Natural England works for people, places and nature to conserve and enhance , landscapes and wildlife in rural, urban, coastal and marine areas. We conserve and Wildlife on allotments enhance the natural environment for its intrinsic value, the wellbeing and enjoyment of people, and the economic prosperity it brings. www.naturalengland.org.uk

© Natural England 2007

ISBN 978-1-84754-018-8

Catalogue code NE20

Written by Stephen Arnott. Designed by RR Donnelley

Front cover image: Allotments are scarce in some urban areas. Judith Hanna/Natural England www.naturalengland.org.uk Wildlife on allotments

Although allotments will always be to survive on intensively managed mainly used for growing food, they farmland find a refuge on allotment have other values that are now gaining sites. This leaflet will help you enhance greater recognition. They are great the conservation value of your places for healthy exercise, provide allotment, while continuing to good opportunities for socialising, and cultivate it for fruit and vegetables. put us back in touch with the earth. We all, ultimately, depend on the soil for History our foods but in this highly processed, Allotments have been around for a pre-packaged age the connection is long time. They were originally created often forgotten. for poor agricultural workers to Allotments are also an increasingly compensate them for the loss of important resource for wildlife. Many common land during the enclosures of of the plants and that struggle the eighteenth century. Allotments

Allotments are a refuge for both people and wildlife. Peter Wakely/Natural England Fresh food and fresh air. Peter Wilson/FLPA 2 3 own food and escape the noise of their Size and price factories and workshops. These days, Allotments are traditionally measured many office workers feel the same way. in ‘square poles’; a pole (also known as Allotments today a ‘rod’ or ‘perch’, or even a ‘lug’) being 5 1/2 yards or 5.03 metres. A square Despite their popularity, allotment pole covers just over 25 square metres numbers have been in decline since and the largest allotments available WWII. In 1950 there were over one are usually ‘ten pole plots’ of 250 million in the UK, but today that number square metres. Diverse, wildlife-friendly farmland is under threat from intensive . has dropped to around 250,000. Peter Wakely/Natural England You will have to pay an annual rent for your plot, the price depending on its proved a good way of alleviating rural size and the level of local demand. On poverty and their creation became average, expect to pay between £30 official government policy in 1845. By and £40 for a 250 square metre plot, An urban allotment. Judith Hanna/Natural England 1873 there were 242,000 of them, one though this price can more than allotment for every three male Initiative. The latter has published a double in areas where land is scarce. agricultural workers in England. range of literature on the subject. For Some allotment authorities vary their more information visit their website at charges according to the availability Most new allotments after 1875 were www.farmgarden.org.uk/ari. of water and other amenities, and created for the benefit of urban most have concessionary rates for labourers. Rising wages meant that Finding an allotment pensioners and the unemployed. More many agricultural labourers no longer details can be found in Allotments: a had to work their own land to make If you’d like to take on an allotment, plot holder’s guide available from ends meet and, having toiled in the contact your local council in the first www.communities.gov.uk fields all day, few dug plots for instance. They will have a list of local The next generation will need allotments too. pleasure! Federation of City Gardens allotments and may manage most of them. In some places the take-up of The situation was different in towns. The majority of allotments have legal allotments is very high and you may be Here, labourers welcomed the chance protection and cannot be sold without placed on a waiting list. to be out in the fresh air, grow their the permission of the Secretary of State, but despite this many sites have been If there are insufficient allotments in swallowed up by development while your area your local authority has a some, for various reasons, have simply legal duty to provide more. However, been abandoned. an authority is only obliged to consider a request where there is sufficient A number of organisations are working demand; in practice this means getting to reverse this trend including the together with at least five other local National Society of Allotment and people (registered on the electoral roll) Leisure Gardeners (www.nsalg.org.uk) and approaching the authority as a The size of your plot will vary according to local and the Allotments Regeneration An urban oasis. Federation of City Gardens group. demand. Stephen Arnott/Natural England 4 5 has a free hand and can multiply without check, forcing you to spray again and again.

In some cases the use of pesticides has even created pest problems! For example, the fruit red spider mite only became a significant pest in the 1930s following the widespread agricultural use of tar-oil sprays – the They all work, but they may kill friend as well as mites could cope with spraying far foe. Roger Key/Natural England better than their predators and thrived Cut out the chemicals as a result.

The key to getting wildlife to work with you is to look after the beneficial creatures that already live on your A valuable ally, the seven-spot ladybird Coccinella septempunctata. Roger Key/Natural England allotment and to encourage more – and different ones – to settle there. shelled pests with their beady eyes Allotment authorities and land use Perhaps the easiest way of conserving fixed on carrots, strawberries and The name of your allotment authority wildlife is to reduce your use of toxic prize-winning marrows! It’s true that, will be on the tenancy agreement you chemicals, ideally cutting them out all left uncontrolled, many creatures can sign when you take on your plot. The together (see also Companion play havoc with a crop, but for every agreement will outline your planting, page 22). Most toxins found ‘pest’ there is at least one predator Do you have room for a pond? Shona Turnbull/HBP responsibilities as a plot-holder. You in pesticides are non-specific and are species ready to step in and tackle it on should always consult your allotment just as likely to kill friends as foes. Creating your behalf. authority if you want to do something Spraying against pests will often kill The next step towards befriending that changes land use (that is, doing Attracting beneficial wildlife can be their predators as well, meaning that wildlife is to encourage more of the something other than growing fruit and quite straightforward and this leaflet the next wave of pests that blows in ‘right’ kind of creature to live on your vegetables) for example, planting contains many tips for doing so. allotment by creating suitable habitats. , ‘fedges’ and , digging a However, once you’ve encouraged You can do this at two levels: there are pond etc. (see Habitats, nesting sites some of nature’s helpers to live on your habitats you could create on your own and refuges, page 11). plot you can’t expect them to do all the plot, and there are larger habitats you work! A healthy population of and your fellow plot-holders could Thinking green predators on your allotment will help create within the wider allotment area. subdue a host of pests, but sometimes Some growers (but a diminishing A good example of the latter is a pond even they will be overwhelmed. In these number these days) may still regard (see Habitats, nesting sites and refuges, cases you may have to step in to remove wildlife as ‘the enemy’; imagining page 11). Many beneficial creatures will infested growth or even whole plants. legions of furry, feathered, slimy and Look after beneficial such as the green use a pond as a watering hole, and lacewing Chrysopa carnea. Roger Key/Natural England digging a wildlife pond will boost the 6 7 Habitats checklist

