they are a problem however you garden, you have to
learn to live with them most of the time, we simply plant more to
take account of the losses as we do for diseases like White Rot.
I take your point about weeding, doesn't do your knees much good,
a morning spend hand weeding the onions/shallots does me no good.
Still, no gain without pain.

Would raised beds circumvent this problem with the slugs and
snails?

Yes, if you tie a piece of copper wire round the structure.

The best material is some old TV co-ax. tear off the outside coating
(many of them are pre-scored) and push (don't pull!) the braided
copper screen off the diastatic.

You'll find the bare screen will stretch to several times the length
of your original cable.

Thank you. Val, have you used this on your raised beds?


Our trial of keeping slugs off plants by wrapping copper tape around
the stems plants was an expensive failure last year. Heineken is
still the cheapest way to kill slugs.

Is the slug thing a problem in all gardens? I think Rusty was talking about
keeping them off the plants, not killing them? Maybe I have it wrong. Does
the beer just kill them if you find them? How will it keep them off if you
are not on guard?