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The plot is abuzz with wildlife, including ladybirds, lacewings, bumblebees and ground beetles. They're all marvellous for my crops; bees increase my yields by pollinating flowers, and ladybirds and lacewings eat a lot of aphids. As well

in the thicket of climber on the fence. The first ladybird of the year, a seven-spot, sunned itself on the ivy. And one of my favourite spiders is back.Pisaura mirabilis is a beautifully sleek and elegant creature, dusky grey with a beige streak down its back. It

I've always been rather sceptical about the benefits of bug boxes, ladybird and lacewing hotels and other artificial constructions marketed to improve the roosting conditions for helpful insects in the garden. I was once given a solar-powered insect

on the leaves.Dispose of fallen leaves that might have the bugs or eggs attached. Use the predatory ladybird Cryptolaemus montrouzieri when temperatures rise in summer. Also try spraying plants with fatty acids or plant oils. You may need to do this a few times

, as there were two or three ladybird couples mating on the plants, I chose to let nature take its course and let the blackfly be (ladybird larvae have a voracious appetite for aphids). This week I popped down and found so many ladybirds that I worried there weren

and air from reaching the leaves.Black or greyish-green mould spreads across sticky honeydew deposited on pepper plants by aphidsThere's no control for sooty mould, but you can control the aphids. Outside, natural predators such as birds and ladybirds

Make a bug boxEncourage helpful insects such as ladybirds, lacewings and bees into your garden by building them their own bug box. Giving them somewhere to shelter or hibernate, this simple to build home is perfect for gardeners who want to look

and kills them, so weekly sprayings will usually do the trick. The good thing about using detergent is that it just washes away in the rain - even better if you use a green brand. Of course, blackfly are naturally preyed on by ladybirds, lacewings

. This will be fascinating if it comes off. Although the Japanese harlequin ladybird, Harmonia axyridis, has been released in Europe to combat alien aphids, it arrived in Britain under its own steam, or accidentally with horticultural material. It is now (perhaps rather

.Most companion plants are strongly scented and confuse pests looking for their host plant. Others attract beneficial insects, such as ladybirds and lacewings, which prey on aphids.The garlic chive, Allium tuberosum, is a hardy perennial with white star