Do you have room for any of these?

hedges and ‘fedges’ ponds and bog areas nest boxes for birds roosts for bats ‘ banks’ overgrown, undisturbed areas An emperor caterpillar Pavonia pavonia on log and stone piles bramble. Chris Gibson/Natural England a wildflower/herb patch. Managed wildlife areas

local frog population, these Empty, overgrown plots can make an amphibians being some of the best slug allotment look unkempt and uncared predators there are. Unless you have a for, but a solution is to ‘manage’ these very large plot it’s unlikely you’ll be sites as wildlife areas. able to sacrifice the space for a Untended plots may be taken over by substantial pond, but within the wider bramble which is an excellent food allotment area there might be a suitable source and refuge for many kinds of patch of land that is lying unused. wildlife. Apart from attracting insects such as hoverflies, bees and lacewings, a tangle of brambles is a favourite nesting site for birds like robins, wrens, song thrushes and blackbirds. Some warblers and finch species may also use bramble in this way. To control bramble, cut different sections back on a three- or four-year rotation so there is always a gradation between first-year growth and mature

. It’s not just blue tits that benefit from nesting boxes. David Hosking/FLPA not just blue tits that benefit from nesting boxes. David Hosking/FLPA . It’s stems; this means you can keep a plot relatively tidy but still retain much of the wildlife benefit. Strix aluco The same is true of many other Brambles will provide food and shelter for a wide vigorous plants (Russian comfrey, for variety of beneficial wildlife. example) that will take over a plot if A tawny owl Peter Roworth/Natural England 8 9 there is enough space, choose ‘standard’ sized trees rather than those grafted onto dwarfing rootstock as these will support far more wildlife.

Some local authorities provide grants for the restoration of old orchards and the creation of new ones. Most grant schemes are designed to fund large planting projects but there’s no harm in Bats need boxes too! Chris Gibson/Natural England asking if your allotment could benefit. boxes and provide drinking water. For detailed advice on building and Habitats, nesting sites and refuges positioning bird boxes get in touch with the British Trust for Ornithology Bird boxes (BTO) or the RSPB (see Contacts, page Many birds are excellent predators and 37). Most plots should be able to will eat all manner of pests. Blue tits are accommodate a small nesting box, but a good example, the average pair perhaps the wider allotment area consuming around 15,000 caterpillars provides opportunities for a more for every brood they raise. ambitious housing project? For

Orchards can be superb wildlife habitats. Roger Key/Natural England The best ways to encourage beneficial example, is there a site that could birds onto your plot are to put up bird accommodate a box for owls? A family they are not controlled. You should Orchards can be superb wildlife of these night-hunters on the premises take particular care to control habitats providing food and shelter for pernicious weeds such as couch grass a wide range of creatures, particularly to make sure they don’t cause a birds. Crops to consider include apples, problem for other plot-holders. pears, cherries, plums, quinces, damsons, gages and cobnuts. Why not Orchards plant a range of traditional varieties? Many ‘old English’ varieties have In some cases it might be possible to become very scarce and you could do consolidate unused plots and plant your bit to help preserve them (see also them as an orchard. However, this must Heritage seeds, page 36). be done with the agreement of your allotment authority which must then Plant two-year-old trees (older trees follow a set legal procedure to require a lot of staking) and for the first permanently change the land use from three years keep the ground around allotment garden to orchard. In some them clear of grass and weeds to a cases the planting of trees might result diameter of one metre. After this the in allotment land losing its legal ground can be left to grass over, or A single pipistrelle bat can catch over 3,000 flying Blue tit chicks have a big appetite. insects in a night. protection. perhaps planted with wildflowers. If B. Borrell Casals/FLPA Michael Hammett/Natural England 10 11 would certainly discomfort the local Roughly half the pond’s surface Position the wood so the holes are rodent population! should be shaded by aquatic plants sloping downwards to keep out the such as Potamogeton sp. (various rain. Bat boxes pond weeds) and amphibious bistort. Bats are superb predators. A Alternatively, cut the base off a plastic single pipistrelle (the smallest of our Do not introduce fish into your pond bottle and stuff it full of lengths of bats) can catch over 3,000 flying – they will eat many of the creatures bamboo or rolled-up corrugated insects in a night. Bat boxes are no you are trying to encourage. cardboard. Hung in a quiet spot these harder to make than bird boxes but bottles will be useful refuges. Short Beware of invasive pond plants – have to be built and positioned lengths of old hosepipe – folded non-natives such as parrot’s feather differently and must always be made double and hung in a tree or bush – will and Crassula helmsii will quickly take from untreated timber. For more also attract tenants. over a pond and can cause problems information, contact the Bat for others if they escape into the Conservation Trust, or read the Natural ‘Beetle banks’ wild. Even some native species, such England booklet Focus on bats (see There are many different groups of as bulrush, can run riot. Contacts, page 37). and although some (flea Plant suitable species on the pond’s beetles, for example) can be a Ponds fringes to provide shelter for visiting A pond will attract many kinds of predator, such as nuisance, many are valuable allies. A pond is one of the most useful this southern damselfly Coenagrion mercuriale. animals – even long grass will do. Useful species include ladybirds, habitats you can create and is an ideal Michael Hammett/Natural England ground beetles, rove beetles (such as way of utilising an empty plot. Digging Try to incorporate a boggy area Before creating a pond you must a large pond would be a community next to your pond – perhaps fed by obtain the permission of your project rather than a job for an a pond overflow. individual allotment holder, but even a allotment authority. Ponds can be a small body of water on your plot hazard, especially where young would be useful to amphibians and children are concerned. bird life. Information on creating ponds can be found in the Natural Bug hotels England booklet Garden ponds and Encourage beneficial insects to boggy areas: havens for wildlife (see overwinter on your plot by providing Contacts, page 37), but bear in mind them with a place to hibernate. If you the following: have a shed – and it’s not already full of holes – you might consider creating a Ponds should be in a sunny location few gaps for insects to find their way away from trees. inside in the autumn. If not, a wooden block or an old log bored with holes The larger the pond the better – aim will be a valuable refuge for many for a minimum surface area of six useful insects. Make a number of holes square metres. 1 to 10 mm in diameter and 5 to 10 cm Create a range of depths, from shallow A prime slug predator, the common frog Rana deep, and put the block or log A ready-made ‘bug hotel’. temporaria. Chris Gibson/Natural England sloping sides to at least 60 cm. somewhere dry, out of direct sunlight. Roger Key/Natural England

