if you dig a trench about a foot down in the garden and lay a nylon small holed mesh sheet in it and put new soil in and bring the sides of the sheet up about 36 inches all the way round,will this protect the plants from slugs and snails or could they chew through the mesh
The slugs will crawl right over the sheet. What you can do is build a raised bed or low fence out of boards, and staple copper flashing material to the boards. Slugs and snails will not crawl on bare copper. Some have had success with beer traps as well. Don't put salt on the ground, that will eventually kill all the plants when it gets concentrated enough.
Many gardeners find that after all their hard work, they have inadvertently created a free salad bar for slugs and snails. Putting down barriers that slugs can't cross is, perhaps, the best way to protect your garden from these common pests. Keep them from entering and you won't have to use pesticides. Difficulty: Moderately Easy Instructions Things You'll Need * Calcified seaweed * Ashes * Lime * Cinders * Soot * Oak leaves * Thorny clippings/Holly leaves * Pine needles * Crushed eggshells * Chalk * Sand 1. * 1 Water your garden only in the early morning, or use an underground irrigation pipe. This will keep the top of the soil dry and uninviting to slugs and snails. * 2 Spread dry soot, dry ashes, dry lime, sharp cinders and dry chalk around plants or beds. Any one of these or several in combination should do the trick. * 3 Rough, sharp sand is another option. Use it the same way as the materials in Step 2. * 4 Try calcified seaweed or crushed eggshells as a barrier. * 5 Another barrier material is clippings from thorny roses or holly leaves. Rosa rugosa (Japanese rose) clippings are good. * 6 Spread pine needles in your garden (these are also good mulch for strawberries). * 7 Spread chopped hair (human hair is fine) in your garden. * 8 Try using oak leaves as a barrier. Slugs and snails don't like the tannin in the leaves.
I found slugs love herbs - and tomatoes (the swines!!). In DIY and garden centres you can buy copper sticky-backed tape. It's about ?5 for a biggish roll. I bought this and wrapped it round the pots and it did the trick - slugs get an electric shock when they move across the copper. You can also lay salt circles round pots but of course, this only works in dry weather. You can also buy 'pot feet' which raise pots off the ground a little but slugs are capable of stretching so you'll still need copper tape. Another thing I found in Homebase was woven fabric and copper discs - a bit like weed control fabric. You can trim to size and place this over the dirt in the plant pot. Stops the slugs and stops the weeds too. Mint is super tough and even if the slugs had a good ol' munch, it'll grow back again!
Many gardeners find that after all their hard work, they have inadvertently created a free salad bar for slugs and snails. Putting down barriers that slugs can't cross is, perhaps, the best way to protect your garden from these common pests. Keep them from entering and you won't have to use pesticides. Difficulty: Moderately Easy Instructions Things You'll Need * Calcified seaweed * Ashes * Lime * Cinders * Soot * Oak leaves * Thorny clippings/Holly leaves * Pine needles * Crushed eggshells * Chalk * Sand 1. * 1 Water your garden only in the early morning, or use an underground irrigation pipe. This will keep the top of the soil dry and uninviting to slugs and snails. * 2 Spread dry soot, dry ashes, dry lime, sharp cinders and dry chalk around plants or beds. Any one of these or several in combination should do the trick. * 3 Rough, sharp sand is another option. Use it the same way as the materials in Step 2. * 4 Try calcified seaweed or crushed eggshells as a barrier. * 5 Another barrier material is clippings from thorny roses or holly leaves. Rosa rugosa (Japanese rose) clippings are good. * 6 Spread pine needles in your garden (these are also good mulch for strawberries). * 7 Spread chopped hair (human hair is fine) in your garden. * 8 Try using oak leaves as a barrier. Slugs and snails don't like the tannin in the leaves.
I found slugs love herbs - and tomatoes (the swines!!). In DIY and garden centres you can buy copper sticky-backed tape. It's about ?5 for a biggish roll. I bought this and wrapped it round the pots and it did the trick - slugs get an electric shock when they move across the copper. You can also lay salt circles round pots but of course, this only works in dry weather. You can also buy 'pot feet' which raise pots off the ground a little but slugs are capable of stretching so you'll still need copper tape. Another thing I found in Homebase was woven fabric and copper discs - a bit like weed control fabric. You can trim to size and place this over the dirt in the plant pot. Stops the slugs and stops the weeds too. Mint is super tough and even if the slugs had a good ol' munch, it'll grow back again!
The slugs will crawl right over the sheet. What you can do is build a raised bed or low fence out of boards, and staple copper flashing material to the boards. Slugs and snails will not crawl on bare copper. Some have had success with beer traps as well. Don't put salt on the ground, that will eventually kill all the plants when it gets concentrated enough.
