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SACRIFICIAL PLANTING

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Although the terminology sounds a little blood thirsty, it is in reality a practiced organic method

of protecting your garden plants from the pests that feed from them. This is achieved by thedeliberate act of supplying plants that will either attract harmful pests away from, or attract

natural predators to, the plants you're trying to protect.

For example, plant a row of lettuce that you are happy to have destroyed at the back of your

herbaceous boarders and this will entices slugs away from your ornamental plants, attracted to

the tastier salad leaves. Dont panic though as the damaged lettuce leaves will soon be out of

sight, becoming lost behind the taller ornamental plants as they grow through.

!hile its true that slugs love lettuce, they love marigolds more, so if its salad crops that you are

trying to protect, creating a thick border of marigolds will act as a self healing edible barrier. Tryusing the larger American or African marigold hybrids as this will create a far bulkier defence

compared to our smaller "nglish or French varieties

 #asturtiums are great for attracting aphids therefore making an ideal trap for protecting precious

roses. Again, plant them as a sacrificial border, remembering to pinch off and destroy the leaves

and stems as they become overrun. Aphids will also infest sunflowers, and unlike nasturtiums

whose swarming leaves have to be removed, sunflowers can be left alone to grow. $ecause theyare so tough, the aphids cause very little damage and will still produce nice seed heads for native

 birds to en%oy. &ike lettuce, nasturtiums also work well as a trap crop for slugs and snails.

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This principle can work %ust as well for pest animals as well as for insects. For those suffering the

constant damage caused by that naturalised foreign alien the rabbit, plant dill in your borders.

This will protect the vulnerable young shoots of many of your perennials as rabbits will ignorethe less tasty offerings preferring to go straight for the dill. This way the rabbit will remain

unharmed particularly when compared to other commonly used control methods i.e. the shotgun

or myxomatosis, and hopefully your borders should remain uneaten. "ven without a rabbit problem, planting dill in the garden is also a good idea as it attracts hoverflies and predatory

wasps, both of which will feed off aphids.

Fed up with your plants suffering the ragged bite marks of the dreaded (ine weevil) Although

named for destroying the roots of grape vines it now seems to prefer a wide range of host plants,

in particular &aurels and (iburnums. Try planting polyanthus and cyclamen for control of this

destructive garden pest. (ine weevils love to lay their eggs beside these two species, not onlymaking them great for attracting them away from the plants you love, but also for giving you a

great starting place to look should you these destructive pests enter the garden.

A word of warning though if you are intent on spraying for vine weevil, the only productcurrently on the market that is suitable for their control is *rovado, and this contains the active

ingredient +midacloprid. This lethal chemical is believed to be one of the factors in olonyollapse Disorder, a serious disorder that affects our native bees. +ts absorbed into both nectar

and pollen contaminating it with a deadly toxin that affects the bees nervous system. -nce the

nectar and pollen has been taken back to the hives its passed on through the food chaincontinuing to kill yet more bees. o next time you find yourself reaching for a bottle bug killer,

consider sacrificial planting and reach out for a packet of seeds instead.