12 13 better to supply them with a purpose- built hedgehog home.

Old vegetation In the autumn it’s very tempting to completely clear an allotment of old growth and dig it over to make it tidy (see Winter digging, page 25). While digging can be beneficial, it is equally Ground beetles like Pterostichus niger will useful to leave some plant litter in appreciate undisturbed ground. place to provide winter hibernation Roger Key/Natural England sites for insect predators such as these as far as practical and let the ladybirds, lacewings, harvestmen and grass grow long. spiders. Try to delay tidying up your plot until the spring, but if you have to Log and stone piles clear old growth to dig a bed, don’t These will create a multitude of burn it – add it to your compost heap habitats for beneficial animals. Even a or pile it in a corner and leave it for the small stone pile on your plot will be a winter. The debris will make a valuable home to useful beetles and centipedes. refuge for many creatures. (See also Larger piles may shelter slug-eating Bonfires, page 19) frogs, toads and slow-worms or, very occasionally, a family of stoats or weasels to help keep down any local Bumblebees Broad grassy strips make excellent refuges and breeding sites for predatory beetles. rodents and rabbits. Hedgehogs can There are around 20 bumblebee Stephen Arnott/Natural England also benefit from these structures species in the UK and they are the devil’s coach-horse) soldier beetles to develop a covering of thick matted (though logs will have to be at least 10 excellent pollinators. Unlike honey and carrion beetles. All these prey on grass. These strips (known as ‘beetle cm apart) but if you wish to encourage bees, bumblebee colonies die in common pests such as slugs, snails and banks’) will act as breeding sites and them to feed on your slugs it might be the winter and only the young caterpillars. Ground beetles are thought refuges for predatory beetles from queens survive, hibernating to be the ‘number one’ slug predator, where they can emerge in the evening through the cold weather to better even than frogs! to sweep over ground that has been emerge in the spring and look for cleared for cultivation. new nest sites. Some of the insect The larvae of many predatory beetles refuges described here will benefit overwinter in the soil, so the best way Large-scale beetle banks are often seen hibernating queens and they will of keeping a healthy population is to on organic farms where field margins find overgrown, undisturbed areas minimise digging. This can be a and mid-field strips are deliberately ideal nesting places; they problem on an allotment that is left unploughed. Some allotment particularly like old mouse and regularly cultivated (see Winter digging, holders subdivide their plots into vole nests in tussocks or under page 25) but a compromise is to set separate beds using grass strips, and The small garden bumblebee Bombus hortorum. Boxsheds ends etc. aside strips of ground and allow them beetles will benefit if you broaden Roger Key/Natural England 14 15 herbs on your plot will make an the kitchen. The leaf litter and dense attractive feature and be an invaluable growth at the base of a will also resource for many beneficial creatures. provide a home for hedgehogs and create a sheltered corridor for small Some plot holders grow non-native mammals to travel along. ornamental flowers as a crop in their own right. Non-natives can be a Of all the hedge plants the most valuable nectar source but you should valuable must be hawthorn: it is fast avoid highly-bred plants with ‘double’ growing, tolerates most soils, responds flowers. These are hard for insects to well to and supports a huge penetrate and often contain little range of wildlife. However, it must be nectar. As a rule, simple open-faced allowed to flower to reach its best so flowers will have the most wildlife time any pruning accordingly. Plants such as dill Anethum graveolens have open Old growth can make a valuable refuge for over- benefit. If there is a hedge on your allotment, umbelliferous flowers that are popular with many wintering wildlife. Stephen Arnott/Natural England prune it in late winter after the berries Hedges insects. Chris Gibson/Natural England have gone, but before the start of the If your plot has a hedge or fence as a Flowers berries for food. Plot holders can also nesting season as it is illegal to disturb boundary there might be an The benefits of attracting pollinating benefit from this natural harvest; the nesting birds. The end of January is a opportunity to increase its insects, such as bees, to your plot are berries and flowers of elder, rosehips, good time. To lessen the impact of attractiveness to wildlife. Planting obvious, but other beneficial insects and blackthorn sloes all having a use in pruning, cut back only a third of your native hedging plants and trees such as and animals will also be drawn by the hazel, elder, blackthorn, hawthorn, dog right display. Hoverflies and bees are rose, field maple, beech, yew and the attracted by open flowers such as wild like will create nesting places for birds, carrot, lovage, caraway and yarrow, and shelter beneficial insects and provide dill, ragwort and parsnip are also popular. Bees will also appreciate tubular flowers such as sage, clovers, , beans and comfrey. Comfrey is a good choice as, apart from having attractive flowers, its leaves can be used to make manures and mulches (see Green manures, page 33). Late- and early-flowering plants such as aster, hellebores, ivy and spring bulbs provide nectar when little else is available (bumblebees will particularly appreciate these) and planting night- scented flowers will draw out the and insects that will attract bats. A display of flowers will draw many beneficial A sunny patch of native flowers or creatures to your plot. Judith Hanna/Natural England Hawthorn is one of the most valuable hedging plants. Mike Henchman/Natural England 16 17 into a wildlife resource by growing flowering climbers such as bryony, sweet and honeysuckle through it (but make sure you have the permission of the fence’s owner).

