they like it damp and dark just like snails do and tend to come out at night . you can buy special catchers that you put beer or paper in as they love these and other things but there is know poisan so friendly . you wont actualy get rid of them . just cut them down a bit .

Where do slugs come from? Well I'll tell you. There once were two slugs one was called Sally and the other was called Sam and one night the met on a Hosta leaf..........:)!!!

They lay eggs in soil - they're capable of remaining dormant for a very long time if the conditions aren't right. You will have slugs and snails every year, and it will be much worse in wet years, particularly after a wet, mild winter. Buy some slug pellets (Eraza are good, they're rainproof) with the active ingredient metaldehyde - but sprinkle very LIGHTLY, not so that the soil looks blue after you've applied them, but so you have, say, around 10 maximum every square foot, and only use them occasionally, in particular, when its wet.

They hide during the day under anything shady, and love plants that make a biggish clump. If you look at the base you should find some waiting for night and you can then pick them off and get rid. Some people used to drop them into a bucket of salty water, some squish them. I can't do either and use pellets I'm afraid - feel guilty as its not a "green" solution though death is fairly quick. . You can buy nematodes to water on the soil,(death of slug is agonisingly slow over 3 days) and there is also a chemical you water on the leaves. If you lay someething on the soil they will congregate underneath it and you can remove them but you have to keep at it - they never go away completely. NP's suggestion of beer traps is popular too - you can make your own.

Or read Mr. Meads Garden by John Vernon Lord, that has a very unique way to get rid of snails and slugs...

I stick the fork through them. Leaves them for the birds
to eat without poison.

Some good ideas! However, like Steragram I cannot use nematodes either [the very thought, ugh!] and Loosestrife, wasn't the male slug's name Harry? YES!
I do try and plant things that slugs won't chomp straight away, but they do seem to love the same plants that I do, especially hostas and lupins.

Thank you so much! I've been doing the salt thing but wondered if there was a way to stop them coming rather than killing them once they'd arrived.

We've got a rockery covered in ivy and I'm wondering if they're laying the eggs in there?

They lay them in soil, any soil so long as its damp enough, which may or may not be underneath topgrowth.

and though they need too breed they are male and female so both leave pregnant though there not true hamophradites like stick insects and camodo dragons can be .

Attract a frog family to your garden and they'll help to sort them out, lol....

Right Lincslass. My army of frogs have made my garden slug free and rid me of a Hogna wolf spider problem too.

I hate using pesticides etc so I've found a strange way to kill them humanly (if that is possible)......put a jam jar of cornmeal (polenta grain) in the area you found them..they love it even though it kills them.....silly slimey things !!!

Put them in the compost bin if you have one. They love it in there and help the worms to break down the organic matter.