Hunting for ‘Good’ Garden Bugs

Your garden is a home to more than just plants; it’s literally teaming with wildlife. And whilst some bugs may wreak havoc, others can be beneficial, for instance in helping to get rid of plant-destroying aphids or in pollinating plants and making yummy honey!

But whatever the bugs’ intention, kids find them fascinating and will spend hours hunting for common garden creepy crawlies.

What you’ll need

A magnifying glass, a piece of card, some paper, some clear containers in which to observe the bugs. Make sure they’ve got lids to prevent escapees and tiny air holes to keep the bugs happy until they’re released again!

Happy hunting

Encourage your kids to look under stones, plant pots, logs, compost heaps or anywhere that’s dark and damp. They can pick the bugs up gently with a piece of card - and then put them in a clear container so they can study them. They might want to add some damp soil, leaves or twigs to keep the bugs happy. But be careful not to mix different types in the same jar in case they eat each other!

Goody or baddy

There’s lots of websites and books that will help you identify the bugs. It’s easier to look at it under a magnifying glass if you put it on a piece of paper. Here are some of our favourite friends:

• Hoverflies: If you can catch them! Black and yellow striped so often mistaken for bees or wasps, except that these literally ‘hover’ like a hummingbird. They help us by eating aphids and pollinating plants.
• Centipedes: They are reddish-brown, have between 30 and 80 legs, and longer antennae than a millipede. They eat nasty vine weevils. They can sometimes bite so take care when handling!
• Earthworms: Are recognisable by being a pinkish-brown wiggly worm! They are essential for helping recycle nutrients in the soil as well as helping aeration and drainage.
• Ladybirds: There are orange or red with black spots on their backs. They eat bad bugs in the garden such as aphids.

Planting a Fragrant Herb Garden

Imagine reaching outside your kitchen door to pick your herbs rather than paying through the nose at the supermarket. As well as enlivening your food, their fragrance and beauty will enhance your garden. Think about planting herbs near pathways so that their aroma is released into the air when brushed past or crushed underfoot.

What you’ll need

Any ground space or container, compost, water and a selection of herbs.

Location, location, location

Ideally you’ll need a place to plant your herbs that gets at least four to six hours of sunlight a day - so a sunny windowsill is perfect. If your spot gets a lot of sun, then try basil, chives, coriander, dill, oregano or parsley. Herbs such as rosemary, mint and thyme grow well in most conditions - so they’d be better to opt for if you don’t get quite so much sunlight.

Mint roots tend to spread vigorously - so this is often better contained in a pot. If you don’t have enough room for a separate herb garden, you can always plant herbs between other flowers around the garden.

Planting up

Check the planting instructions to see how they should be spaced - then dig a hole that’s about twice as wide as your plant’s root ball. Mix in some nutrient-rich organic material to your soil, such as Miracle-Gro Organic Choice All Purpose Peat Free Compost - this will give your herbs a good start as they get established. Gently place your plant in the hole, then backfill and water in well. That’s all there is to it!

Keep your herbs well watered and feed them about every two weeks with Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Fruit & Vegetables Plant Food to encourage healthy growth.

Ants On Your Patio

There’s nothing more satisfying than sitting in your garden on a warm day and admiring the results of your handiwork. You might even be enjoying drinks or dinner on your patio... until you spy a familiar looking trail!

Bark worse than bite

Thankfully ants are just an unsightly nuisance rather than a real problem. The common black garden ant rarely damages plants and doesn’t have a nasty bite. But they’re still not very welcome, particularly on areas where you might sit such as the garden patio.

Underground connections

Despite all the old wives tales, there really is only one way to get rid of ants for good: you have to kill the nest. The ants that you see in the trails above ground aren’t even half the problem - the average ant colony can have up to 15,000 worker ants as well as the Queen and hundreds of larvae and cocoons waiting to hatch. So you can see that a few dozen killed off by boiling water really isn’t going to have much effect!

Straight to the heart

Look for products that worker ants will carry back to the nest to share with the other ants including the Queen. This way the whole nest is destroyed. For long-lasting results, place an Ant Stop Bait Station near to where there is an infestation of ants.

