Home cure for slugs

A garlic spray recipe from Mary Berry’s gardening book is being recirculated as gardeners look for a simple way to keep slugs and snails off hostas and other soft-leaved plants. (idealhome.co.uk) Ideal Home reported the tip on April 17, 2026, citing Berry’s book *My Gardening Life*. In the book, Berry said she uses a homemade garlic spray to deter slugs and snails from eating her hostas. (idealhome.co.uk) The method is a concentrate, not a ready-to-use spray. Berry’s recipe calls for two whole bulbs of garlic simmered in two litres of water until soft, then mashed and sieved into a bottle before dilution. (idealhome.co.uk) Garlic sprays have been part of British gardening advice for years, especially for gardeners trying to avoid chemical controls. BBC Gardeners’ World has described garlic as a long-used deterrent for slugs and snails, and its magazine has separately published a homemade garlic drench recipe for weekly use or reapplication after rain. (gardenersworld.com, gardenersworld.com) The wider gardening advice is more cautious than the viral framing. The Royal Horticultural Society says only a few slug and snail species feed on garden plants, while many others help break down dead material and serve as food for birds, beetles and reptiles. (rhs.org.uk) The Royal Horticultural Society also says the best way to limit damage is to change growing practices and use non-chemical management. Its guidance recommends keeping plants healthy, monitoring vulnerable young plants and, when needed, picking slugs off by hand rather than reaching first for pesticides. (rhs.org.uk, rhs.org.uk) That caution extends to home remedies more broadly. In one Royal Horticultural Society barriers trial, researcher Hayley Jones grew 108 lettuces over six weeks and found no difference in damage between unprotected plants and plants ringed with eggshells, bark mulch, copper tape, grit or wool pellets. (rhs.org.uk) The current burst of attention fits the spring gardening calendar, when damp, mild conditions can push slug complaints higher. The Royal Horticultural Society said 2024 was the “sluggiest year” in its advice records since detailed tracking began in 1967 after a mild winter and mild, damp spring. (rhs.org.uk) So the garlic spray is best understood as a deterrent gardeners can try, not a settled fix. The recipe’s appeal is that it uses cupboard ingredients, avoids slug pellets, and targets the plants people most want to protect. (idealhome.co.uk, rhs.org.uk)