Dead hedges A dead hedge is essentially a line of brash (bushy cuttings) pushed into the soil to form a barrier. Alternatively, layers of brash can be piled between two parallel lines of stakes stuck in the ground. A dead hedge is one way of utilising woody cuttings that are unsuitable for composting and they can form useful windbreaks as well as valuable wildlife refuges.

Compost heaps Heaps and compost bins are the ideal A bonfire pile can be a valuable winter refuge. Stephen Arnott/Natural England way to dispose of organic allotment waste and the compost they produce is but most compost heaps take much These invertebrates will, in turn, attract an excellent soil improver. Under the longer to do their work and these can useful predators such as birds, frogs, Time hedge pruning to avoid the nesting season. right conditions organic waste can be become valuable resources for wildlife. toads and slow-worms. The latter will Roger Wilmshurst/FLPA composted in as little as two weeks, Many of the invertebrate species that find the heat generated by an actively composting heap particularly hedge in rotation each year. This leaves live in your heap will be actively attractive. For more information on one third undisturbed for at least two contributing to the compost process Security composting consult the Natural years. Remember to consult your while others, such as ground beetles If your allotment suffers the England booklet Composting and peat- allotment authority if you plan to and centipedes, will use it as a unwelcome attention of human free gardening. (See Contacts, page 37) replant an old hedge or start a new one. temporary refuge. pests why not bolster your security ‘Fedges’ with a prickly wild hedge? Holly, If you don’t have the opportunity to blackthorn, buckthorn, gorse, Bonfires create or improve a hedge you might hawthorn, pyracantha and berberis Some allotments allow bonfires but it garden leaves an ideal hibernation be able to grow plants through a man- can all be planted to create a is often more useful to compost site for the winter. By postponing made fence to create a ‘fedge’. Ivy is a prickly barrier; while bramble, dog waste than burn it. If you do have a your fire you will be preserving a particularly good fedge plant as its rose and sweet briar can be grown bonfire try to leave burning until valuable wildlife resource. To avoid dense growth is a refuge for insects and through existing man-made fences March, and move or turn-over a pile incinerating any ‘tenants’ toss the pile small birds, and its nectar and berries to make climbing them a thorny before you set it alight. Many a few times to wake them up and give are a valuable food source for wildlife. problem! creatures will find a pile of dry them a chance to escape. You could even turn a chain-link fence 18 19 Best of the bugs

Lacewing larvae are voracious feeders! Many insects are valuable pest Roger Key/Natural England predators but the following are some of the best:

Lacewings Both the adults and larvae eat aphids and other soft-bodied insects.

Ladybirds A single ladybird can eat 100 aphids a The French wasp Dolichovespula media is now day and they will also consume common in many gardens. whitefly, potato beetle, bean beetle Roger Key/Natural England and mealy bugs, amongst others. aphids in its short life, together with scale insects and young caterpillars. The larvae look like small, flattened, green maggots.

Tachinid flies These look like bristly versions of the common houseflies but their larvae are parasites on butterfly and moth caterpillars, sawflies and sucking bugs.

A hoverfly Metasyrphus luniger. Wasps Roger Key/Natural England Both solitary and social wasp species collect insect larvae, such as Hoverflies caterpillars, for food. Close relatives are The adults are not carnivorous but the parasitic wasps. These are often most hoverfly larvae are ravenous hunters: each consumes around 900

