A Cup Of Coffee A Day Keeps The Snails Away

Our backyard (and front yard for that matter) has always had a very bad slug/snail problem. Since I was never really into outdoor gardening, I let them enjoy our uncut grass and overgrown weeds. However, now that I have a garden to take care of and precious plants to protect, I must do something about these pests.

To my surprise, I was told used coffee grounds does the trick! Very organic, yet very effective. And the best part is that it is great compost material and adds plenty of nutrients to the soil.

Now this doesn't kill the snail, just repels them so I need to start venturing out on wet nights to go snail hunting... They still give me the heebie jeebies though so I'll probably make my boyfriend pick them all up :D And I hear leaving out bowls of beer attracts and drowns them so I'll probably try that out too.

I don't have a soil tester but I the dirt beds were covered in pine needles during the winter so I'm guessing the soil is a bit acidic. If I understand correctly, lime helps in lowering the PH.

Being the frugal self that I am, instead of going out to buy lime, I've actually collected all the little packets in snacks that keeps food dry. Those "do not eat" packets? Apparently what's inside is... lime! :D



I accidntally went overboard and covered the entire garden with lime.... even though I've read that I shouldn't add lime to root vegetables, which I've planted already. Oops. Hopefully they still grow okay!