Nature always has its own way to support its attendance’s life. Like what you’ve learned in school many floras and faunas are connected by symbiotic either mutualism, commensalism, or parasitism. The positive ones are mutualism and commensalism, that give benefit to one without harming other.

Based on that fact, what if you bring it to your garden to make your garden do better? Yes, you can do it and it is easy to do. By taking advantage of symbiotic mutualism and commensalism, your plants will grow better and you can get rid of annoying pests without chemical uses.

Basically, there are two kinds of relationships that may benefit your garden. One is by getting the help from animals, and the other is by companion planting. How to do it is as simple as choosing companion plant or just welcoming the birds.

Here is how to do it based on information shared in Thompson & Morgan.

Companion Planting

This method is basically about making use of other plants’ ability to help another plant grow well. Making a community of correct plants will help you attract supportive animals and get rid of pests. By bringing back the nature’s ability to help the lives of its creatures, you can get better garden.

To do it, there are some points to note, the first one is to try plant other plants so your garden is not a monoculture garden. Monoculture garden is more prone to pests and diseases because they know where to go. Try planting various plants in your garden.

Secondly, try to bring natural shades for plants which are weak to direct sunlight such as lettuce, spinach, or coriander. Some tall plants like sweet corn and peas are good examples. You will also get bonus result from the peas and sweet corn in your garden by doing this.

To repel the pests, use herbs with strong aroma like mint, chives, garlic, onion, or basil. Common garden pests hate the smell of those plants and choose to avoid gardens where the herbs grow. One good example is carrot and spring onion, where the smell of each other gets rid of the other’s common pests.

Intercropping will also help your garden grow better. Planting fast-growing plants between the spaces of your slower growing ones will help you to prevent weeds to occupy the space. This is more beneficial than letting weeds grow because they will likely rob the nutrients and water from your soil.

In addition, planting birds’ and insect’s attractors is another good idea to make use of. Birds are natural predators for slugs and some other annoying pests. While good insects like bees and butterflies will help you pollinate the crops. The following section will talk further about these plants.

Symbiosis Between Plants And Animals

As we know, that some plants and animals are in symbiotic mutualism. That’s why, attracting animals that bring good symbiosis will help your crops grow well, and in addition you can support the life of those animals. Birds, bees, and butterflies are animals that will help you in growing your garden.

Birds are natural predators for small pests like slugs, aphids, caterpillars, ladybugs, stinkbugs, and grasshoppers. So, inviting birds to your garden is actually a kind of natural pesticide that will not bring harm to the environment like chemicals.

Installing bird bath and feeder will bring those animals to your garden and do its job. And if you love listening to their chirps the morning you wake up every day, give them a place to nest or shelter by building a bird house. This will keep them near your garden too.

In addition, to attract more birds, you can also plant berries or other plants that produce seeds and nuts that birds prefer to eat. This will add more variety to your garden and a good call for those pest eaters. Give it a try for just one week and see how much difference it can do.

Not only birds, bees and butterflies are also will assist you in managing your garden. Bees and butterflies are responsible for pollinating more than 35 percent of plants we eat. Thus, they can also help your garden grow healthier because of its ability to pollinate the plants.

To attract bees and butterflies, try to plant flowers which are single-flowered, because they prefer those kinds of flowers. Also avoid using chemical pesticides because it risks of killing those creatures too. Instead, like the method mentioned before, try to make use of birds.

As well as birds, providing shelter to bees and butterflies is also a great idea to keep them near to your garden. You can make a bee house from wood or thick stems, while for butterflies you need to provide hosting for both caterpillar and butterfly.

Eco-Friendly Garden Benefits The Environment

Those mentioned above are examples of how mother nature always has its own way to support every creature living on earth. In this way, it is done by the help of other creatures, including you who choose to do the eco-friendlier way than using chemicals.

As we know chemicals may harm our environment both instantly and longer range of time. Instantly they kill the good animals like bees and butterflies. While in longer range of time, the residue of the pesticide remains staying on earth.

The chemicals may be absorbed by the soil and further by the plants. If you are planting edible crops in your garden and you consume it, doesn’t it mean that you also consume the chemicals? Consider how it may affect your health in the future.

In addition, by making your garden more symbiotically friendly, you can also make a mini conservation. As you know, some butterfly species and bees are drastically declining at alarming rate. Mostly because they are hard to find a place to live and do their chores.

The symbiosis between bees, butterfly, and birds with plants are mutualism, means that it gives benefit to both sides. The creatures help the plants to grow well, while the plants give food and shelters to them. So, interested to try this method?