Kathy, I grew up in one of America's slug capitals. While my mother had
good luck with chemical slugicides, I was fairly successful using organic
methods. Slugs are attracted to fermenting material. Beer in shallow pans
set around plants works well -- the slugs crawl in, get drunk and die
happy. You can also make a home brew (slugs aren't fussy): 1 gallon of
water, # cup sugar. Boil (to dissolve sugar), cool to lukewarm, add 2
tbsp. yeast (the kind you bake with). (I am trying to recall this recipe from
memory, so if anyone notices this is wrong please correct) The idea is to
get enough sugar so the yeast can grow and ferment.

The advantage to these slug traps are they won't harm the dog if she
wants to drink or bathe in the stuff. The disadvantage is that the traps
have to be set within a few feet of the plants you are protecting
because slugs aren't into long distance foraging. You can use pie pans;
we used the little clay pigeons for skeet shooting (we lived near a gun
range and there were lots of poor marksmen)

--------> Qualifying statement for Lactnet relevance: I wonder if abm
could be used to ferment the yeast (certainly a best use for these
products!)

Another method (I call the live-and-let-live method a.k.a. "attachment
ferreting") is to set decorative plantings of foods slugs enjoy (like lettuce)
around the plants you want them to leave alone. If you set out a border
of lettuce, then a layer of newspapers unobtrusively behind the border,
you will find slugs on the lettuce and hiding under and between the
newspaper pages, ready  to be digitally ejected from your garden.
Now...does anyone have recipes for escargot using slugs?

Jealous of your wonderful new place, but also happy for you,
Margery (now urban dweller) Wilson, IBCLC
(former dairy goat and Morgan horse breeder, produce farmer and
veteran slug fighter)