Penny Henderson writes:
The recent wet weather has brought out the slugs and snails, which are now well and truly on the march.
To protect my courgettes and squashes, I take two different approaches:
I buy copper scourers from the hardware store on Mill Road, unravel them into loops so that one scourer can be cut into 4 or 5 collars, and tuck them around the base of the plants to protect them while the stalks are small.
Additionally, or on their own, I put ‘Slug Gone’ pellets around the plants: these are pellets of wool impregnated with fertiliser, so when they disintegrate into the soil they also improve it.
These really do keep these critters off!