Gardener shares easy and free hack for warding off hungry snails and slugs: ‘Nature’s barbed wire’

Snails may seem like slow-moving, harmless bugs, but they can wreak havoc on your garden. Luckily, one TikToker has a quick, easy, and cost-effective hack to keep them away.

The scoop 

Simon Akeroyd (@simonakeroydgardener) utilizes his platform on TikTok to promote gardening and share gardening hacks.

His hack to keep slugs out of gardens could be a game-changer for farmers. Snails and slugs have evolved to be able to eat basically anything, and the plants in your garden make for a delicious meal.

To keep them away, you’ll first want to find a thorny branch; this can be from the stem of a rose or even from a bush. Then, cut all of the shoots — the tiny branches, sometimes with leaves — off of the thorny stem.

After that, all you need to do is line the edges of your pot, garden, or garden bed with these prickly branches, and the slugs and snails will gladly feast somewhere else. Akeroyd’s video even shows a snail making its way toward the garden, but promptly turning around after being poked by a thorn.

“Enjoy your slug-free veggies,” Akeroyd says.

How it’s helping 

This hack is an easy, cost-effective way to keep slugs and snails out of your garden — leaving you with more greenery, more veggies, and a lower grocery bill.

Growing your produce can save you quite a bit of money in the long run — and this hack helps you to do so while simultaneously ensuring that harmful chemicals from pesticides don’t end up on your produce.

This lack of pesticides is a huge bonus for the environment, too — pesticides harm non-target plants and animals, and the harmful chemicals can end up in local water sources. This contaminates local plants, animals, and in some cases, even drinking water.

If you’re not having a slug problem but have an issue with another type of pest, check out these natural remedies for mosquitoes and aphids.

What everyone’s saying 

One commenter hit the nail on the head when she described the hack as “Nature’s barbed wire.”

Others were thrilled to find an easy way to repel the slimy pests, “Best idea I’ve heard!” said one. “Such a great idea, my plants are almost gone because of the snails,” wrote another.

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