Shame on me =\

My sister has used neem oil.....safe and repels insects. I'm going to try it on my peach tree next year since some sort of insect ruined much of the fruit.

The decline in the world bee population is what worries me most, more that terrism. I think you are right in refraining from using such sprays. Over here we do annual bird counts which is also a bit worrying. If we banned all these sprays maybe we'd have more birds to eat your grass-hoppers.
Scientists are very clever but Mother Nature knows better.

thank you both for your replies - i didn't know the bird population was declining in the UK as well as the world wide bees and frogs ...

Well done Cate, I have never used any sprays, ever, and will not, like you I leave well alone and let nature do it's 'thing', great blog, hope others read it too !! =)

Read it! No spays for me. I count myself so lucky to have frogs, Bees by the hundreds, swifts and swallows, black beetles (which are all called Alexander beetle after AA Milnes poem)

There's always a catch to using chemicals isn't there? You end up hurting something whether it's the surrounding plants or the someone in the wildlife's food chain.
Good blog cate ... :o))

I must admit to using slug pellets, but it does worry the socks off me. I do avoid sprays, black fly has been a real pain this year, soapy water is good for this but not perfect. Perhaps we need a seperate page on this site for humane pest control and hints.

thank you all for your comments - it's such a catch 22 problem especially for people growing their own food - to get a crop that will sustain your food supply you have to keep other critters from eating them first and from spoiling them so they can't be stored.

Lauram has msg'd me with the name of a site that could have some very interesting ideas and products - my internet went offline this morning so I've not had a chance to explore it - http://www.biconet.com/ - be interested to hear what you all think if you have time to look it over - it seems to be very comprehensive in its coverage of garden 'pests' and controls for them

Kfunsters - i would like to think that there is the interest amongst our GoY community to take up your idea !!

happy gardening to you all - Cate =)

Kfun & Cate, why not send a message to Pete & Ajay who run this sight and put your suggestions to them ?

On a related note: Living in Georgia (think hot and humid) with 3 dogs and a bunch of cats, I do have flea problems (like everybody else). For years I tried to eliminate the fleas with foggers and sprays and Frontline. Didn't work. It was so frustrating to feel fleas jumping on my legs an hour after I'd fleabombed my bedroom. So this year I tried diatomaceous earth. Cheap. Non-toxic. Harmless if ingested. I spread a cup or two on the turtle room floor and my bedroom floor. That was a month and a half ago. And guess what - no fleas. I did see a few last week so I put down more (the last application had been vaccuumed up or tracked out) and once again, the fleas are gone. I've been able to stop using Revolution on the cats - they're no longer scratching - although I do use flea control on the dogs since they go outside. So......there must be an alternative to chemicals for our gardens. I did read about something called Year Round Horticultural Oil that smothers insects, yet can be used up to the day of harvest.

Thank you for this blog, Cate, it does make you think doesn't it? We want to create beauty in our gardens, but there is always a cost, as of most things. This is a tough one, like the idea of a page for humane pest control and hints, think it would be very well received! Thanks for sharing this.... :~))

And everything ends up in our water supply, eventually....look at it that way, also. Do these chemicals ever break down into something harmless? I doubt it.
I remember when I was a kid, my parents would order boxes of ladybugs and other beneficial insects from a garden supply place and we'd have a blast releasing them outside, where they'd no doubt find lots of aphids to feast on. I'm dating myself here but this was back in the 70s. So even then there were alternatives to poisons.

wow thank you All for your responses - I did wonder if this might be a rather controversial subject ... I do perfectly understand why controls are used in gardens and that not many people like my 'wild rules' way of gardening - and then there are people who rely on their vegetable patch for their fresh food - they just can't stand guard all day and night to protect their crops ... as I said - a catch 22 if ever there was one ... a good suggestion of Grandmage's - I'll find out if it's feasible - thank you all again =))

PS - Lauram - i have to ask - what is a "turtle room"??

Oh, the turtle room.....it's supposed to be a second bedroom, but it has baby turtles in it instead, as well as some foster cats and kittens.