Annuals that slugs and snails dislike

I find Nasturtiums get little black beetles all over the stems.

Egg shells do help a little. I put them round the new hosta shoots coming through and it generally delays any nibbling till the leaves are tough enough not to be so tasty.

 

Round here snails look on crushed egg shell as a handy source of calcium for their shells.

 

Ah, I'm mainly dealing with slugs rather than snails. Maybe they are less in need of a calcium fix. You do need a lot to be effective. I collect egg shells all yr for my spring dressing!

 

Yes, I want to use annuals so we can replant with bulbs again in autumn and keep my grand daughter involved.
I tried beer traps in my garden but could see the slugs coming from next door. I don't want to attract more than I already have! Last year I think it was the year of the snail we had so many little ones.
I too start things in pots and plant out and only grow salad bowl lettuce in containers, its hopeless trying them in the ground.

 

Always difficult with those tasty salad crops @Baalmaiden, isn't it!
I don't grow a lot of annuals, but the thing we didn't ask you is - what sort of size is the container, and where will it be sited - sunny, shady etc?
I grow Rudbeckias from seed sometimes, and they're quite easy in a sunny site. Depends on whether you like the strong yellow/orange shades too. Cornflowers are also easy [ I grow a dark plum variety] and so are Nigellas - mostly blues, but some variation

 

The trough is about 3 foot by just over 1 foot and about a foot deep and in full sun.

 

It's not huge then @Baalmaiden , but there's plenty of plants which will be fine, although I think if you're going to try your grass that you saved, there won't be a huge amount of room for a lot more planting. I'm not sure how quickly that would grow for this year - most will take a while to get to any size, and lots would be too big for the container, so it depends what the grass is.
If you top the soil mix up, and sow direct, that can be a quick way to get plants. Some plants are better for doing that than others though, and not all will be flowering this year from seed. I see that your dianthus is an annual type, so hopefully that will be fine if you can get them going well, and early enough. It also depends on whether you want a riot of colour, or everything toning.

If you lift the bulbs after they're finished, and just pot them up and keep them somewhere [labelled] then you can get plants in very soon. It's always a good idea to feed bulbs as they die back when they're potted, so that they can get a bit of extra help for next year. If you were to buy some large plug plants for instance, they'll be ready by May, and will be growing well through summer, and there will be lots of bedding plants available in GCs that can be grown on in the meantime. You can squeeze them in as it's not for long term planting.
Just choose ones which will cope with the site- a lot of hot sun can be difficult for small plants, but I'm sure your grand daughter will enjoy the watering!

 

I've never had a problem with calendula and Californian poppies. Also, though out of favour, are Clarkia and Godetia

 

There are obviously plants that slugs and snails avoid. Why don't they find exactly what it is that they dislike and bottle it so that we could spray it on our plants?

 

I have snails gorging on a Semponium this spring. They are all tiny ones so I think there must have been snail eggs in the pot.

 

Good thinking! There's a fortune to be made there.

 

Most of the following seedlings survive in our garden when planted out - Cosmos, Rudbeckia (gloriosa daisy one), Love-in-a-mist, Nasturtium's. lupins are a bit hit and miss, some years some are eaten, some not, same with Sunflowers.

I think it’s a difficult question as I suspect it may depend on what else is on offer to tempt the slugs

 

Cosmos plants get eaten here, flowers and foliage. Lupins are reduced to a stalk overnight. Love-in-the-mist is avoided, thank goodness. Maybe my slugs are just desperate as I really try not to grow things they like.

 

What an excellent idea! 'mind you, the worst pest I ever had to deal with was rabbits in my Mum's garden, especially after her Jack Russel died! She didn't have much problems with slugs though, sandy soil.

 

Boy have I tried them all, and tried all the slug deterrents!

I have quite a big garden, mostly mature shrubs (now I know why) so all my annuals go in pots. It doesn’t prevent all attack, but I can patrol and deter much easier.

I think geraniums/pelargoniums are fairly resistant- if you can find the scented ones then they are generally disliked by the slugs, and are gorgeous for us.