The Gentle Art of Relocating Slugs

I’ve re-started the process I began last year of relocating slugs from one part of my garden to another. Right now, the slugs are using the phlox as a playground and munching away on the garden sorrel. Before I got too far in the relocation routine, I started remembering a lesson I learned from this process last year: gardening gentleness. It’s extremely hard to pick up slugs (with a gloved hand) in a fit of pique and not squash their little slug bodies. Pretty quickly, my attitude shifted from anger to resignation to acceptance. And now, I feel that acceptance morphing into camaradery. This morning — the third morning of The Slug Relocation Program — I found only one slug to move to “the spot across the yard with the big rock near the weeping cherry.” Dare I say that I missed the slugs? I realize that the time I spend moving slugs is the only time during my day when I move slowly and with purposeful gentleness; this is the gift that the slugs have given to me. Tomorrow, I will head out early in the morning again, looking for my slug garden neighbors to transport across the yard. Whether I find them or not, I will enjoy the slow, gentle time and thank my slug camrades for their lovely gift.