Over the long Easter weekend, many will have taken the opportunity to tend to their gardens and allotments as the UK ushers in spring. But many will have discovered yet more meddling by snails, who are known to feast on plants to the disgust of the green-fingered.

Many gardeners fight a constant battle against these creatures, though they are not classed as pests because of the positive impact they have on the general biodiversity in an area. Now, planting enthusiasts are being urged by experts to put coffee and eggshells in their gardens to deter snails from their blooms.

Thompson’s Plant and Garden Centres is a family-run business with years of experience managing these kinds of issues with care. Established in 1977 by a couple, David and Ursula, the company set out to grow high-quality plants and offer them directly to the public at reasonable prices. One of the services they offer to clients is help to “deal with persistent bugs”, snails potentially being the most notorious of these.

They explain a “well-known” way to deter snails and slugs is to use broken eggshells, which are an annoyance to slugs.

This is because they are coarse and not smooth, meaning slugs cannot slide over them as easily as soil.

When faced with this obstacle, creatures will often give up and turn away, so eggshells can form a protective barrier around plants if required.

Another method famous in the gardening community is using coffee grounds to ward off both slugs and snails.

Thompson’s explain on their website how the “smell and texture” of coffee grounds is thought to have the same effect as laying out crushed eggshells, though its effectiveness is disputed.

The team at Thompson’s explain: “This one has a mixed reaction from gardeners as it works for some and not others.”

Other experts at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) advise these “barrier” methods have little scientific evidence to back them up.

They advise on their website: “It’s much better to learn to live with slugs and snails, especially if you have a garden that has the right conditions for them. They will always be presents and are a normal part of the garden ecosystem.

“If you want to protect your most vulnerable garden border plants or vegetable bed, you might want to manage their population using traps or biological control.”