Slugging it out in garden

Slugs are not popular animals, writes Dick Warner

No wildlife conservation organisation is going to adopt a slug as its logo — they just don’t compete with pandas or dolphins or robins. This is understandable. They don’t look very attractive and they’re slimy. The slime absorbs water, which makes it difficult to wash off your hands. They’re also capable of doing quite a bit of damage by eating garden plants.

I didn’t realise I had slugs in my greenhouse until my wife began complaining about the large numbers of them hiding in the early lettuces that I proudly brought into the kitchen for her to use in salads. However, slugs are everywhere. They’re far more widespread than snails because they’re not restricted to environments providing enough calcium for shell building.