WITH spring finally here and the weather heating up, if you want to ensure your garden is guest-ready, you’ve come to the right place.
There’s nothing more annoying than spending days looking after your plants, only to find pesky slugs crawling all over them.
And if your plants have been chewed by the slimy creatures, don’t worry, we’ve got just the thing.
These soft-bodied molluscs can quickly become a gardener’s nightmare, leaving ragged holes in leaves and causing significant damage to plants.
But luckily for you, one savvy gardener has claimed to have found a super simple remedy that solves this problem.
Sharing their wisdom on a r/GardeningUK Reddit thread, a user recommended using a cheap supermarket buy to eliminate the pests for good, and beamed: “It’s bye-bye slugs!”
According to this social media user, using melon – yes, you heard that correctly – will enable lazy gardeners to wave goodbye to the nocturnal creatures that thrive in damp conditions.
The answer was in response to a fellow gardener’s call for help on the online forum.
The gardening enthusiast wrote: “I’m Looking for a pesticide-free deterrent…I’m not looking to kill as there’s no point and the stuff that does harm beneficial insects and bugs.”
While many people suggested picking slugs up at dusk every evening as they begin to crawl on plants, one Reddit user pointed out that the melon method proves to be effortless.
They said: “Get a honeydew melon. Cut in half. Eat the melon while preserving the skin in two hemispheres.
“Then go and put the melon skin in your garden near the crops, facing downwards, so it forms a dome.”
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Top Pest Control Tips for Your Yard” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6353170274112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]The Reddit user claimed that the melon – and this trick also works with watermelon too – should then be lifted the next morning, as they continued: “You will see (nearly) every slug in your garden is in that melon because they would rather eat melon than your crops.
“You can then put the melon miles away, or at least as far as possible, and it’s bye-bye slugs!”
If you want to give this handy trick a try but are being stared at by an empty fruit bowl, don’t worry you’ll find honeydew melon in all major supermarkets.
And if you’re on a budget, you’ll be pleased to know that using a honeydew melon is an incredibly purse-friendly trick, as it will cost you just £1.89 from Asda, Morrisons and Tesco.
[quote credit=”Reddit user”]You can then put the melon miles away, or at least as far as possible, and it’s bye-bye slugs![/quote]You can also use watermelon, which you can pick up for only £2.28 in Asda, £2.30 in Sainsbury’s and £2.99 in Aldi.
According to the Royal Horticultural Society, the netted field slug, brown soil slug and common garden snail are some of the species most likely to be found feeding on garden plants.
But it turns out that other kinds, like the leopard slug, can be beneficial to your garden.
The RHS explained that these slugs don’t pose a threat to plants, and are highly territorial against other slugs.
In fact, the RHS claimed they can “be a gardener’s friend”.
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