I have been stumbling across all sorts of insects in the garden this past month. One garden had a whole swarm of grasshoppers that seemed to be grazing their way through, from one corner to the other; some coral trees have been alive with nice big juicy caterpillars. The coral tree I was focusing on was oozing caterpillars; some had fallen on the ground beneath the tree and had formed a live squirming carpet. Rubbing shoulders with the caterpillars were a handful of plump slimy slugs! I have now been told that they were relishing in the faeces of the caterpillars! Beautifully bright butterflies have also been plentiful. When I see them I cannot help but wonder what creepy this particular beauty morphs into…(I can already see you reaching for the Doom). When I see this activity in your garden, I celebrate, as it means to me that habitat has been created and the food chain is functioning in your garden.
The challenge to each and every gardener and homeowner is to now establish a natural balance between pests and predators in your environment. There are many invaluable predators you could attract to your garden to keep the pests to manageable proportions. Just by avoiding the use of pesticides to kill any pests one will gradually encourage helpful predators to your garden and these include chameleons, Praying Mantis, Hoverflies and ladybirds that feed on aphids; frogs, wasps, bees, bats that eat mosquitoes, lizards, centipedes and all kinds of birds. (This is where you but the Doom back in the cupboard).