I've got slug pellets based on iron phosphate, which is apparently people-safe but not slug-safe so I'm more than happy to use it liberally. Have you ever tried copper tape as a slug-deflector? I've heard good and bad things about it. At worst, it'll be an expensive way of making the raised beds look really shiny, I suppose.Radius Solis wrote:Ah, slugs. I live in in a place where our unofficial city motto is: "Enjoy Seattle rain. Ten billion slugs can't be wrong!"
On this one, planterboxes do get you an advantage. Slugs have to crawl up the sides, which is an opportunity for blocking their progress. You can get special strips that go around the sides and have a texture that discourages slugs and may or may not be impregnated with poison, though IIRC it isn't perfect. Or you can just put poison down around the outside of the box so it's not so close to your food.
Anyway, I've got some sickly looking tomatoes and some healthy looking artichokes at the moment. There is some rocket (rucola? arugula?) as well, but that was from the supermarket as part of a "living salad" pack and only cost 25p so if it dies it dies. Last year's from-seed rocket seeded all over the place like a weed, so it's possible we'll have a rocket carpet in the veg patch soon. I might plant out a few garlic cloves that have sprouted to see what happens, and maybe some spring onions (scallions?).