The two-spot ladybird Adalia bipunctata. Roger Key/Natural England A tachinid fly. Their larvae are parasitic on many Less than 3 mm long, this gall wasp is parasitic on pest species. Roger Key/Natural England other insects. Roger Key/Natural England 20 21 tiny, some as small as 0.25mm, and strong-smelling garlic and chives Composting toilets nearly every insect species has a wasp between other crops. Similarly, If your allotment lacks toilet species as a parasite. marigold roots are known to release a facilities, installing a composting nematode repellent so, in theory, they Centipedes toilet might be a solution. could help repel potato cyst eelworms. These feed on many ground-living and Composting toilets range from basic An added advantage of planting soil-dwelling insects and will also eat stand-up urinals that use a straw flowers like marigolds is their bright slugs and their eggs. bale to soak up fluid, to blooms which help attract beneficial sophisticated sit-down electronic Earwigs insects such as hoverflies and bees. models that incorporate a fan and Often regarded as pests, earwigs Strong-smelling French marigolds are heater. In all cases the end product Cabbages and beans seem to make good planting actually prey on aphids, codling moth also said to repel whitefly. is said to be surprisingly inoffensive! partners. Mr Fothergill’s caterpillars and vine eggs. For more information on Other useful companions are legumes, Although they can destroy flowers they onions short-rooted, so there is less composting and waterless toilets such as lupins, that fix nitrogen with do little other damage – if you find an competition for nutrients and water. contact the Centre for Alternative their roots for the benefit of adjacent earwig living in a cavity in a fruit or Technology and the Allotments Cabbages and beans crops. It seems that companion plants tuber, it didn’t make the hole, it’s just a Regeneration Initiative (see There is anecdotal evidence that where can even be from the same species. squatter. Contacts, page 37). cabbages are grown with unrelated Research has shown that non-resistant Ground beetles plants like runner beans, there’s a cultivars can benefit when inter- reduced incidence of cabbage aphid These are often shiny black or metallic together so that one, or both, benefits planted with disease-resistant varieties and cabbage root fly. It’s thought these in colour with obvious grooves down the other in some way. Although there of the same crop. The theory is that insects will land on a selection of the wing-cases. They are voracious is little scientific evidence that it works, resistant rows act as barriers, blocking plants to make sure there is a sufficient predators of slugs and other pests. (See the technique has been used by the path of pests and diseases that density of cabbages to support their Beetle banks, page 13.) gardeners around the world for might otherwise pass easily from plant offspring. The theory is that, after centuries. The following are a few of to plant. landing on one or two cabbages, they Companion planting the better known examples. will get discouraged and fly away if the One way of controlling pests without Carrots and onions second or third plant they land on is a resorting to chemicals is to try A field trial by Garden Organic bean, or some other non-cabbage. companion planting – a system where (formerly the Henry Doubleday Other combinations different plant species are grown Research Association) found that, Some companion planting might be as where onions and carrots are grown simple as cultivating shade-loving, low- together (and onions outnumber growing crops alongside taller, sun- carrots four to one), attacks of carrot fly loving varieties (a technique sometimes are far less severe. It is believed that the known as ‘nurse cropping’). smell of the onions masks that of the Other aspects of companion planting carrots, literally throwing the carrot are more complex. For example, some flies ‘off the scent’. Onions and carrots plants are known to exude chemicals make good companions for another that suppress pests, which is why some A ground beetle Pterostichus madidus. reason – carrots are long-rooted and Strong-smelling herbs may distract or repel pest Roger Key/Natural England gardeners swear by planting rows of species. Judith Hanna/Natural England 22 23 The table below is a list of traditional planting companions. But be warned, few carrot fly, chafer beetles, cutworms, animals feed on pest species and authorities agree absolutely on what are good or bad companions. An exception is gooseberry sawfly, Solomon’s seal are to be encouraged. Removing the combination of beans and peas with onions which is widely acknowledged as sawfly, onion fly and the pea moth – netting will also allow birds and being a bad mix! not to mention slugs! By turning the hedgehogs to get in amongst fruit soil in winter these creatures are bushes and hunt out the pest larvae Companion planting, traditional friends and foes exposed to the cold and made available that often overwinter in leaf-litter to predators such as birds, ground Crop Good companions Bad companions and the topsoil. beetles, centipedes and hedgehogs. Asparagus Tomato, parsley Onion Beans Celery, corn, cucumber, potato Chive, garlic, leek Winter digging However, there is a down-side; the grubs of many beneficial beetles will Cabbage Celery, onion Some people recommend a technique also be unearthed by digging so try to Carrots Pea, rosemary, onion, sage, tomato Dill known as ‘no dig’ gardening where the limit cultivation to a single session and Celery Onion, cabbage, tomato, beans soil is only lightly forked (if at all) and leave some areas undisturbed. (See Corn Beans, pea, squash never turned over. The theory is that Beetle banks, page 13.) Cucumber Beans, pea, radish naturally-layered, undisturbed soil is healthier than disturbed soil. It is also Lettuce Radish, strawberry Less welcome visitors less likely to dry out and, as buried Onion family Beets, carrot, celery, lettuce, cabbage Beans, peas seeds are not bought to the surface, it Aphids Pea Carrots, radish, turnip, cucumber, corn Onion needs less weeding. However, digging Commonly known as greenfly and Potato Beans, cabbage Pumpkin, tomato does have advantages. It allows you to blackfly, aphids will often spend the summer on one host before moving to Pumpkins Potato quickly improve the soil with additives such as rotted manure, improves the a different one in the winter. The Radish Pea, lettuce, cucumber Hyssop drainage of heavy soils and exposes honeydew they exude can encourage Spinach Strawberry invertebrate pests, their eggs and larvae Squash Nasturtium, corn to predators. Tomato Asparagus, onion, carrot, celery, cucumber Potato, cabbage Turnip Pea The latter is important as a number of notorious pests survive the winter as ground-dwelling grubs, including Netting Netting is a good way of keeping birds and larger flying insects away from your crops. However, after the growing season, netting should be taken down and put into storage. Netting is dangerous to many animals, trapping and killing creatures such as frogs, slow-worms

Netting will exclude a wide variety of pests. and hedgehogs. Nearly all these Winter digging exposes pest larvae to predators The dreaded greenfly (top) and the equally dreaded Garden Organic and the cold. Stephen Arnott/Natural England blackfly. Roger Key/Natural England 24 25 Capsid bugs These feed on the growing tips of many plants such as currants and runner beans causing distorted growth. Birds find the bugs tasty so encourage them with bird feeders placed near infested plants.

