Wanna control slugs and snails naturally?  One idea is to build a beetle bank!  According to Gwendolyn Ellen from Oregon State University Integrated Plant Protection Center, “beetle banks are permanent habitat for predacious ground beetles” and predacious ground beetles, with their giant mandibles, prey on large soft bodied insect pests like slugs and snails.  Raised banks covered with native grasses provide permanent habitat that does not flood and provides both a ‘meeting place’ and area of retreat when neighboring soil is disturbed (for example by tillage).  Check out OSU’s site on beetle banks here and this really cool graphic from Lexicon of Food about Gwendolyn and Beetle Banks!  Below is a picture of Master Gardeners building a beetle bank at the Meals Plus Harvest Garden located at Wheeler Historic Farm!