Include snail protection when building the raised bed
For this reason, you should keep the climbers away by building a raised bed that is unfriendly to snails. When designing the bed, make sure that the bed box gets bigger and bigger towards the top - i.e. it has a conical shape. This makes it very difficult for the animals to get up. You can achieve such a shape not only with wood, but also with stone or plastic beds. In addition to the conical shape, life is made difficult for snails by the bed walls made of overlapping wooden planks (or plastic panels ...), because the pests cannot overcome these angular obstacles or only with a lot of luck. You also mulch the ground around the raised bed with sharp-edged wood chips - these are also avoided.
also read
- Snails in Raised Bed - You Can Do That Now
- Plant raised beds in the 1st year
- The marigold, a natural helper against snails
No chance for snails in the raised bed
Otherwise, make your raised bed safe from the voracious mollusks by using copper strips tied around the bed and / or a classic snail barrier. An angled plate, which protrudes under the protruding bed edge, is sufficient as a snail barrier. Since it can also happen that there are snail eggs on purchased young plants or in the potting soil or in the compost, you should have an environmentally friendly iron-III-based slug pellet (€ 16.78 on Amazon *) ready. Usually a single treatment of the plants in spring is enough to have some peace and quiet from the annoying snails for the rest of the gardening season.
Be careful with overhanging shoots and tendrils
Caution is advised with all overhanging plants in the raised bed: If nasturtiums, cucumbers, zucchini etc. tend to fall on the ground, even the best defense against snails is useless. In this case, the animals simply use the over-long shoots of the plants to reach the raised bed. Keep such oversized shoots short, tie them up and / or let the plants grow up on a climbing aid.
Tips
Mulching with straw or similar materials not only keeps the soil in the raised bed moist longer, but also keeps annoying snails away - they don't like the sharp edges and can't get over them.
