In spite of me doing my
best to nurture the friendly insects and the birds, my garden usually
suffered worse from pest infestations than those of friends who
gardened the traditional way, namely, to poison the unwanted
freebooters.

I suspect my garden does - or it would do if I persisted in growing, for
example, hostas. But what I am also finding is my garden is steadily
increasing in wildlife, which I count as a real bonus. I enjoy watching
rather than interfering, and I get a lot more pleasure out of my garden
now than when I was remembering the cycle of adding fertiliser and
remembering to spray against nasties.

I suppose I also have at the back of my mind that I am gardening purely
recreationally and not for food production, so and so I have a greater
responsibility to avoid harm, and whether the case against "chemicals"
is proven or not, I don't think anyone is saying that I am actively
harming the environment by not using pesticides.


--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm