1 day Ago By Sydney Evans
Slugs are particularly active during April in the UK, with the warmer and often wet weather conditions making for an ideal environment , especially with the arrival of April showers. Although they’re a valuable part of the composting system, they can also be a pest for gardeners, especially those with plants and flowers . Slime trails left behind by slugs and their feeding habits can lead to serious damage in gardens and, in some cases, the death of plants and flowers.
While there’s plenty of advice out there on how to prevent them from chomping through your garden, one method is guaranteed to stop them. Slugs are sensitive to smells and texture, and some plants are enough to deter them from feeding on them, especially ones with a strong scent like rosemary, sage and thyme or flowers like lavender and roses. But these can also be a great addition to your garden, especially if you have a herb garden, and not planting them might simply not be a choice.
Instead, rather than chucking this kitchen leftover into the bin, you might want to consider throwing it out into your garden as it’s highly unappealing to the garden pest. Scott Evans, owner of Pink Storage, explained that "using natural deterrents is not only safer for wildlife but is also cheaper too” and chucking your coffee grounds into the garden can help create an effective “no-go” area around plants and flowers. In fact, it’s not just the ground's strong aroma and gritty texture that slugs can't stand, the substance can actually be toxic if too much is ingested.
While slugs will likely avoid any part of the garden where coffee grounds have been used, the caffeine found in grounds disrupts the nerve signals in slugs, which can lead to paralysis if there’s a significant amount of exposure. To reuse coffee grounds in the garden, you can either mix it into your soil, or create a barrier around plants that are most at risk of being eaten away by slugs, especially vegetable plants like peas, lettuce, spinach and kale. Coffee grounds are also a great way to make use of this leftover and reduce waste in the kitchen, as they provide essential nutrients like potassium and phosphorus, keeping plants healthy and safe from pests.
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