Slugs, Snails, hedgehogs, cats and birds!

Hi All.

This new little garden of mine is a haven for ninja slugs and snails! They are HUGE! and so many of them.

Problem is, every single neighbour has a cat.My very small garden is enclosed all sides with 6 ft fence and despite hanging out bird seed (fat balls and peanuts) on the line I've never seen a single bird, not even a sparrow! The cats visit and leave their mark daily though. As a result the bird food remains untouched until it rots.

Of course no birds means the slugs especially can munch away to their hearts content! I'm reluctant to use slug pellets as there are so many different kinds in the market I don't know which ones to use and which ones will not pose a threat to hedgehogs, birds etc. Any one with advice on this?

I've also never ever seen a hedgehog in the vicinity (again due to too many cats??). Would love to encourage these adorable creatures to my garden, there's a feast waiting for them! But haven't a clue where to start.

Finally what can I do about all the slugs? At the moment I collect them after it's been raining and put them all in the bin! Not the best way to deal with them I know.

Should I be discouraging the cats from my garden? (Which is fenced in by neighbours gardens, so would not be able to banish them altogether) and how would I encourage birds to visit?

So many questions, but all your advice and help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks a lot.

Fi

 

It's not ideal for ridding your whole garden of them, but to protect any individual plant from slugs one way that worked for me is crumbled up egg shell. Circle your plant with it and the blighters can't crawl over it. There is a book out there called "bugs, slugs and other thugs" that I bought for my other half which gives organic ways of keeping the critters off your garden, but I don't know if she ever read it!

 

Cheers, but these aren't ordinary slugs, they're Ninja slugs! I've tried the eggshell thing, didn't bother tham at all. Also tried Bran, lasted till the rain then washed away and gave them a clear path to my plants. Tried wrapping wire wool aroundmy plants which DID keep them off, until the wire woll began to degrade adn soaked my soil with copper. I really need a way to encourage birds and hedgehogs......... Without annoying the cat's owners!

Thanks

fi

 

Cruel to be kind is my motto.
Basically, be cruel to the unwanted trespassers so to be kind to yourself and wanted visitors.
For the slugs and snails, buy any slug pellet you can get your hands on, but don't worry about surrounding your plants with the pellets, just pour the pellets onto and around where you know slugs and snails are, infact it use to fasinate me to watch the water-made creatures bubble up and disappear.
As for the cats, use orange peel, place it anywhere you think cats are gaining entry to your property, the citric stickyness is an unwanted sign to cats, even the smell supposed to scare them off. Or best of all, get a dog.
Also, is it just your garden the birds wont enter or is it a neighboury thing? It could possibly be the cats that surround your property that scare them off, or it could be lack of trees being around you. Remember birds ideally prefer to live in trees.

[ 07. September 2005, 03:34 PM: Message edited by: greenfingers ]

 

Hi fimonkey

To get rid of the slugs i use either coffee or dried tea bags and just sprinkle round the plants that it is affecting! hope it works it does for me!!
Happy gardening!!!

 

hi I have cats all around but love to watch the birds feeding, I use stinky mushroom compost on my beds,good for my plants and the cats dont come near it, also the orange peel worked a treat...stop the cats and you will get the birds in there is nothing worse than weeding and finding a cats poo!
as for the slugs, go out at dusk and pick them off by hand and the good old beer in a bowl trick, they just love a pint
only trouble is they tend to keep you awake with their singing...ha..ha :rolleyes:

 

There are some slug pellets that are supposed to wild life friendly - however I don't trust them and don't use them. Interestingly it is not the large black slugs that do the damage but the small ones - and the best control I know for these are frogs. Not sure how small your garden is, but mostly no garden is too small not to have a small pond feature. By the way when putting the ones you gather in the bin - are they in tightly secured plastic bags, or just loose - if the latter- they'll just crawl out.

Hedgehogs will come if they chose to - I haven't heard of anything that will attract them and them alone.

Snails are a whole different story and were the bane of my life - kept under control by night patrols. However I now have thrushes visiting and nesting so life is now much more laid back. If you want to attract thrushes to your garden - like black birds or any other bird, you need to feed them - cats are not a major problem if you site feeders and tables out of their reach. You need both - visit the rspb site for their advise.

 

Thanks everyone for your advice, Never heard of T-bags, will give that a go and let you know how I get on! Found another 20 HUGE slugs last night..... Wish the little creatures would go and bug some other gardener!