MOST gardeners feel themselves to be in tune with nature, but trying to buck up the sweet peas can lead one down the garden path to Baby-Bio. Gardening with man-made products has been around for only 50 years or so, but civilisation has been cultivating plants using natural methods for centuries. It makes little sense to upset your own private eco-system, and you don’t have to drill a borehole for a clearer conscience. From banishing fly sprays to installing your own wormery, there are options that make it easier to use nature’s own tactics.

First of all, that Baby-Bio. Replace synthetic plant food with a mixture of nettle and comfrey. It reeks to high heaven, but your flowers will flourish. To help growth, practise crop rotation in vegetable patches. Fallow areas look ugly in decorative gardens, but for kitchen gardens it is a simple way to restock the soil with nutrients.

Insecticide-free pest control is crucial, especially on anything you might eat, including herbs. Prevention is better than cure, and companion planting, like putting anise next to coriander, can draw aphids away from fruit. Chrysanthemums are very good at this, as are sunflowers. The same substance that attracts good insects to leaves and flowers can also repel bad ones. By combining a mixture of native plants, flowers and vegetables you allow the wildlife to find its own balance of expansion and control. Grease bands around tree trunks protect against moths, ants and earwigs, and copper tape around beds and pots discourages slugs and snails. Brightly coloured, cup-shaped flowers are the best for attracting bees and butterflies to help with pollination.

The ladybird is helpful because of its predatory relationship with plant-eating insects. If your garden has a healthy ladybird colony, you can further encourage it with ladybird food (£1.95 from Agralan), left out in a shady hidey hole. If you haven’t seen any red dotted wings lately, you can grow your own ladybirds. No, this isn’t a children’s toy – you can buy kits with a breeding box and instruction manual; you then order the eggs and 30 days later, hey presto!, 20 little ladybirds emerge. The eggs need monitoring throughout the month and the kit costs £24.95 from Agralan. If you end up with too many, place fresh bay leaves in the areas you want them to leave, like door frames.

You can up the species count of your fast-growing micro-farm with a wormery. This seething mass of tiny critters stays inside a plastic bin and devours organic matter, leaving a waste product that is a brilliant soil conditioner.The aptly titled Can-O-Worms costs £60 from www.wigglywigglers.com. If that makes you squirm, all you need for a simple compost bin is food and green waste, plus the odd sprinkling of water. Compost bins must be placed on a natural surface, like a flower bed, so moisture can seep out and bugs can move in and out. It will need stirring to aerate it. Powdered natural compost accelerator speeds up decomposition, as does a handful of yarrow.

Finally, a water butt is the easiest way to conserve water. A barrel placed beneath the drainpipe will catch run-off water from the roof, and gardens respond much better to rainwater than tap water, which is treated with chlorine. Plastic barrels, such as the Sankey Standard Water Butt (£20 at Homebase), are available from most garden centres; for something smarter, try a Suffolk Barrel, which is wood with a brass tap (£99 from www.suffolkbarrel.co.uk).

When it comes to eco-chic, it’s clear that gardens have natural talent.

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