Gardeners are being urged to put garlic in their garden this week and every week until October – to help banish slugs.
Slugs and snails are the bane of most gardeners’ lives, slithering across prize plants, chewing through fruit and vegetable crops and generally razing through anything vaguely green and living. And when it rains, the problem is multiplied, with the pests taking advantage of the damp and the cloud cover to come back above ground and wreak havoc.
That’s why many gardeners try all sorts of tips and tricks to banish slugs, many of which don’t actually work. Beer traps (actually attract more slugs), eggshells (actually feed slugs), slug pellets (are bad for other wildlife), copper tape (wears away and is often too weak to work). But garlic does keep slugs at bay, according to garden experts.
One garden expert who has appeared on BBC Gardeners’ World shared how it works. Writing on the Sienna Hosta Blog, they said: “As seen during our appearance on BBC Gardeners World we use garlic wash as a slug deterrent on the nursery. Please find below the recipe that we use and find very effective. The quantities aren’t exact and you can always alter them as you wish.”
They urge people to put two full bulbs of garlic in two litres of water in a saucepan. Then, boil them until soft and squash to release as much garlic juice as possible.
Sieve out the skins and then dilute two tablespoons of the liquid to five litres of water in a watering can or sprayer.
Then spray or water this across your plants once a week from February to October. They added that ‘High dosage and more regular applications may be needed in wet weather.’.
This is backed up by New Forest Hostas which says: “During the season you should try and spray your plants every 7-10 days or after heavy rainfall. Remember that the more consistent you are the better effect it will have. One other thing to also try and do is to go out into your garden an hour or so after dark and find the culprits.
“Take 2 whole bulbs of garlic, crush and place in a saucepan. Add 2 pints of water and boil for around 10-15 minutes. Please be aware that this does produce quite a pungent smell so if possible you may want to do this outside on either a camping stove or similar.
Once this has cooled, strain the liquid off and place into a plastic bottle. This will give you your concentrated mixture. To dilute, the ratio is 1-2 tablespoon of concentrate to 8 pints of water, place this into a normal garden sprayer and cover the foliage of the plants with the mixture.”