Nevertheless, it is still possible to recognize some positively useful creatures – friends – which should be welcomed into the garden and some without which our gardens would be better off. These are the pests that eat our crops and spread diseases and they must be discouraged if not actually destroyed.
FRIEND OR FOE?
This simple, although not infallible, rule of thumb may help you to decide which are the goodies and which are the not-so-good. Fast-moving garden creatures are generally predators and on your side, whereas slow-moving creatures tend to be herbivores and are thus often harmful in the garden.
Our friends
Michael Chinery
Long, sensitive antennae enable the ground beetle to track down its prey at night.
Michael Chinery
Lacewings often come to lighted windows at night; introduce them to your roses or other plants where they can eat the troublesome aphids.
Michael Chinery
A good friend in the garden, this hedgehog is busily polishing off a snail.
Our foes
Michael Chinery
Beautiful, but also beastly, the lily beetle must go if you value your lilies.
Michael Chinery
This apple shoot has been deformed by the piercing beaks of hundreds of sap-sucking aphids.
Michael Chinery
Caterpillars of the large white butterfly here surround a solitary caterpillar of the small white. Both species are major pests of cabbages and other brassicas.
Michael Chinery
One of the worst of the gardener’s foes: the netted slug is the one we usually find in our lettuces.
Pest control
Gardening will always be a competition, with the gardener pitting his or her wits against an assortment of uninvited guests which are doing their best to damage the plants. Although you may have to get tough from time to time, it need not be all-out war. Live and let live is always a good motto for the gardener.
Avoid chemicals
One can buy chemicals, i.e. poison, to control just about every garden visitor, but they have many drawbacks. There is always a risk of killing useful or harmless creatures as well as pests. Killing useful creatures, such as ladybirds, may actually lead to an increase in the garden’s aphid population and a tendency to use ever increasing doses of insecticide. Although most modern pesticides break down rapidly in the soil, heavy applications may lead to a build-up of residues that can damage the soil and enter the food chains, where they can have far-reaching and surprising effects. Killing harmless creatures does have a knock-on effect by denying birds and other animals their natural food, so your garden will be much less interesting. The true wildlife gardener uses