. Roger Key/Natural England . Roger Key/Natural Carrot fly These also attack parsnips, celery, chervil and parsley. The adults are weak The potato capsid Calocoris norvegicus. Pieris rapae Roger Key/Natural England flyers so planting on a windy exposed site will make their lives difficult. They closely related green-veined white is will be unable to fly over an enclosure not a pest species). Squash their oval, of fine netting that is at least 50 cm yellow eggs when you find them and high, and fleece is also effective. A exclude the adults with a fine mesh number of generations of fly will attack netting. your carrots throughout the year. The Cabbage root fly first is the most damaging but will have This fly lays its eggs in the soil or died off by June so avoid planting The small white cabbage butterfly occasionally on the plant itself. Cover before then. The smell of bruised carrot sooty mould fungi and they also infestations, pinch-out the affected the ground with fleece or a fine mesh leaves will attract adults so sow seeds transmit diseases such as cucumber growth or remove the whole plant. In straight after sowing or planting, or sparingly to reduce the need for mosaic virus. Overfeeding plants with the case of broad beans, early sowing protect individual plants with special thinning. (See also Companion nitrogen often encourages aphids as can make them less susceptible to root fly mats. You can buy these or planting, page 22 and Winter digging, this results in the soft sappy growth black bean aphids. make your own from 12 cm squares of page 25.) they love. Cabbage white butterflies any soft woven material. A traditional Celery fly Where an aphid infestation is small it’s Two species of butterfly, large whites remedy is to plant young brassicas in This also attacks plants such as celeriac, often best to simply squash them with and small whites, are often lumped holes lined with rhubarb leaves. parsley and lovage. Cover your crop your fingers. For more serious together as ‘cabbage whites’ (the Apparently the smell puts them off. with a fleece or fine mesh netting.

Codling moths These attack fruit trees. Sticky pheromone traps are successful against adult moths, and earwigs eat the caterpillars. Encourage earwigs with artificial refuges such as short lengths of hosepipe bent double and hung in the branches. Caterpillar of the small white cabbage butterfly. A large white cabbage butterfly caterpillar Pieris Small but pesky; the carrot fly Psila rosae. Roger Key/Natural England brassicae. Roger Key/Natural England Nigel Cattlin/FLPA 26 27 autumn as these will harbour grubs. Pollen beetles (See also Winter digging, page 25.) While largely harmless they may occasionally damage cauliflower or Leatherjackets calabrese so protect these crops with These are the larvae of crane-flies and fleece. They often migrate to allotments will attack the roots of brassicas, from nearby agricultural crops, strawberries and lettuce. Try watering especially fields of oil-seed rape. the ground thoroughly, then covering it with a thin layer of grass clipping Potato cyst eelworm and black plastic. The leatherjackets This can be a real problem for

Expose pests by growing gooseberry plants as a should rise to the surface over a few allotment growers as they thrive in cordon or fan. Mr Fothergill’s days and hide in the grass where you cultivated soils and can survive as can pick them up. A similar technique dormant cysts for up to 10 years. There Cutworm The pea and bean weevil lineatus. can be used for cutworms in are two eelworm varieties: golden and This is a generic name for a variety of Roger Key/Natural England greenhouse soil. (See also Winter white. Some potato varieties are nocturnal moth caterpillars that attack digging, page 25.) Onion fly resistant to one or the other, but few to crops such as lettuce, brassicas, carrots, These also attack shallots and leeks. Try both. Bulky organic soil improvers can celery, beetroot, potatoes and Millipedes growing onions under fleece or fine encourage predators, and early strawberries. Protect young transplants Most of the millipedes you see in your netting and make sure you grow the planting can sometimes secure a crop by pushing a collar (a cardboard tube garden will be harmless but a few crop on rotation. (See also Winter before an eelworm attack reaches it or open-ended tin can) into the soil burrowing species are troublesome. digging, page 25.) peak. (See also Companion planting, around the plant. (See also Winter The worst villain is the spotted-snake page 22.) digging, page 25.) millipede that can damage root crops Pea and bean weevil and potatoes. There’s little that can be Avoid using vetch or winter tares (both Raspberry beetles Flea beetles done about them but as they often legumes) as green manures as these These also attack tayberry, blackberry These can be a problem on brassicas exploit damage caused by pests such will attract the (see Green and loganberry. Remove mulches in the and potatoes. Grow affected plants as slugs, action against these will often manures, page 33). Protect the crop under a fine mesh or fleece. The limit the damage millipedes can do. with a fine mesh or fleece. damage these beetles do is made more severe by dry weather so don’t let Pea moth plants go short of water. Japanese This lays its eggs inside pea flowers so radish may divert these beetles away early and late sowings may avoid the from other brassicas but if you want to times the moth is in flight. take more direct action, run a greased Alternatively, cover the flowers in a board over infested plants – the beetles fine mesh. (See also Winter digging, should jump off and stick to it. page 25.)

