OK you bar stewards, you win but I'll be back - maybe

My dwarf sunflowers were all munched - and they were inside!! A snail had got in, somehow. They had some Cosmos for dessert, but most have survived.

 

They’d be singing though, and we wouldn’t like that!

 

I think we all agree this season so far is the worst for losing plants due to Slugs & Snails. But we don't give up, do we

 

The slugs and/or snails have been eating lots of my flowers this year... daffodils, crocus and now starting on the buds of some new french lavender plants

 

A few people have said their daffs have been under seige. I always considered them slug-proof. Just goes to show, they will have a go at almost anything, little wotsits! Grrrr.

 

It hasn't happened in previous years but they really went to town this year. I think the conditions here (wet and heavy soil) make it like the slug-Bahamas. My dad has the opposite conditions and is always "impressed" with my slug population... Never wants to take any home with him tho

 

Three rows of peas, half the runner and French beans, a tray of lettuce, a row of carrots, onions savaged, a couple of dahlias ravaged and daffodil flowers munched.
Also I hold them responsible for the non appearance of a dahlia left in the ground, the complete disappearance of an unusual Viburnum, the bamboo canes marking their locations and the plastic labels identifying them.

 

That lot should give them indigestion, @NigelJ. Could slow their munching a tad.

 

It's common for them to eat through the buds of daffs here @ViewAhead . I know I'll lose some every year to that. It's the same with clematis. On a fairly recent addition [planted last year] the 2 flowers that appeared were decimated. There's 2 new ones - one has opened but has been eaten, and the o ther one - the bud's been attacked, so it'll be lovely...

 

I'm going out on a limb here , but I'm honestly not boasting. Yes, it has been very wet and grey and soggy, but though we have plenty of slugs they have not been a problem. My hostas are there, with only a couple of tiny holes, the dahlias are hardened off sitting on the ground, no damage there either, or in the borders. My daughter thinks it is because we have not been weeding out the plants that the slugs normally feed on that they leave our other plants alone.
This is partly because the garden is far to big for me to keep up with, especially at his time of year, and also because I am happy to tolerate (post interrupted at this point so I could chase off one of the neighbour's sheep that had come in to mow our 'lawn'!) yes, I tolerate weeds as wildflowers and leave many of them to grow, providing they don't become a nuisance. I have been delighted over the years to see new wild things appear and expand their territories. The mower is always on high settings and I happily mow around the cuckoo flowers or leave bits unmown for plants such as bird's foot trefoil to establish. One bit of my boggy border we leave entirely to its own devices because we have seen two plants of Heath Spotted orchid there in the last couple of years. These things make me very happy, but so do the buttercups and daisies in the lawn!
Perhaps some others of you might also find that a little more 'inspired neglect' might not be such a bad thing

 

I've put this chap back in a pot. He didn't stand a chance in the big wide world

 

What was it?

 

Or ... what is it?

 

They work in shifts down here, with slugs preferring the night shift.

 

My trial with various foody baits has been put on hold. Too many to have a serious count up....mainly from spanish slugs. When these things breed they REALLY breed. I've resorted to lidded bucket half filled with salty, soapy water.
In four nights, I have caught in excess of eight hundred molluscs. Yes, 800+!

I could have waterproofed a large marquee with the snotty goop left over