A selection of horticultural content - Animals / critters / pests

This page; Butterflies Cats Frogs Plant Pests Woodlice

Connected pages Plants | Animals / critters / pests | Hints and tips | The bigger picture

Butterflies

What could be prettier in the garden than flying flowers, especially ones that just turn up of their own accord - that's what butterflies are.

I don't get too upset at the idea of my Nasturtiums being eaten by cabbage whites as they invariably seem to be, I see it as a way of growing a different sort of crop - a crop of butterflies.

Anti-cat tips.

To deter cats from entering your garden place old plastic soft drink bottles filled with water near the cats� usual entry point to your garden. The idea is that the cat sees an enlarged reflection of itself in the bottle and thinks that your garden is the territory of a larger cat � and keeps out. Haven�t tried it, so don�t know if it works.

Surgical spirit is also supposed to be a good deterrent against cats. Dilute it and sprinkle around their preferred toilet areas in your garden. This one has the sanction of the cats protection league too.

Frogs

While on the subject of organic gardening methods, I seem to keep accidentally discovering ways of keeping pests down. Growing lots of containerised plants as I do, there's a spot in my garden where all the containers are kept very close together, these need watering regularly in the summer, pretty much every day, so I've accidentally made what seems to be an ideal frog habitat, damp and cool.

What do the frogs do in return? Eat slugs of course! Whenever I see a frog I try to find a few little slugs under a pot (all too easy unfortunately) and flick them into the open as a tasty snack in the hope he (or she) will still hang around.

It always amazes me where they come from in the first place, we don't have a pond or water feature in the garden and neither do any of the immediate neighbours. But most amazing is that the garden is walled all round to a minimum height of about 5ft.

I remember many years ago my granddad sending me out frog hunting to catch one to put in his cucumber frame, they used to live there quite happily over the summer enjoying the conditions and easy pickings (they could escape if they wanted)

Plant Pests

Don't get too obsessive about pests in the garden, it is very unnatural to have no creepy crawlies about at all. They liven up the garden and make it more interesting, less sterile. If we didn't have some aphids in the garden, then we wouldn't have ladybirds, we wouldn't have spiders - I love the yellow ones that hide inside flowers of the same colour and attack flies and the like that stray too close - look out for them.

Moderation is the key of course, as long as they're not over-running anything or stripping the leaves of my favourite shrub bare. If it's any consolation, then take comfort (or maybe fear) in the fact that most animals are parasites. How do we know? Because every species of animal so far discovered has at least one species of parasite unique to that animal. Lots have more than one unique species of parasite, so more than half must be parasitic - they are of course in the main pretty titchy and need to be looked for. The same probably applies fairly closely to plants too, so if you ever feel you're being inundated, it could be worse, much worse!

Slug Getting rid of slugs and snails. Go out to the garden in the late afternoon and lay boards or pieces of cardboard on the bare soil around your plants. In the morning turn the boards over and scrape the hiding slugs into a large yogurt or cottage cheese container. Cover and place in your freezer for three hours. When they're frozen stiff (and dead), dump them on your compost heap.

Getting rid of red spider mite. Give them cold water baths, they hate them, and will soon find somewhere to live if you spray them with water that is between 0°C and 5°C. If you find an infested plant, attack it with ice water. Keep a spray bottle in the refrigerator and mist once or twice a day until the mites are all gone.

Woodlice

Italian researches have found that woodlice are a good indicator species of environmentally friendly, sustainable crop production systems. So if you've got lots of them, then it's a sign of a healthy soil. They are very sensitive to pesticides and feed on organic matter that is abundant in organic production systems, so the more woodlice you have, the more wildlife friendly your gardening methods. Look at it as a compliment, even if they're not the prettiest of creatures to have.