UK households told to sprinkle coffee on their garden as September begins

As September begins and the weather cools, gardenersacross the UK are being encouraged to take action.

This summer has been a challenging one for keen gardeners, with long stretches ofsunny, drought-like conditions and no rainfall making it tough to grow anything without plenty of watering - a problem made worse by hosepipe bans in several parts of the UK.

One silver lining of the hot weather has been a decrease in damage caused by slugs and snails. While these hungry creatures have still been active at night, fewer rainy days has meant less of themmunching on your precious fruit and veg.

Sadly, this respite won't last, and with September already here, cooler weather and more rain are expected to signal the start of 'slug and snail season' in earnest.

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This is because as the weather becomes wetter and the nights draw in, slugs and snails will find ideal conditions to spread through your garden and, even worse, lay their eggs for next year.

Slugs will mate and lay eggs throughout the autumn to produce even more slugs and snails for next year. However, gardeners are sharing a top tip which can help control and repel slug populations before that happens - instant coffee.

Cheap coffee grounds aren't just a way to kick-start your morning routine, but they can also give everything growing in your garden a boost too. Caffeine is toxic to slugs and snails and some gardening experts therefore swear by it as a method of pest control.

Word of caution, though, coffee is an extremely painful way for slugs to perish, far worse than salt, so avoid applying coffee grounds directly onto any slugs or snails (crushing them would be much swifter and less cruel).

Instead simply scatter the coffee grounds across soil and around raised beds or containers during dry, bright weather, and then when rainfall arrives, the slugs won't venture across the coffee, thus safeguarding your treasured blooms and vegetables.Research revealed that coffee grounds managed to cut slug and snail populations by between 50 and 90 per cent, reports the Express.

The coffee won't cause any detrimental impact on your plants either, indeed some research has discovered that caffeine actually enhances plant development.

Gardening blog Tea and Coffee explains: "Coffee grounds contain a chemical called alkaloid, which is poisonous to slugs. When slugs ingest coffee grounds, they suffer from severe dehydration and eventually die.

"For these reasons, slugs will avoid areas where coffee grounds have been sprinkled. While coffee grounds may not be the most effective way to keep slugs out of your garden, they can be a helpful tool in deterring these pests."