Slugs, and to a lesser extent snails, cause the most damage in our garden, so it's fortunate for us that there are greengrocers, as it's a losing battle trying to grow our own five a day.

The snails have diminished since magpies moved in, and we've seen magpies eating slugs too, but it's going to take them and the thrushes a long time to get through the healthy population lurking under the leaves.

Unfortunately it's not always the big ugly ones that do the damage but quite small ones that live in the soil and emerge by the plant stem to attack it or the leaves, usually after dark. Spring and autumn are the worst times, when there's high humidity or heavy rain, and of course these are the sowing and planting seasons. So what to do?

Try the following, and let us know what succeeded for you.

Cultivation

Keep the ground cultivated - cultivation in cold weather exposes slugs and eggs to freezing conditions. Also a fine seedbed means less clods of soil for slugs to hide in.

Also, choose your location - don't sow crops close to hedges or shrubbery where slugs can easily migrate from.

Unfortunately mulches and organic matter provide lots of nooks and crannies for slugs to survive in, so make sure they are not too close to the stems and leaves of vulnerable plants.

Give the plants a chance

Grow plants on until their stems are a sturdy size before transplanting into the garden. Avoid bare-root transplanting as plants are vulnerable until their roots become established and the plant can start growing again. It's better to plant out a large plug or a pot-sized rootball.

Removal

Snails can be crushed if you're not squeamish, and slugs picked up and dropped into a container of very hot water to kill them. Then dump the bodies for the birds to hoover up. Salty water is another option, but salt can damage plants and birds. Some people cart away live slugs and snails to dump them a long way away, which eventually reduce the numbers, but if the food is still there in your garden, the numbers are bound to build up again. Whichever method you use, you have to be persistent.

To be more efficient, attract the slugs and snails to one place for collection. Slugs will keep out of the sun and hidden from predators, so some grapefruit skins (halves turned upside down) or large leaves such as cabbage or rhubarb leaves make good traps that you can empty daily.

You could also use traps such as sunken pots or saucers with enough liquid to drown them. Bait these to get them there in the first place. Baits include beer, or a yeasty mixture (Marmite or baker's yeast) if you object to giving them your drink in addition to your veg. Leave the rim of the trap about 1cm (half an inch) above soil to avoid trapping beneficial insects trundling by.

Apparently dried cat food is also a good bait.

Biological control - predators

Birds and hedgehogs will prey on slugs, so encourage them both. Cultivate the ground to attract birds to peck through it the soil. Chickens and ducks are great slug snafflers but caring for them might not be easy, depending on your garden and your situation.

Nematodes (tiny worms) from Crocus, are very effective but need applying every six weeks, so you need to be organised. Although they might appear expensive, if you compare the cost with the amount of slug pellets you use, you could be surprised.

Barriers

Most barriers (home-made or mass produced) are based on the theory of providing a dehydrating layer that dries up the slug's slime or acts as an irritant to them so they avoid the area or produce more slime and then become dehydrated. Materials suggested include eggshells, grit, or vermiculite (but this blows away easily), but assuming the theory is correct (a big if), these layers won't stop the pests popping up from underground.

Containers are easier to protect with a barrier, using a copper band (usually sold as tape) around the pot - these work by giving the slug a shock. However don't let overhanging vegetation bridge the copper otherwise the creatures can bypass the deterrent. As for copper bands around plants in the garden - hmm, what about the slugs that arrive from undergound?

There is also slug blocking gel (from Earth Matters or Green Fingers) that we haven't used yet, which may be promising as it can be applied directly to plant stems.

Grow slug-resistant plants

Easier said than done, but there's no point trying to grow a range of slug favourites like hostas in a slug-riddled garden - you're just making life hard for yourself.

This advice is of no use whatsoever for veggie growers either, but fruit bushes and trees can give you the satisfaction of food production without a war on slugs. Of course, then blackbirds and wasps become your obsession....

Encourage birds and toads in the garden by providing some water for them and some cover, but not too much cover for the slugs. Yep, contradictory advice. We find our pond useful for drowning the slugs that we find.

Grow sacrificial plants

Grow some plants that slugs love above all others so that they leave the rest of the plants for you. Just a suggestion....

Slugicides

Molluscicides for gardeners in the UK contain either metaldehyde, iron phosphate or aluminium sulphate.

Most pellets don't kill slugs directly but dehydrate them so they are slowed down so much that they dessicate in the sun (but if there's no sun, they recover and slime off to munch another day). Another point to remember is that slug pellets contain bait, so if you are over-generous with the stuff, you'll attract even more to your plot. Also, heavy rain dissolves the pellets and washes them into the soil where they are not effective, although there are some rain-fast types available. If using around edible crops, be sure to adhere to the instructions and only apply the recommended number of times.

If used at the correct level, there's little evidence of harm to slug-eating creatures, but the problem is that dogs in particular can develop a taste for them and go around the whole garden snuffling them all up, or worse still, get into the box or bag. Any quantity will kill or seriously harm a pet (or person!) so keep the bag or box safely locked away.

Metaldehyde is not acceptable for organic growers, and although iron phosphate is permitted by the EU, it is only reluctantly accepted by the Soil Association, with provisos. Aluminium sulphate kills on contact - it is not organic either but the RSPB considers it one of the less risky chemical killers.

Don't

Use old carpet or plastic sheeting as a weed suppressant because slugs hide underneath where predators can't get at them.