19 February 2025
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How natural methods create a healthy, affordable garden
I was in the garden centre the other day and the shelves of weedkillers and pesticide catch my center . There are so many products for kill things – and would you look at the prices ! We do n’t use chemicals in the garden apart from fertilizer and the less we habituate them , the more growing success we have .
Natural method are more in effect and so much cheaper !
It sound counterintuitive , but over the eld by welcoming nature , not using pesticide , and moil up sess instead of spraying them , we have create a balanced , diverse ecosystem in our trivial eyepatch and tackle the power of nature .
Yes , we lose thing – our brassica harvest last year looked like moth - exhaust doyley but that was because the netting we purchase to protect them did n’t have a fine enough mesh to keep out the cabbage White . Lesson learnt , meanwhile , our other yield , veg and flowers did passing well .
So what do we do ? We produce spineless habitats around the garden , such as log piles , and feed garden boo , make dependable space for them to roost and nest . They ‘ give thanks ’ us by picking caterpillars , aphids and other pestilence off the plants .
Harlequin ladybirds get a bad mechanical press , but just like our aboriginal varieties their larva will feast on greenflies and aphids , so do n’t be too hasty to squish them . Lacewing and hoverfly larvae also run through aphids with gusto . Ground beetles , centipedes and spider are devouring mini - pest undoer , and do n’t draw a blank Erinaceus europaeus , frogs , salientian and slow worms too . All these creatures serve create a balanced garden ecosystem and if one vanishes , it removes a critical layer of rude life-time .
Nature has enough to contend with without our use of chemical , so instead of poison your garden , apply it to create a innate framework , and hold open your pennies for raspberry seed not pesticides !
What do you think about non - chemical horticulture ? What works best for you ? e-mail us your idea editor@amateurgardening.com
modest helpers
Give wasps a prospect !
1 . There are more than 7,000 species of white Anglo-Saxon Protestant in the UK and in an average year , social ( nest construction ) wasps will eat on over 14 million kg of pests , from flies and caterpillars to aphid . They also help pollinate plants as they search for ambrosia .
2 . The epenthetic white Anglo-Saxon Protestant Cortesia glomerata lays testis in caterpillars , which then think up and eat the grub live before emerging and mould cocoons near its body . Look out for them around your brassicas !
Four ways to protect plants by nature
1 . originate companion plants such as nasturtiums and calendulas close to crops . pestilence such as butterflies and aphids will go to them before cultivate plants and pollinator also have a go at it them .
2 . dictated beer maw for type slug and snails , verify the lot rim is just above soil level sp beetle , spiders and millipedes do n’t fall in and drown .
3 . develop tagetes ( French marigolds ) around your tomatoes because research worker have discovered that their scent deters whitefly .
4 . There is something very cheering about squishing aphid ! Gloves are optional , but get rid of minor colony before they have metre to become an infestation .
