It sometimes feels like as soon as we begin to enjoy our garden, so do the pests and diseases! Warm and damp weather can promote lush growth on our plants, which seems to send a signal to pests and diseases to come in and take up residence.
But identifying the common ones and knowing how to manage them will ensure our plants and ecosystems stay healthy and in balance. Because for many of our pests there is a natural predator ready to devour them for us, eliminating the need to resort to sprays. So while keeping our plants in tip-top condition can be challenging, observation is our first line of defence.
It’s important to understand your garden needs to have pests in order to have predators, so try and resist the urge to manage them immediately and wait and see if nature will solve the problem for you.