We had had a particularly wet start to the summer this year. And there’s something that comes with a lot of rain when you’re trying to grow a garden… slugs.
There is a reason why I don’t bother planting lettuce. And slugs are it.
Just look at that thing. Gross.
Still… this year it was like a mini plague. In the mornings it was hard to see the grass through the slugs. I naturally launched a ‘death to the slugs’ campaign… to no avail. Upon commencement I realised there was no way I had time to stomp around on them all… but that wasn’t my only issue. The slugs here are massive. In fact they are so massive that it makes me feel bad killing them. It’s like when I’m faced with killing a large spider, I just don’t feel right with it. If it’s tiny, that’s ok, I barely notice the mark left on the tissue, but these slugs… they’re small creatures, some are the size of tiny birds!
I once tried to kill one at close distance with a hoe – the thing just bounced right off! I was traumatised and had to get hubby to finish him off… after all, a quick death is all any decent warrior wants.
For the second year I planted silverbeet… and it might be last. The first one got munched into nothing… the second one I spent at least 10€ on snail repellent to keep him safe… I don’t think silverbeet in my garden is worth the investment.
The snails on the other hand are tiny, cute creatures, housed in little tan shells. They don’t bother me, in fact I don’t see them very often. Probably because the slugs monster over them like they do to my silverbeet. Hateful, slimy, freakishly-large things.
an aussie in austria 
I can feel your pain with the super-slugs. We also had a bit of a wet start to the summer, and they were an absolute nuisance. They even crawled under our back door and slimed their way across our living room… yuck! We held off planting more veggies until the weather warmed up and they disappeared.
Oh that is gross!!! Slugs in the living room – at least mine stay in the garden!!!
One of the few times in my gardening exploits that I am glad to be struggling with the challenges of an Australian Veggie patch!
I remember all too well the horror when my lush green leafy garden was decimated by hordes of animals in austria. By contrast there are no snails or slugs in drought stricken Australia – and even if they were my sandy soil and shady gum leaf engulfed garden means nothing grows very well anyway! Nothing to lose really!
I guess it would be better if the gardens were lush and there were slugs… if the plants would only grow in Oz!