Want to know more?

For further information on Ants and Ant Control visit www.antstop.com. You’ll be a myrmecologist in no time at all!

Grow Your Own

Just when you think you’re doing really well and your crops of fruit or veg are coming along nicely, you spot something that doesn’t look good... Brown patches on leaves, grey mould or shrivelled fruits all spell trouble - most often pointing towards a disease that needs to be dealt with immediately.

This month: how to deal with disease on edible plants

Some diseases attack only the leaves and the stem and others can ruin an entire crop of fruit. Some can be treated easily with a fungicide, others are more problematic and removal of the damaged branch or plant is the only answer.

Getting to know what diseases your crops could be prone to and taking preventative measures or remedial action when first spotted, are sensible ways to combat these problems.

Tomatoes

Unfortunately, tomatoes are prone to many different types of disease that can destroy the crop including grey mould (see strawberries), blossom end rot or tomato blight. Most are triggered by warm, wet conditions so make sure your plants are well ventilated if in a greenhouse or on a windowsill.

Blight is recognizable when the ripening tomatoes develop sunken brown spots, which then spread to the stems and leaves. It’s a fungal infection (phytophthora infestans) which can spread by wind or water.

Make sure you remove blight-infected plants as soon as you spot them. Use a fungicide spray such as Murphy Traditional Copper Fungicide at first signs of the disease.

Strawberries

Diseased strawberries are easily recognisable by a thick layer of grey mould which develops on the fruits as they are beginning to ripen. Small brown spots form on the skin of the fruit then gradually spread all over it. As it rots, a fuzzy grey layer of mould develops. The spores produced by the fungus (botrytis) can easily spread to infect other plants.

The fungus survives on plant debris, so remove and destroy all affected plant parts - and make sure to keep the soil clear and the fruit well ventilated.

Salad leaves

Lettuce and other salad leaves can also be prone to a type of grey mould which can turn them yellow-brown, and eventually into a slimy rot. Damp, humid weather can encourage this fungus (botrytis cinerea) and any affected leaves should be immediately disposed of. The fungus can enter through damaged or torn leaves such as those made by slugs or snails - so be extra vigilant for these pests to prevent this disease. Try SlugClear Advanced Pellets on bare soil and around the plants - a palatable bait which slugs find tastier than plant leaves! And make sure you spread out the plants to ensure good ventilation.

Courgettes

Courgettes can be prone to rot which stops the fruit developing - it literally rots on the plant. This is mainly caused by poor weather and poor pollination and you should be able to solve this problem by encouraging beneficial pollinating insects into your garden.

Summer of Lawn Love

It’s easier to get a luscious green lawn in early Summer when the warm weather encourages healthy growth and there are enough rain showers to keep it well watered. But as the season becomes drier, you’ll need to make sure that your lawn is getting enough moisture to see it through the period when it gets the most wear and tear.

Lawns need regular rain to replace the moisture that the grass draws from the soil. Most lawns can survive a couple of weeks without rain, but then you’ll start to notice symptoms of stress - the turf will look flat as the grass wilts and turns a silvery blue.

If it’s been particularly hot or you’ve been away and your lawn has dried out, here’s a foolproof rescue plan:

• Holier than thou: If the soil has become baked hard then water can’t soak in effectively. Help it on its way to your lawn’s roots by spiking drainage holes using a garden fork.
• Give it a good soaking: Choose a cool time of day so the water can soak into the soil before the sun evaporates it off. A thorough drenching once a week is more effective than a daily sprinkling.
• Add some nutrients: With the extra wear and tear, drier weather and constant growth, Summer can be a stressful time of year for your lawn! A regular feed will give it the necessary nutrients to remain healthy, strong and green.
• Two birds, one stone: You can feed and water your lawn all at once using Miracle-Gro LiquaFeed Lush Lawn Food. The pre-mixed feed bottle clicks into the LiquaFeed hose attachment and you’re ready to spray. And if your lawn does need a green boost, this will get to work in just three days.

There’s really no excuse not to have a lush green lawn this Summer!