Gardening Glossary

Instead of chemical or mechanic methods, live organisms are used to control pests. The best examples of biological control are parasitic wasps and Bacillus thuringiensis (BT), which prey on mosquito and fly larvae and many species of caterpillar. You can encourage biological pest control in your garden by providing attractive habitat and food sources for beneficial animals and insects.

Bio-dynamics is a philosophy and method of agriculture developed by Rudolph Steiner in the 1920s. Its focus is to help people work with nature to grow healthy food. In many ways, it is similar to organic gardening. Both methods avoid chemical inputs and rely on composting, crop rotation, and other techniques. What makes bio-dynamics different is that its holistic influences. A bio-dynamic farm would strive to be a self-supporting system that mimics an ecosystem. Gardeners that follow this method of agriculture also believe that cosmic rhythms influence plant growth.

Some types of animals such as bats, snakes, spiders, and amphibians are helpful for pest control. For example, a toad can eat up to 3000 grubs, slugs, beetles and other insects in a month while a bat can consume up to 1000 insects in a single night! Welcoming these animals in our garden can be the start of a long and beautiful friendship.

These plants are usually from tropical or subtropical regions so are highly vulnerable to frost. Seeds need warm soils to germinate. Most annuals are categorised as tender (e.g. marigolds).

These annuals tolerate frost and have seeds that over-winter outside and germinate the following spring.