Snails! Natural techniques to prevention:

The uninvited dinner guest

The history of Gardener vs. Snail is extensive. Anyone who is amused by the low-tech inventiveness of Tom and Jerry style combat would be impressed. A list of reputedly successful tactics is posted on eartheasy.com, all of which are "home-grown" by clever gardeners.

Despite the creative inventions of determined gardeners, snails remain a problem. These slimy soldiers in their armoured vehicles steadily chomp their way across flawless salad leaves. Gardeners continue to scheme. One well-known solution is the "beer trap" which attracts snails to drink from a pool of lager, with hopes that they fall in and drown. Many people swear to the "beer trap", but only because nothing better has come along. They still grumble about how the beer gets diluted by rainwater and stops attracting the party-loving snails.

Another highly-recommended strategy is to avoid watering your plants in the evening. Snails, with their moist skin, are most active during the night and in wet weather. Morning is a better time to water, since it gives the soil the rest of the day to dry before the snail nightlife hits the streets. What a simple approach - for anyone who doesn't live in London! We all know that the rain in London is totally unwilling to stick to any kind of regular schedule.

Some unrelenting gardeners claim that they wait until nightfall when all the snails come out to catch as many as possible. Armed with raincoat and flashlight, they scan the darkness for their round enemies, briskly pluck up the unsuspecting targets, and throw them in the bin. It's admittedly a cunning strategy, but not designed for those of us who enjoy sleep.

Finally, there is the classic mode of protection: fences. Some surround their prided plants with rings of broken glass. Others prefer lava rocks to keep out the pests. Eventually, clumps of dirt collect in the crevases and create bridges into the plant area. This is where biowall could provide a more effective alternative. The thin fibreglass is too narrow to support dirt buildup, and also too skinny for snails to climb up.

Biowall might just be the perfect solution to snails. It doesn't sound as glamorous as other applications we expect for "future textiles" but would certainly make a huge difference for gardeners. The question is whether gardeners, so proud of their unique ideas, might nactually start to miss the mucously mollusks of mischief.