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Garden Visitors - Friend And Foe

Careful planting can give you a garden armed to the teeth with natural insect repellents, says Drusilla Stewart

Whoever said it does not do to upset the natural order of things was right. After two particularly mild winters, garden pests abound and I am beginning to see new enemies from the Mediterranean. Consequently we need to reinforce the Home Guard - ladybirds. There are no less than 26 varieties of ladybirds, all but a few of which will happily munch on your aphids over the months ahead. And if you're one of those people who's wondered "What is the point of wasps?" I can tell you: more pest control. They're particularly fond of eating nuisance insects.

Our insect friends like plants with high pollen content, so you also need to encourage butterflies to help pollinate every plant in your garden. The plants that attract them tend, by and large, to be bright and colourful, such as the infamous butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii, also B. globosa, B. alternifolia), the traditional cornflower (Centaurea cyanus) and brightly coloured stocks (Matthiola incana), but can also come in more subtle guises.

For those of you who want something more Zen-like there are options such as Honesty (Lunaria annua), herbs like Garden mint (Mentha spicata) and Marjoram (Origanum vulgare), and plants that make a bold statement, like Globe thistles (Echinops species). And if you'd like to eat the results yourself, rather than having them eaten by aphids, go for Globe artichokes (Cynara cardunculus) or Blackberry bushes (Rubus fruticosus).

Choosing the right plants is half the battle, but if your garden is invaded by harmful insects you need to know your foes, and how you can tackle them without harming the environment.

Aphids - greenfly larvae, treat by introducing a container of ladybirds or lacewings
Leather jackets - brown crane fly larvae found in your lawn, treat with organic insecticides or predatory nematode worms, (sold under the brand name Nemasys - you will need about 50 million to treat a 100sq m lawn! Try www.crocus.co.uk for these and other organic solutions)
Slugs and snails - eat most soft leaf plants and can go through your borders in a night. Use beer traps, or scatter grit and broken eggshells around the stems
Spider mites - tiny multi-legged annoyances that drink sap like aphids, and like aphids are a favourite of lacewings
Vine weevil - leaves white tracks on the broad leaves of your plants - natural enemy is nematode worms, but they need to be treated before the end of June.
Rosemary beetle - a new visitor from Southern Europe, approximately 8mm long with metallic green and purple stripes. Becoming so common it's now one of the top ten pest enquiries on the Royal Horticultural Society's advice line. As its name suggests, it likes rosemary, but also lavender, thyme and sage. The good news is there is an insecticide, Prodaco Ultimate Bug Killer, which can be safely sprayed on edible herbs; the bad news is you now need to wait until autumn to spray them, so for the summer picking them off by hand is the only solution.