No, not the lead variety, I mean the 'orrible slimy freeloaders that scoff all your plant seedlings as they emerge (or before if they're feeling really mean....)
The problem I have is that I own a 160-year-old house that has drystone walls in and surrounding the garden. Slugs love these as they can live in the crevices and survive even the toughest winters. I've already seen the first slugs in my garden, despite having endured one of the coldest winters for decades.
This year I really have to bite the bullet (or slug if you really prefer) because the garden plan (aka What Herself Tells Me To Plant) calls for a lot of green-leafed vegetables such as Cabbage, Lettuce, Rocket, Mizuna and stuff like that. Left unchecked, the little beggars are going to have a field day at my expense, so I need to employ some method of getting the local slug population to regard Festung Craske in the same way as they regard a salt lick. Askance!
The question is - which method to use? I really can't bring myself to give the slimy creatures my beer in sunken jam-jars, even if it IS fatal. That, to my mind, is tantamount to buying your worst enemy a point before you entice him into an electricity substation and then chuck a bucket of water over the fence. Spearing them every evening with a sharp knife has its limitations too - when you get to fifty-plus a night, you start to dream of slimy things and slug-guts ....... ugh! I even thought of using them for target practice - but they're not much of a challenge are they .......................?
So I'm looking at Nematodes http://www.nemasysinfo.co.uk/slugs.shtml. Anyone on here used the stuff? Does it work as advertsied? How long does it take?? Can I water it every-bleedin'-where to have the maximum available slug-snuff-fest???
And what are the drawbacks ................... Do I have to apply it every few daYs? (At nine quid a pack, it'd be cheaper to buy the slugs a pint).
All advice gratefully received.