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This has been the year for slugs and snails and I've really lost my cool with them. I might try to be a live-and-let-live gardener but I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!Kay blogged about my traps and I have to say that it is now the more the merrier - and wow, am I

and snails are attacking my fruit, but are investing the most energy in munching my overwintering brassicas and winter lettuce.We even found a slug sliming its way across the kitchen floor, having stowed away in some apples we had brought inside to put

am sad to see the back of summer (what summer?!!). But there is something else I am pleased about, in a perverse, time-saving sort of a way.Snails - not the small ones or the medium sized ones, just the large vegetable and ornamental plant

abdomen as a mating signal to passing males -far more subtle than the red light! The male, by comparison, is a dull browny-black. The larvae (which, sadly, I've never seen) are a gardener's friend as they feast on snails throughout June and July

hens. Now, once again, we have plenty hens and plenty of eggs. The garden will soon benefit from larger quantities of well-rotted poultry manure and we should also see a decline in the numbers of slugs and snails.I expected the kids to be happy - I

, but I've told the hens I'm taking them back on the plot the minute I see the first of this year’s slug and snail eggs!

In early spring, there were a lot of discussions in the garden media over whether the harsh winter would have reduced numbers of garden pests.The slugs and snails were slow to appear after the cold, dry April. But most other critters, good and bad

pots and flower beds, keep an eye out for slug and snail eggs, plus leatherjackets (the larvae of crane flies, pictured, left), chafer grubs and vine weevil larvae. Removing these pests now will save you time (and your crops) later, and the birds

nest – perhaps hers.There has been more than enough fruit for all of us this year, so I’ve been happy to ‘share and share alike’, as we’re taught to do from an early age. I wish I could extend this generosity of spirit to the slugs and snails…