Snails and slugs need spaces to move through the soil; creating a good fine tilth will discourages them. Moving the soil surface with a rake in winter will expose many slugs and their eggs to frost damage. Remove fallen and damaged leafs from your tender plants remember slugs eat decaying vegetation, so remove this source of food. Ground and rove beetles, centipedes, frogs and toads, slow-worms, hedgehogs and many species of birds all eat significant numbers of slugs. To encourage frogs and toads maintain a pond without fish. Various materials or uncomfortable for slugs and snails to cross and a barrier provides some protection for vulnerable and valuable plants. Vermiculite Gravel Bark Hand picking and trapping: slugs can be collected at night with a torch. Traps can concentrate slugs to specific areas for picking. If you need results quickly trapping is the method to opt for. The Beer Trap Method: This is quite a traditional technique. All you need is a jar, put it on its side with a small amount of alcoholic beverage in it, and when slugs come along they'll drown in it. It's very simple, it's effective, and you don't need the whole can either.