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| Pests, Predators, Weeds and Saviours: Part 2 |
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Pests, Predators, Weeds and Saviours: Part 2 At the end of part 1, I briefly mentioned beneficial insects such as bees. These, and others such as lacewings and ladybirds, can be encouraged into your garden to do battle for you by growing a wide range of flowering plants and providing over wintering shelter. Native species such as late flowering buddleia, commonly known as butterfly bush (now there’s a clue!) are always good as they tend to have the single flowers that most insects find easiest to draw nectar from. Some of these beneficial insects are not merely nectar drinkers, but predators as mean as any twenty times their size; Ladybirds eat aphids, for example, positively chomp on them with strong mandibles. Other helpful predators are amphibians such as frogs and toads who will enjoy keeping your slug population under control just as the cheerfully serenading blackbird will smash snail shells and eat the contents. Please note the phrase ‘under control’. The predators need something to eat so will not get rid of all the pests. Whilst dedicated annihilators may be able to rid their garden of all pests from greenfly to deer in their dreams, the reality is that even using all the chemicals available, they’ll still be a hardy slug or fox sneaking in as soon as your back is turned. What other options are open to the conscientious who would like to enjoy their garden without using too many chemicals? Biological control is becoming easier for domestic gardener to access; for example, nematodes (tiny organisms, so small they are invisible to the eye) for reducing slug damage and Encarsa Formosa, a parasitic wasp, for aphid damage, particularly effective in a confined environment such as a greenhouse; both are available at garden centres and on line. Foxes are more often seen in urban and suburban areas more than rural these days, for various reasons, not least including a good and reliable food supply. This would probably not bother us if it were not for the great fun foxes then have digging up plants and puncturing footballs left out overnight! There are sprays that can be bought to dissuade foxes from entering your garden, largely based on citric fruits - you may have noticed that whilst your dogs will eat most raw fruit and vegetables, they’re not keen on oranges and the like. Blocking up all holes and under sheds helps too, but don’t be surprised if the foxes still find a way in. A multi- pronged defence is most likely to work; to start with, make sure there is little to attract them in the first place. Clear overgrown gardens which could provide resting areas, and make sure there is no food available; be sure your compost bin has a tight lid, for example. Blood, fish and bone fertilisers attract foxes, so use sparingly and dig well into the soil. Then spray along tops of fences with citrus or hot pepper based spray; if you have an adult male around, get them to take a leak around possible runs and holes (easier for them, not being sexist!); and/or if you have dogs (either gender) encourage them to scent mark around entry points. We haven’t really got onto the damage cats and dogs (whether your own or a neighbour’s) can cause – and they can cause damage! Years of being a gardener as well as a cat & dog owner has, I hope, made me fairly sanguine - until one of them digs up the sweet pea seedlings I’ve just planted (again)…Some of the tricks for foxes – citrus & hot pepper - work against pets too. Can I just suggest that if you’re tired of your own cats using the whole garden as a litter try that you encourage them into one area (there are herbal based ‘training’ sprays available), rather than discouraging them totally so they go next door (NOT good practice!) Children and teenagers as pests in the garden rather than helpers or a pleasure is, funnily enough, partially resolved through careful design…you know who to contact for that! Pests, Predators, Weeds and Saviours is something of an ongoing narrative, so -
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