Snails! The scourge of my tiny garden. When I started my morning Tai Chi practice I spotted too many snails crawling across my plants. Did you know that a snail lays, on average, about 80 eggs? Since snails are hermaphrodites that means 160 baby snails per union.
There is only one thing for it: a Dawn Patrol. I have used metaldehyde pellets in the past but the sight of poisoned snails slowly dehydrating and dying distresses me and makes me feel guilty. So I carefully collect all the snails I can see and take them across the road to dump them in the shrubbery. It is no use throwing them over the garden fence because they will crawl back – quite apart from it being mighty antisocial. Apparently snails’ homing instincts may be overcome if you move them over 20 metres away. This morning I re-located one hundred snails about 10 metres away. I should have painted a stripe on their backs to identify whether they return!

Does dumping snails constitute the same thing as dumping litter?
What do you do about snails in your garden?

At least the snails do not seem to enjoy nibbling my pink peonies.

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