Gooseberry sawfly Pea thrips Try to grow the plants as a cordon or These also attack broad beans. Early fan. This makes infestations more sowing will help avoid the peak obvious enabling you to remove infestations of midsummer. (See also The pea moth caterpillar nigricana. affected leaves. Remove mulches in the Roger Key/Natural England Winter digging, page 25.) Potatoes damaged by slugs. Nigel Cattlin/FLPA 28 29 autumn to expose the grubs to juice. Slugs will be attracted by the upturned flower-pots lying around. predators and gently dig the soil to do smell, crawl into the containers and Leave a gap for snails to squeeze in and the same. After fruiting, remove netting drown. Ensure that the lip of the trap they will soon find their way inside. to allow birds to hunt down adults and is raised 2 to 3 cm above the ground When it’s convenient these lodgers can larvae. Cutting the canes to the base at surface to avoid trapping beetles and be collected and disposed of. the end of the year can also help. other useful insects. A stick placed in Wireworms the trap will help trapped beetles Slugs These are the larvae of click beetles. escape. Many slug species are harmless and do They live in the soil and will attack little damage in the garden but a few Leave decoy foods such as comfrey many crops including potatoes, cause huge problems. The following and lettuce leaves near young crops. strawberries, brassicas, beans, will help keep them at bay: Put the leaves under a slate or piece beetroot, carrot, lettuce, onion and of wood to keep them moist. Any tomatoes. They dislike disturbance so Slugs dislike dry ground so water slugs that gather to feed on the are usually found on newly cleared your plants early in the morning leaves can then be collected by ground that was previously under rather than the evening when they hand. Plant tasty sacrificial plants grass. Try cultivating the soil in winter will be most active. Damp foliage left such as French marigolds near to expose the larvae (see Winter overnight is also a breeding ground vulnerable plants, and provide Snails like artichokes too. Nigel Cattlin/FLPA digging, page 25). Lifting root crops in for fungi – another good reason for pinhead oatmeal as another early autumn can also minimise the morning watering. When planting, relies on the barrier being dry and, sacrificial food. An added advantage damage they do. water seeds when they’re at the even when it is, many slugs can of the latter is that birds are equally bottom of the drill, then cover them burrow underneath. Laying copper Woodlice fond of oatmeal and may polish off with dry earth. strips or old copper pipes around These are rarely a problem, but they your slugs for dessert! raised beds can help as these may gnaw the stems of young or weak Plant only sturdy seedlings and Create barriers. Many materials have generate a weak electric current seedlings at ground level. Avoid protect them with cloches or tall been suggested as slug barriers, that slugs find unpleasant. mulching very young plants as this collars (at least 15 cm high) made including gravel and broken egg gives woodlice cover. Woodlice have from old plastic bottles. Do not Encourage slug predators, such as shells. Unfortunately this method very weak jaws and are unable to mulch young plants. frogs, hedgehogs, beetles, centipedes attack older transplants. and birds. (See Habitats, page 11.) Hoe the ground between your crops to disturb existing slime trails – If all else fails – grow plants that there’s evidence that other slugs use slugs don’t like! Never use slug these tracks as guides to food. pellets – birds and hedgehogs may die if they feed on poisoned slugs. Dig over the ground in the winter to expose adult slugs and their eggs. Snails (See also Winter digging, page 25.) What goes for slugs generally goes for their shelled cousins. However, having Set baited traps. Use old plastic a bulky shell means that snails have containers buried in the soil and fewer hiding places than slugs. Try partly filled with beer, milk or grape A wire worm Athous haemorrhoidalis. Arion rufus, the red slug. Roger Key/Natural England creating tempting refuges by leaving Roger Key/Natural England

