How Can I Love A Slug?

 

Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash

I'm trying my best to love slugs, but it's difficult.  When they have completely devoured my newly-planted lupins all I can feel is frustration and annoyance, no affection whatsoever. They, and their closest chums the snails, are determined little so-and-sos; they can successfully navigate all my barriers: grit, crushed egg shells, wool pellets and stop-a-slug gel! It's very disheartening. 

Call me a wimp, but nothing could entice me to pick up a slug with my bare hands. (Did you know slug blood is green?!) My husband, thank goodness, is less squeamish and does a daily slug and snail collection, then sends them all off on their holidays to a nearby patch of grass. I'm sure, however, that they come back, slowly crossing the driveway of pebbles in the dead of night to return to our garden and the succulent leaves that await them. I fear we are fighting a losing battle; one snail can have 430 babies a year and each snail can have up to 14,000 teeth? That is indeed the stuff of nightmares for a gardener.

I'm reliably informed that slugs and snails are very important and a food source for all sorts of mammals, but an occasional hedgehog isn't going to solve the problem. I'm afraid I can't bring myself to use salt, slug pellets or beer traps, but do confess to using nematodes sometimes. Even then my garden is still infested. I suppose slugs have as much right as I do to live on this earth (some live for six years), but I'm yet to be convinced of their beauty. 

Writing prompt:

• Is there something, or someone that you should love but find it had to do so? Write about it for seven minutes. 
• Imagine you are a slug or snail and write about the your experience of living in my garden. 
• Do some people or creatures have more right than others to live on planet Earth? Do some have more worth because they are considered beautiful or talented? Is there such a thing as an 'ugly' creature or person? Write in response to these questions.