At the community garden we celebrate and encourage wildlife but we also want to harvest some of our crops ourselves! So, we use a variety of different wildlife friendly techniques to protect them.

We have built a muntjac proof fence around the sweetcorn using strong deer netting and posts cut from our pollarded willow.

We also use some of the Woodland Trust tree guards as sheaths on the sweetcorn cobs to protect them from nibbling rats and mice. They are transparent and expand with the growing cobs. They worked really well last year and we had a delicious crop!

Another barrier technique we use is netting our brassicas to protect from cabbage white butterflies. All brassicas including cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, kale and brussel sprouts are very closely related and will all be attractive to the butterflies. They lay their eggs, usually on the underside of the leaves and when the caterpillars emerge they will decimate a whole crop within a day!

To prevent small amphibians and birds from getting caught up in loose netting we have built several frames with tight-fitting fine netting to cover our brassicas. We are currently building another large frame for our spring cabbage seedlings to be planted into when they're big enough.

We lay large unwanted leaves such as rhubarb and other leafy pruning around the edges of plots so slugs and snails will be attracted to them instead of crops. They can be taken away to the compost heap and refreshed regularly.

To control aphids we use companion plants such as nasturtiums in the polytunnel to steer them away from the tomatoes.

We also encourage ladybirds and other beneficial insects with hollow stems, rough areas of wild flowers and log piles. They love to keep the aphid populations down.

Frogs, toads, hedgehogs and other wildlife will also help to keep the slug populations down so we encourage them with our ponds, log piles, bug hotel, underground amphibian habitats and hedgehog habitats.

These are just some of the kind ways that you can love nature and also manage to enjoy your own crops. If you have any other creative ideas please get in touch.