The Good Slug Guide: How to tackle the slugs and snails in your garden and help save the planet

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Jo Kirby

The Good Slug Guide

How to tackle the slugs and snails in your garden and help save the planet

Jo Kirby

$29.99

Hardback

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English

Gemini Adult Books Limited
25 February 2025

Plant pathology & diseases; Molluscs; Gardening; Gardening: plants

Slugs and snails exasperate gardeners everywhere. The only effective chemical control has been banned and its replacement is still relatively untested and has its own environmental issues. And now the RHS says that we should treat slugs and snails as 'garden visitors'. What is going on? The Good Slug Guide explains why conventional controls often fail, what slugs and snails really get up to in our gardens, what they really eat, what eats them, and includes many practical tips on how reduce the damage done by pesky molluscs.

Prepare for surprises. Slug pellets probably help rather than hinder real nasties. The usual advice of 'keep the garden neat and tidy' can make things worse and the organic advice to 'encourage hedgehogs, frogs and toads' turns out to be mostly wrong. Instead, there are more than 70 garden friends who are natural enemies of slugs and snails, ranging from mammal to microbe. There are even a few useful predatory slugs and snails.

Most scientists are not gardeners, and most gardeners are not scientists, and very few scientist-gardeners have a background in the ecology of decomposition along with a deep interest in environmental toxicology. This fortunate combination of skills and knowledge has prepared Jo Kirby uniquely to write a gardening book for the modern age. Laid out in an easy-to-follow manner with sound, practical advice on how to achieve a resilient garden, this timely book will change the way you think about your garden - and your slugs!

By: Jo Kirby
Imprint: Gemini Adult Books Limited
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 129mm,
ISBN: 9781914902253
ISBN 10: 1914902254
Pages: 144
Publication Date: 25 February 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Jo Kirby is a retired academic and lifelong gardener who is passionate about the environment. His family were commercial growers who used pesticides and other grim methods of pest control routinely. By the 1990s it was clear that chemical use in horticulture and agriculture was causing a decline in flora and fauna, polluting the planet and harming a whole range of species, not just the intended victims. At college, Jo became interested in environmental toxicology and went on to do post-doctoral research in the ecology of decomposing plant matter before returning to the family business. Jo has undertaken a 30-year quest to understand the ecological processes at work in gardens, and how they might be adapted and used to help create beautiful places in which pests could never become a major issue.

Reviews for The Good Slug Guide: How to tackle the slugs and snails in your garden and help save the planet

'Impressive... brimming with facts' * The English Garden * 'Intriguing, persuasive, excellent.' Royal Entomological Society ' * Royal Entomological Society * 'Prepare to rethink your slug strategies with Jo Kirby’s handy guide' * Country Living * 'A heady mix of scientific rigour, history and humour' * Country Life * 'This is a very, very good book.' -- Mark Avery, Conservationist 'Worth a place on every grower’s bookshelves' * Orchid Society of Great Britain Journal * A 'timely guide' * Horticulture Week * 'Full of simple, practical advice' * Irish News * 'Your book is what we gardeners have all been waiting for' * Roots and All podcast * 'Prepare to be surprised... and amazed!' * Seedball * 'A fantastic read and really useful resource for gardeners' * Buglife * 'The perfect gift' * Edward Bulmer, Interior Designer * 'Surely THE definitive guide to [these] garden pests.' -- Brian Johnson-Thomas * Pershore Times, Upton Times, Kempsey Times, Powick Times * 'Traditional slug-beating advice is turned on its head.' * The Bristol Magazine *