Natural gardening - Tips and tricks

Natural gardening is possible. Sometimes it is even quite simple. And what a pleasure it is to see the reappearance in your garden of a hedgehog, butterflies, frogs, and so on.

In the garden, there are those you can depend on (friends) and those you should be wary of (and get rid of if possible)! The friends can be thought of as the garden’s helpers. They are essential, since they feed on pests, particularly slugs, snails, greenfly and mealybugs. Wasps, tits, toads, bats, and so on, are your friends (and there are plenty of them!). So give them a warm welcome, and protect them. You should therefore, if possible, ban pesticides which are toxic to the environment and to people, even where used to embellish lawns and pathways. Better to opt for thermal or mechanical weeding, or mulching of certain areas of the garden. And it is best to choose well-suited, local plants.

Natural cultivation is also possible in vegetable gardens. There is no shortage of tricks you can employ: planting according to your soil, combining plants, rotating what you grow, making your own compost, watering when necessary, etc.

All the practical info sheets published here are taken from the "Natural gardening" campaign led by SAGE Scarpe-Aval, Artois-Picardie Water Agency and Scarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park.

For more information on the campaign, materials and organised events, visit the Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/JardinAuNaturel