GETTING THE BALANCE RIGHT IN YOUR GARDEN

In the second of a two-part series, Becky Searle looks at ways in which pests can be effectively managed by attracting natural predators to your garden

- Becky Searle

In last month's edition of Kitchen Garden, I talked about how gardens work as an ecosystem. Today, I want to I talk about this in more practical terms. In March 2021, I stepped gleefully out into my new garden with a wheelbarrow of fresh horse manure and a few decking boards. The garden was entirely laid to lawn, save for a small area of decking. My budget was tiny, but my need for a garden was huge.

With the help of a tiny flappy greenhouse, my garden was soon brimming with produce. There were carrots and cabbages, parsnips and lettuce, sweetcorn and cape gooseberries, to name just a few. For a few glorious weeks, it was perfection. But then it all started to unravel. The garden was in the middle of a new build estate bordered on all sides by a road and other similarly empty gardens.

Naturally, when the neighbourhood slugs discovered I was growing lettuce and carrots, they were overjoyed. They arrived in droves, bringing their friends and family. Add to that my contribution to No Mow May, and we had a thriving population. The slugs told the woodlice, who told the flea beetles and cabbage whites, and in no time, my garden was like the horticultural equivalent of an overcrowded refugee camp. And in many ways, this is what it was; a refuge from the sterile monotony of vegetable-free gardens. So, who can blame the little blighters for turning up?

Sadly, the balance of predator and prey species in our gardens can be the difference between us enjoying a gardening season or being pushed to the point of despair.

As for me, I was partly distraught at the destruction of all my efforts and partly smug that my predictions for the garden had come to pass. It was the perfect example of ecology in action, and I had the first tier of my ecosystem in place. Moving on to phase two of my plan, I needed to attract some predators.

THE PREDATORS ARRIVE