MOST people love the outdoors, so it is only natural that their gardens form an important part of their lives. Among other things, the garden provides a personal oasis to relax and unwind, and also becomes a centre for family entertainment, especially during the warmer months.
It is also a time when gardens are often besieged by a multitude of insects eager to feast on young seedlings.
You can quite easily reach for a chemical spray that is guaranteed to murder them, along with everything else in your garden.
Instead of opting for the quick fix, use your garden as a springboard for developing healthy environmental attitudes. Work with nature to create a garden environment where plants and trees thrive without poisonous pesticides.
The wise use of mulching, the careful selection of groundcover plants, hand-weeding and companion planting with herbs, and mixed planting instead of monoculture, is a safer choice.
Mulching your garden with organic matter, such as homemade compost, manure (cow or horse are the best choice and should be pulverised before adding to the soil), grass clippings and pine-bark chips, is one of the best and most efficient ways to keep soil and plants healthy and happy.
Apart from improving soil texture, mulching will reduce the need for excessive watering - it prevents up to 73 per cent evaporation loss.
Keep your garden free of weeds, rank grass, fallen fruit from fruit trees, diseased plants, piles of rotting timber and sheets of iron. This will reduce the habitat for garden pests and help maintain garden hygiene.
Growing herbs throughout the garden will be a fragrant delight and also help to maintain a healthy, natural environment.
Bitter herbs such as southernwood, wormwood and mugwort will repel slugs and insects, and can also discourage mice and birds from eating newly-planted seeds.
Herbs should be dried, then powdered by rubbing through a fine wire sieve. Sprinkle this powder over the garden bed and cover with a sprinkling of earth.
A bed of mustard will make an excellent pesticide. When in flower, cut it and dig into the ground to eliminate insect pests and their eggs.
Cayenne chilli pepper, dried and powdered, can be dusted on fruit trees before the fruit ripens to discourage fruit fly. It can also be used to dust cabbages, cauliflowers, and tomato plants to kill caterpillars.
When grinding up the cayenne chilli be sure to wear rubber gloves, and do not touch your face, mouth or eyes - it burns and irritates for quite a long time.
If you have the room, install a rainwater tank, no matter how small, to make use of roof run-off. It can be used as an efficient garden drip watering system.