When Spring arrives, our home gardens begin to come alive again as the bleak months of winter end, temperatures rise and the hours of daylight increase. And, as the early season bulbs create blankets of pastel-coloured flowers on the ground, they’ll be accompanied by a scent of freshness in the air as the new buds of early flowering perennials, shrubs & trees begin to open, revealing their blossom and tender new leaves within. And, as these fragrances disperse into the air, they’ll become the biological signals that trigger many different species of animals out from their winter dormancy, to begin feeding, finding mates and ultimately producing their next generations. A Springtime occurrence that will have been repeated over hundreds of thousands of millennia which has been integral in the continuity of healthy ecosystems and the balance of their biodiversity. Ecosystems where every one of the component species has a role to play whilst occupying a place within that ecosystem’s natural food web. Whether they’ll be a primary consumer that feeds on plants, a composter, organic recycler, parasite or predator, they’ll all be a part of what should naturally be a balanced system. Unfortunately though, this isn’t always the case nowadays, particularly where the actions of humans have destroyed natural habitats, polluted rivers and applied broad-spectrum chemical pesticides to crops that not only kill plant pests, but beneficial wildlife too. These actions, along with a changing climate, have unbalanced ecosystems and have consequently made Britain one of the most nature-depleted countries on the planet. Reassuringly though, much conservation work is ongoing to restore natural habitats, replace lost woodlands and protect Britain’s nature, in the hope that this country’s declining biodiversity will be restored again. But this isn’t going to be a rapid process so, to support the conservation work, it’s possible that millions of Britain’s home gardens could be helping nature too, simply by becoming safe locations for native wildlife to live within or just journey through.

So how could Britain’s gardens help?
Well, the onset of Spring will be an ideal time to start, since this is when many wildlife species become active again and have to replenish the energy they’ll have lost during the winter months. And so, it’s important that our gardens provide food for the wildlife, by planting nectar-rich early flowering plants for the bees, queen wasps and butterflies to feed from, and by adding organic material for the numerous soil-dwelling creatures to feed on by adding organic mulch amongst the flower beds. These soil dwelling creatures often remain unnoticed hidden within the soil, but they are vital for creating and maintaining the rich nutritious soils that underpin healthy ecosystems, breaking down the organic material as they feed on it and recycling its nutrients back to the plants. But there’s also another group of creatures that are just as important, and these are the herbivores that feed on living plants, the leaf chewers and sapsuckers, which gardeners usually refer to as ‘plant pests’. However, these ‘plant pests’ exist in the lower levels of nature’s food chains where, for millions of years they’ve been consumed by other creatures and have become the keystone species that sustain an ecosystem’s biodiversity. So, it’s vitally important that these plant-eating creatures are present within a garden if the garden is to become wildlife-friendly, since allowing them to survive on the plants, will allow the many creatures that feed on them to survive too. However, it’s understandable that gardeners and growers will want to protect certain plants from the damage caused by the plant eating creatures, especially if the plants are being grown as edibles. But this doesn’t need to be done with chemical pesticides, since these will usually kill the beneficial creatures too. Instead, there are effective barriers and non toxic deterrents that are available for home gardeners to use nowadays. Environmentally safe alternatives that don’t eradicate plant pests but instead repel and deter them from damaging plants. Allowing them to remain in the garden as part of the garden’s biodiversity where they will be the food of their predators. This is particularly important during Spring and when aphids begin infesting garden plants. The Rose aphids for example, which will be one of the first species of ‘plant pests’ to appear on the new growth and flower buds of most cultivated roses. But these Rose aphids soon attract the ladybirds that will be emerging from hibernation, which not only begin eating the aphids, but laying their eggs amongst them. Eggs that soon hatch into ladybird larvae that voraciously eat the aphids too, reducing the infestation as nature intended. However, spraying the roses with a chemical pesticide (which includes organic Pyrethrum), will not only kill the aphids, but the ladybirds and any other beneficial insects nearby too. And it won’t just be beneficial insects that are affected, since killing the aphids will also remove an important food source for Bluetits who rely on Springtime aphids to feed their newly hatched chicks. If however, the aphid infestations are severe despite the presence of ladybirds and other predators, the infestation could easily be reduced using a fine jet of water from a hose. So in summary, keeping a garden wildlife-friendly simply involves not using chemical pesticides, having a succession of nectar-rich plants throughout the year, as many other plants, shrubs and if possible trees, for wildlife to shelter within, organic-rich soil, a source of clean water and finally, a degree of tolerance and acceptance of the plant-eating creatures that ultimately form the foundations for healthy balanced ecosystems.