For a healthy garden to thrive there are a great many insects, birds and small animals that play a vital role.  If you can encourage these into your garden and provide them with an environment that makes them want to stay you will find that many ‘problem’ pests are no longer the problem that they once were, that your fruit and veg are pollinated more effectively and that there is always some activity worth watching.

Ladybirds and Lacewings love to munch on aphids so encouraging their numbers will go a long way to limiting the damage wreaked by the dreaded pests.  Don’t be too hasty to tidy away hollow stems and other branches.  Provided these are not diseased they make a fantastic home for overwintering insects and ensure they are already in your garden for the onset of Spring.

Sowing and growing wildflowers is a fantastic way of encouraging many beneficial insects and birds into the garden.  Growing a wide range of plants is a really good idea.  Not only does this cut down the risks of certain soil borne diseases getting a hold in the garden but it also encourages the broad range of insects and slugs that birds love to feed on.  Where possible leave seed heads on flowers such as Echinacea, Sunflowers and Teasel during the winter months as these will provide food for birds, encouraging them to visit your garden.

If you are lucky enough to have hedgehogs in your garden provide them with a safe and secure place for hibernation during the winter months.  Hedgehogs love slugs and will do a fantastic job of keeping down numbers in your garden.  Always check unlit bonfires before lighting as these are often irresistible to hedgehogs when they are looking for a home.  Never feed hedgehogs with bread and milk, this can be harmful to them.  Instead give dog or cat meat.

There are a great many plants that will attract bees and butterflies into the garden, below is a few ideas to get you started;

• Aquilegia
• Borage
• Buddleja
• Echinacea
• Eryngium
• Geranium (cranesbill)
• Honesty (Lunaria)
• Lavender
• Penstemon
• Phlox
• Scabious
• Sedum
• Tagetes