Some handy tips to help you garden kindly & effectively
Hedgehog highway
Hedgehogs are in massive decline and need our help. Making a hole in the fence of your garden will enable them to get about a lot easier, but don't forget to make your pond hedgehog friendly too, if you have one - make sure there is a way for our little friends to get out should they fall in by creating a gentle slope with bricks or stones.
When to plant
If you are a novice at growing your own vegetables, here is a link to a handy guide that tells you when to plant fruits and vegetables throughout the year. This information comes from the book by Piers Warren, The Vegan Cook & Gardener, available to buy here. But please do remember to leave some space to be wild, and don't forget that if there is nothing eating the plants in your garden, then you are not a part of the eco-system and not a true Garden Guardian!
Cucumbers keep the slugs off!
If you place some cut up a cucumber on an aluminum baking dish, the cucumber reacts with the metal, emitting an odour undetectable to humans but that keeps slugs and grubs away from plants you don't want to share! Other things that help include soot, ash and copper strips.
Companion planting
Using certain plants can help keep marauders to a minimum! You could plant sacrificial plants such as nasturtiums that are susceptible to blackfly attack. These will in turn attract the ladybirds, hoverflies and other predators which will control the aphids on your crops as well. They will also attract white butterflies away from your brassicas. Flowering plants that attract beneficial insects like hoverflies and other pollinators, such as lavender, thyme and poached egg plants. Mint which deters flea beetles. Onions and other alliums growing amongst carrots will deter carrot root fly. Strong smelling herbs like mint, chives, basil and thyme can deter aphids. French marigolds can deter whitefly.
Home sweet home
A habitat for a plethora of different little beings can be easily made and this will, in turn, encourage other visitors to the garden. An area with logs, bark and stones will encourage any number of insects, invertebrates, reptiles and small mammals to move in.