Nail varnish, correction fluid and disco lights have revealed the impressive homing instincts of garden snails, as well as the best ways to get rid of them
AFTER 15 years of neglect, David Dunstan decided to give his garden a makeover. Once he had finished clearing and digging, he splashed out on 120 new plants, from cottage-garden favourites like lupins and lavenders to showy hostas with their luxuriant foliage. With the plants dug in and watered, the solid-state-physicist from Queen Mary, University of London put his feet up and waited for nature to do its stuff.
It did – but not in the way Dunstan had anticipated. Within days the prized hostas had been reduced to outlines on the soil. The lupins were hardly recognisable. Wherever Dunstan looked, he saw tender young plants ravaged by the rasping tongues of snails.
What to do? Advice came thick and fast. Crush ...
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