Our scorched lawns are lapping up every drop of rain, but there's a downside to the damp conditions: an increase in hungry slugs.
Long, dry spells can force slugs to take shelter underground, meaning they often emerge in wet weather to feed on fresh crops and glide across the ground without wasting moisture or energy.
However, if you're fed up with finding them munching on your favourite plants and seedlings, there could be a solution.
According to Jane Lindsey, a gardener and founder of Snap Dragon Life, the popular perennial snapdragon can keep slugs away from your prized borders. And the good news is they flower from now until October, so there's still time to get them in the ground before it's too late.
Writing on her blog, Jane said: 'I planted out my rows of carefully nurtured seedlings — cornflowers, marigolds, poppies, cosmos, nigella, snapdragons. Within two days, the slugs had eaten everything but the snapdragons. Slugs don't like snapdragons.'
If slugs are still proving a problem, a surprising kitchen cupboard essential could also help.
'The only thing better than beer in the mind of a slug is cereal,' says Jane. 'They can't resist it. Rather than using piles of bran, which can get messy, I use cheap own-brand Weetabix-type cereal and again place it between the slugs and the crops.
'It works in two ways, primarily as a distraction from seedlings (surround seedlings with a fence of Weetabix if you have to leave them and go away for a few days), but also in conjunction with the next technique,' she adds.
'Get a torch, go out at night and collect all the slugs up and dispose of them. It is less messy if you combine it with the Weetabix technique. Simply leave the Weetabix for 3 days and then go out at night and collect up all the Weetabix that should by now be covered with feasting slugs.'
Jane also suggests the age-old beer trap technique, adding that slugs 'love any beer, even the terrible beer that people bring to parties, even failed home-brew'.
To try this, save small jars or pots and bury them up to their necks where slugs are likely to go. 'The idea is to waylay (and drown) them before they get to your plants. Fill up the jars with beer and leave them,' adds Jane.
Just be careful in heavy rain, as the beer can quickly dilute and is no longer attractive to slugs.
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The Autumn Edit
