One of the challenges we've all faced in the last few years of Bees 'n Beans has been the hungry attentions of slugs and snails. And, if your gardens are anything like mine, this isn’t a problem confined to your beans.

There are lots of ways to fight back against these pests (the downloads page has a pdf of suggestions if you are wondering where to start), but another one has been brought to my attention, with a couple of folks saying they found it really useful last year: Sheep’s wool pellets.

Basically, you scatter the wool pellets around the base of the plant and water them; they then swell up into a ‘carpet’ that is unpleasant for slugs and snails to cross. Smells a little bit of wet sheep, but not in an overpowering way in the greenhouse / garden (although I suggest it’s not a windowsill-friendly product). I hadn’t heard of this before, so after recommendations from volunteers in 2015 I’m going to give them a go this year, with some of my more apparently-delicious plants.

I’ll let you know how it turns out. If you’ve got any experience of these, or other tips for your fellow Bee Scientists, do let me know and I will pass them on!