Gardening for Wildlife with Grazers

At Grazers, we’re great supporters of organic gardening but we like to expand our worldview as ‘gardening for wildlife’. Our products harm nothing - the creatures that nibble plants, the animals that form part of our garden ecosystem, our pets and people.

The public is more aware than ever that harmful chemicals benefit no one and the environment least of all. Our gardens are vital pockets of wildlife in our increasingly degraded countryside. You will only find garden birds, amphibians and small mammals in a healthy, interconnected ecosystem. Gardens treated with pesticides and herbicides leave no food source for them. Working to maintain a natural balance in gardens is so important to Grazers.

The team works alongside SongBird Survival, a charity that funds research into the decline in Britain’s songbirds. To attract birds, mimic a natural UK woodland - one or two small trees, such as crab apples or holly, and various shrubs, preferably with berries or fruit. Hedges are important, especially native species like hawthorn and beech. Some birds, such as blackbirds and robins, like to feed and nest at or near ground level, so need that protection.

Add to this perennials and annuals that attract pollinators over a long flowering period - a vital food source. It’s important to leave the dead stems of perennials in place over winter. Not only do they protect plants but they also provide hibernation spots for overwintering critters that make up the diet of some creatures.

Once you have these plants in place, they will attract a wide range of wildlife and diversification will increase. Add a permanent water source, such as a pond - with a sloping side so creatures can get out - or bird bath. Garden birds drink a couple of times a day and need to bathe regularly.

Another organisation Grazers back is Buglife, which is devoted to the conservation of all invertebrates, from bees to beetles, worms to woodlice and jumping spiders to jellyfish.

Restoring balanced, varied ecosystems to our gardens, is increasingly important in our wildlife-depleted isles. What’s the point of having perfect plants after using harmful chemicals if there are no birds, amphibians or mammals to populate our gardens?

How Grazers products can help

Grazers products aim to discourage herbivores from damaging your crops, helping plants to help themselves. The creatures move on to feed elsewhere, unharmed - that means they remain part of the food chain, essential for a healthy garden ecosystem.

Calcium and natural plant extracts are the key ingredients in the Grazers’ formulations, making plants less appealing as a food source. These work together with photosynthesising leaves and stems, producing a ‘plant-mediated effect’. This gives the plant a greater ability to withstand attack from creatures that want to eat them. Remember, so-called ‘pests’ are wildlife too!

These plant herbivores will search out other food sources, leaving our garden plants to thrive. As an extra benefit, calcium helps plants to grow even better. In turn, the birds, hedgehogs and amphibians that eat the herbivores are kept happy, keeping natural wildlife food chains in place.

Here’s more about the Grazers products:

G1: This original Grazers product offers effective foliar fortification against rabbits, pigeons, deer and geese. G2: Works against grazing by slugs and snails. G3: Formulated to give brassica plants effective foliar fortification against Cabbage White Butterflies laying their eggs. G4: For use against Red Lily Beetle grazing, or laying their eggs, on lilies and Fritillaries. Used by professional and award-winning lily growers.

The key to using all of Grazers products is being proactive. Spray early and get ahead of the deer, rabbits, pigeons, cabbage white butterflies and caterpillars, red lily beetles and slugs and snails.

For more information, visit www.grazers.co.uk.