Try putting things in pots and laying peashingle in an area that would suit-remember to put a membrane under the pea shingle to stop the weeds. I did a similar thing with my raised bed for my vegs! Good luck Jaycee16

I know it's a bit mad, but picking them off, one by one, is really the best bet.
Water the garden early evening, they will be at full chomp by dusk, so pick them off then with tweezers, drop them into a jar of warm salty water (kills them immediately). Do this for 3 or 4 nights in a row. You will have made a real dent in their numbers by this time. I only do this once every couple of weeks now, and although they won't disappear completely, they are now at a manageable limit.
I only wish I could fit the damn deer into a salty grave. If you had deer eating and trampling your plants, you would forgive the slugs. :-)

Salted venison, could be a good market for that

Imagine dropping a deer into a jar of salty water...

Snails are easy to collect after rain - drop them into a carrier bag and then dispose of the bag.

In winter the snails you miss will hibernate in groups on uneven walls, stones or anywhere sheltered like under the rim of urns etc. and you can pick them off and either leave them out for the thrushes or throw them away - as they are asleep it doesn't even hurt them. Then in spring when you are digging look out for slugs eggs, little clutches of bright shiny white ones buried in the soil - you can put those out for the birds as well.

Have fun.

I do slug patrols in the dusk when things get bad and put a pinch of salt on each one I find. It's very satisfying

If hubby won't leave the beer traps alone, you can use yeast instead--that's actually the flavor they're after. There are also yeast-flavored iron phosphate baits available, which are safe and pretty effective. Another way is to put out short boards or rolled up newspapers in the evening. Before dawn the snails and slugs will shelter under them, and you can lift the board and scoop them up by the dozen and bin them. A couple of weeks of that, and you can make serious inroads on the population.

Slugs have destroyed my first try at growing Chard , I felt like getting a flame thrower to get some really charred molluscs....
Ask your local pub for the dregs from the drip trays or the first pull through of a new barrel of real ale, give them a wide necked jar to save them time filling it, if they are willing, and then you have free beer and don't upset hubby..in fact if you send HIM begging at the pub and let him have a pint while he is there he will happily keep your beer traps supplied with rejected ale!

thanks to everyone for all useful tips - am getting at least 12 large slugs and a few snails per beer pot per night and re-using beer (hubbie's idea of course as his supply diminishing. Will also go out after curfew with my collecting bowl - ugh!.
Re. deer problems, we had this too but had to erect a really sturdy chain link fence (not our boundary but one
can't argue with a 95 year old eh!).. this seems to have worked.

Jaycee - please don't use hubbie's recycled beer :-)

That surely must be the final word Andrewr who could follow that comment? LOL!...thanks for a smile on yet another dreary, wringing wet , non gardening morning!

get some chickens mine love the slugs and snails we find..

My one experience with chickens taught me that they will eat as much as the slugs!! : /