30 31 for the same purpose but some say flower, is an excellent nectar source for that the prolonged use of sheet plastic bumblebees. Poached egg plant (as opposed to woven plastic) will sour Limnanthes douglasii and phacelia are the soil by depriving it of air. sometimes grown as weed suppressers that will also attract bees and other As well as suppressing weeds some beneficial insects. organic mulches will also raise fertility – leaching nutrients into the soil as If you let green manures flower, it is they decompose. In fact, mulching is important to cut them down before the main way in which ‘no dig’ they set seed. The cut plants can be left gardeners improve their soils (see on the soil as a mulch, dug into the Winter digging, page 25). A mulch will ground, or added to the compost heap. also provide predatory beetles with cover, though a few species prefer Liquid manure more open ground. On the downside, Comfrey is another plant that can be many pests – slugs in particular – will used to increase fertility. It has long welcome the moist, sheltered roots that tap into stores of nutrients conditions that mulching creates. For A pygmy shrew Sorex minutus on the look out for its next meal. Roger Key/Natural England that have leached deep into the soil, this reason it’s best to avoid mulching the result being that comfrey leaves young plants. Mammals will particularly appreciate hedges, contain nearly as much nitrogen as leaf piles and undisturbed, overgrown You can exclude rabbits with mesh farmyard manure and twice as much areas that give them cover while they Green manures fencing, but there is little defence hunt. against moles and these are best These are sacrificial crops planted on tolerated. The most common ‘nuisance’ For more advice on mammals on your fallow ground, their main purpose mammal is the wood mouse which is plot contact The Mammal Society or being to trap nutrients that might notorious for sniffing out buried pea Mammals Trust UK, or consult the otherwise be leached away by the rain. and bean seeds. You can catch mice Natural England booklet Mammals in Like mulches they help to suppress with humane traps baited with chunks your garden. (See Contacts, page 37.) weeds as well as attracting and of carrot, apple or potato, then release providing cover for many beneficial them at least 2 km away; but it’s Mulches insects. Some green manures are probably easier to protect seed beds legumes and these will also increase A mulch is a protective layer of matter with wire mesh laid on the soil. soil fertility by fixing nitrogen. spread over the soil to help suppress Alternatively, avoid autumn or early weeds and reduce the need for Popular manures include winter tares spring sowings (when mice will be at watering. Popular mulches include sativa, a good nitrogen fixer and their hungriest) or raise pea and bean garden compost, mushroom compost, weed suppressor, and grazing rye seedlings in pots. well-rotted manure, bark chippings and Secale cereale, reputedly the best Far from all small mammals are pests! grass cuttings (though a thick layer of manure for over-wintering. Crimson clover Trifolium incarnatum is also a Shrews are extremely efficient clippings often congeals into an A fallow bed sown with Italian rye-grass Lolium predators of insects and slugs. They unpleasant slime!) You can use plastic good nitrogen fixer and, if left to multiflorum. Vicky Morgan/Natural England 32 33 potassium. Some gardeners maintain a patch of comfrey and use its leaves to City Farms and Community make a liquid manure. To make your Gardens own, steep 1 kg of leaves in 15 litres of Allotments aren’t the only places water, let the mixture stew under cover you’ll find people growing things in towns and suburbs. Across the country there is a growing network of community gardens, wildlife gardens, city farms and school farms that has developed in response to a lack of access to gardens and green spaces. Many of these projects are members of the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens, a charity that supports and promotes city farms and community gardens throughout the UK. Currently the Federation represents 59 city farms, nearly 1,000 community gardens, 75 school farms, and a number of community-managed allotments. City farms can provide a unique learning experience in urban areas. Federation of City Farms Many of these green spaces have been created by community groups on derelict land and, unlike traditional allotments, these sites have little legal protection. However, despite their often unconventional origins these projects usually have the strong support of their local council. If Comfrey makes an excellent liquid manure. you’re involved with a community Rosemary Mayer/FLPA green space or know of an area that could be developed as one, contact for four weeks, then use undiluted. The the Federation for their advice (see same can be done with nettles using 1 Contacts, page 37). The Federation kg of leaves for every 10 litres of water. is also supporting the work of the After two weeks the resulting fluid is Allotments Regeneration Initiative diluted by adding 10 parts water to 1 (see History, page 2). part nettle liquid. 34 35 Heritage seeds heritage varieties to their catalogues. Contacts Bat Conservation Trust Why not introduce a few heritage 2 Cloisters House Many vegetable seeds sold today are Natural England vegetables to your plot? Apart from the 8 Battersea Park Road hybrid varieties that have been bred to 1 East Parade fun of trying something different, the London, SW8 4BG grow in a range of soils and climates Sheffield, S1 2ET interplanting of heritage and hybrid Tel: 0207 627 2629 and still produce high yields – that’s Enquiry Service: 0845 600 3078 varieties of the same crop could have Bat Helpline 0845 1300 228 the good news. The bad news is that [email protected] advantages (see Companion planting, www.bats.org.uk hybrids can be less tolerant of diseases page 22). www.naturalengland.org.uk and usually require cosseting with lots British Trust for Ornithology National Society of Allotment and of fertilisers and pesticides. By The Nunnery Leisure Gardeners National Allotments contrast, non-hybrid seeds – Thetford Garden Trust sometimes known as ‘heritage’ or Norfolk, IP24 2PU O’Dell House ‘heirloom’ varieties – are often lighter Tel: 01842 750050 Hunters Road croppers and bred to thrive only in [email protected] Corby, NN17 5JE specific soils and climates. However, www.bto.org Tel: 01536 266576 they are more robust than hybrids, www.nsalg.org.uk RSPB tend to crop over a longer period (so www.nagtrust.org The Lodge avoiding gluts) and often keep longer Sandy and taste better. Allotments Regeneration Initiative Bedfordshire, SG19 2DL The GreenHouse The popularity of high-yielding hybrid Tel: 01767 680551 Hereford Street varieties has resulted in many seed www.rspb.org.uk Bristol, BS3 4NA companies abandoning traditional Tel: 0117 9631 551 The Mammal Society heritage vegetables as uneconomic, [email protected] 2B Inworth Street leading to the possibility that these www.farmgarden.org.uk/ari London, SW11 3EP varieties might disappear altogether. Tel: 0207 350 2200 This must not happen! Heritage Federation of City Farms and [email protected] vegetables are an invaluable genetic Community Gardens resource that could be of tremendous The Green House Mammals Trust UK importance to future growers and Hereford Street 15 Cloisters House breeders. Steps are being taken to Bristol, BS3 4NA 8 Battersea Park Road preserve our vanishing vegetables with Tel: 0117 923 1800 London, SW8 4BG many organisations establishing seed www.farmgarden.org.uk Tel: 0207 498 5262 banks and libraries for heritage [email protected] varieties. One such is Garden Organic’s Garden Organic (Henry Doubleday Heritage Seed Library, an organisation Research Association) Centre for Alternative Technology that distributes free seeds to its Ryton Organic Gardens Machynlleth subscribers (see Contacts, page 37). Coventry, CV8 3LG Powys, SY20 9AZ Some commercial seed companies are Know your onions! Organic wildlife-friendly Tel: 024 7630 3517 Tel: 01654 705950 also doing their bit and reintroducing gardening can produce great results. [email protected] www.cat.org.uk Duncan Smith/FLPA

36 37 Further information

This is one of a range of wildlife gardening booklets published by Natural England. For more details, contact the Natural England Enquiry Service on 0845 600 3078 or e-mail [email protected]

Natural England also produces Gardening with wildlife in mind, an illustrated wildlife reference. Originally on CD but now also available online, Gardening with wildlife in mind has detailed information on 800 plants and species often found in our gardens, and shows how they are ecologically linked. See www.plantpress.com

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