UNSURPRISINGLY, given the amount of rain we had last year, slugs and snails were the UK's most troublesome garden pest of 2007, according to the Royal Horticultural Society, just beating the recently established harlequin ladybird.

Over the years I've tried all sorts of preventative methods to stop slugs and snails, from placing mulches of sharp grit, eggshells, crushed oyster shells and lime around vulnerable plants such as hostas, to a variety of slug pellets, beer and grapefruit traps.

But I've always found that the best way to stop slugs and snails is to pick them off by hand after a downpour, often in the evening when they are most active, sometimes by torchlight. They do their worst during mild wet weather in spring and autumn.

As slugs and snails are particularly rampant in my area, I have also resorted to putting young leafy plants, which these pests love, in pots and placing the pots on either metal stands which slugs have trouble in climbing, or putting copper strips around the pots to deter them. The copper contains a minute electrical charge to deter the slug or snail.

Each slug or snail produces about 500 offspring every season, with the majority of eggs being laid in the summer and autumn.

You need to start control methods from early spring. First, ensure your garden is tidy and free of plant debris where slugs and snails may congregate. Any cultivation of the soil will help to disturb slugs and may bring them to the surface, where they can be eaten by predators. Surround raised beds with grass or slabs, as slugs don't like travelling over open ground.

Encourage predators such as hedgehogs, frogs and toads into your garden by leaving a patch of wild area or installing a small pond.

You can also encourage snail-eating birds such as thrushes into your garden by planting shrubs and trees which bear berries and create a nesting area.

Slugs love young tender shoots and are particularly fond of newly emerging delphiniums, lupins and peonies. You could try protecting young plants by cutting a serrated collar from a plastic bottle and placing it around the base of the plant. Some slugs spend a lot of their time below soil level, feeding on bulbs, tubers - including potatoes - and roots.

Snails are much less active in winter, but slugs will feed whatever the weather.

There are many slug pellets on the market, but a lot of gardeners believe them to be an unacceptable environmental risk, as they can pose a threat to pets, children and wildlife. Also, if they become wet and start to turn mouldy, they are ineffective anyway.

Keen vegetable gardeners who have problems with slugs tunnelling through their potato crops should concentrate on earlier cropping varieties, which means that the potatoes will be lifted before the slug population becomes too great. Less susceptible varieties of potato include Kestrel, Wilja and Charlotte. Avoid particularly susceptible varieties including Kondor, Cara and Maris Piper.

Biological controls are available in the form of nematodes, which are mixed up into a solution and then used as a drench on the soil around vulnerable plants. The best time for using them is in the spring and autumn. The nematodes penetrate the slug's body and release bacteria to kill the slugs, and should last about six weeks.

You could also plant sacrificial crops such as lettuce, which slugs love, to distract them from the crops you really value.

Most plants, once established, tolerate slug damage. But if you don't want an endless battle, the best solution is to plant species which they don't like, such as hardy cranesbill geraniums, hydrangea, pinks, hebes, potentilla, lavatera and plants with hairy or narrow leaves, or succulent types such as sedum.