Why It’s Important To Encourage Predators Into Your Garden
Anyone who has spent any time watching nature will know just how brutal it is. From the jungles of South America, to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean all life depends on the demise of some other form of life. So the short answer to why it’s important to encourage predators into your garden, is to control pest numbers naturally.
Pests And Predators
I am based in Essex and there aren’t generally too many seriously invasive pests to worry about. That said without proper control, Aphids can get to biblical proportions. Ladybirds/bugs along with Hoverflies and more importantly their larvae take care of that problem.
Slugs and Snails are another major problem for me as I grow organically and I don’t use any chemicals or poisons that will harm other wildlife. Frogs, Toads, Slow worms, Hedgehogs, Ground Beetles and birds help to keep slug and snail numbers down.
Woolly Aphids that lurk under what look like cotton wool hanging from tree branches can seriously damage trees. By encouraging Lacewings, their natural predators into your garden another gardening disaster can be averted.
Caterpillars can demolish your precious plants in days so the Parasitic Wasp is your ally with these particular foes. Like something from a horror film, parasitic wasps lay their eggs on or in caterpillars, sawflies, ants and aphids too.
Moths like the Codling Moth and even Leek Moths are considered a delicacy amongst the Bat community. Bats tend to like gardens with water features and night scented flowers.
Another ally in the fight to save your plants are Nematodes. These are very small worms that eat all manner of pests including Carrot Flies and Slugs. Nematodes do occur naturally in the soil, but the only way to ensure a large enough number to do any good is to buy them which can work out quite expensive.
Natural Selection
This might seem pretty gruesome but it’s nature. As Charles Darwin observed in the 19th century, in the natural world it’s the survival of the fittest. For every pest there’s a natural predator and it’s beneficial for us organic gardeners to encourage as many as possible into our gardens.
If the thought of all this does make you feel squeamish, there are a couple of things I’d like to point out:-
- If you go the chemical route remember that the chemicals you use are indiscriminate, and will kill as many if not more beneficial insects as pests. Chemicals can and do get into the soil and into our food and can therefore make us ill. They can also leach into our water supply and kill aquatic wildlife as well. (Look at the Neonicotinoids and what they have been doing, to the point where some are now being banned by the EU).
- Our indigenous wildlife are becoming less numerous due to loss of habitat and pesticides and herbicides. It has been said that Hedgehogs will be extinct in our lifetime.
Companion Planting
If you follow my blog you will know I’m a big fan of companion planting and there are plenty of plants that will help to encourage natural predators to your garden.
- Hoverflies- If you want to attract hoverflies to your garden grow Poached Egg Plants I have 100s of hoverflies on my plot all thanks to 10 Poached Egg Plants.
- Lacewings- Grow Dill, Tansy, or Dandelions to attract Lacewings.
- Ladybirds/bugs- plant Yarrow, Buckwheat, Tansy, Stinging Nettles and/or Fennel to attract Ladybirds/bugs.
- Parasitic Wasps- Grow Yarrow, Fennel, Coriander, Marigolds or Parsley and you will attract Parasitic Wasps.
- Bats- Bats like gardens to be a bit unkempt, linear hedges, water features or ponds, night scented flowers, and they also like it dark (no lights).
- Frogs and Toads- Both of these like areas of shade and damp, some sort of water/pond with a slight slope so they can enter and exit without struggling, and if possible a log pile.
- Slow worms- I found a slow worm in my compost pile, so they like piles of decaying plant matter that isn’t disturbed too often. They also like small rock piles and/or log piles.
- Hedgehogs- the most thing to do to attract Hedgehogs to your garden is to allow them access. They need a space about the size of a CD case in your fence to obtain entrance to your plot. Then allow them somewhere to hide, a leaf pile or something similar.
Back To Nature
Unfortunately most people like order. Clean and tidy plots with regimented rows. Clearly defined pathways, with no over hang from trees or bushes. Looking at nature, how many woodlands or forests are like the above?
The problem is we want everything on our terms, but nature is (to our eyes) chaotic, disordered and messy. We need to go back to nature if we want to encourage the beneficial wildlife into our gardens.
I’m not suggesting that you let your plot become neglected, but it doesn’t hurt to allow a few nettles to grow. Leave a few areas of grass to get an inch or two longer, allow a few leaves to get “forgotten” in a shady corner. Let grass over hang the pond slightly.
The Invisible Side To Nature
The bad guys like the Aphids, Slugs, Snails, Caterpillars, Saw flies and Moths will find your plants whatever you do. To protect them you need to encourage the predators and to do this you have to sacrifice some tidiness. Sadly the good guys don’t like it too tidy, so it’s your choice regimental or natural.
Last Thoughts
As Bill Mollison the founder of the permaculture movement said, “You don’t have a snail problem, you have a duck deficiency”. Not everyone has room for ducks but the same principal applies to all other garden pests.
Incidentally ducks aren’t the only domesticated bird that assists the organic gardener. Chickens will grub around in the soil and eat all manner of unwanted pests. You can move their cage around the plot to clear it systematically over a period of time.
If you do plant in straight rows you make your plot as inviting to invaders as the supermarket shelves are to you. Try staggering rows, planting in clumps, and mixing things up a bit. Confuse the invading insects and you won’t need as many predators.
As my very last thoughts on this subject, I would just like to add…
Use natural solutions whenever possible, as I said before, the trouble with chemicals like pesticides and herbicides is they are indiscriminate. We need to leave enough wildlife on this planet for the sake of our children and our children’s children.