Every creature has a place in the natural world; unfortunately some of them feel that their place is YOUR garden. If you take pride in your garden, keep flowers and vegetables and try to maintain a neat lawn, you will come across many adversaries. Aside from all the insects you have to worry about; rabbits, birds and even deer can cause considerable damage to your greenery.

You can avoid tackling bugs altogether if you avoid planting their favourite plants in the first place. Most garden centres will be able to provide information on any bugs that choose to feed on a particular plant you might be buying but if not you can always find the information online. You will most likely be able to find plants that you like that won’t attract unwanted guests but if not there are other options.

You could buy a collection of praying mantis or other predatory insects that will control the population of nuisance insects. You could get some other plants that attract birds which also feed on insects; this will deal with the insect problem but could leave you dealing with the birds.

If all else fails, you could resort to pesticides but you will need to find exactly what will deal with the specific insects that are troubling you and be sure to follow safety precautions to the word and use protective clothing and a mask. Pesticides are poisonous so keep it away from children and be wary of any pets that may come into contact with it but it is important that this is your last option and should not be your first port of call.

If your adversaries are a little larger than creepy crawlies, you will need to up your game to avoid the problem. Many people struggle with rodents, moles, rabbits which are keen on eating vegetables, surround your plants with chicken wire and raise them out of the soil.

If your garden contains any fruit or berry trees, you may have a big problem with birds but there is not a great deal you can do to combat them. You could string up bird netting above your trees and plants which will keep them away but depending on how big your garden is this will have to span over a large area and can spoil your enjoyment. Some people use plastic owls or cats to act as a deterrent to other birds but this loses effectiveness as time goes on, it also looks ugly.

Depending where you live, you may have problems with creatures as big as deer. Particularly in the winter when food is scarce, deer will resort to entering neighbourhoods looking for food. The first line of defence against deer is to surround your garden with a fence but if you aren’t keen on this, spreading garlic over your plants should put them off but you will have to reapply between rainfall.

In order to keep your grass healthy you will need to provide it with lawn feed as bugs usually provide extra sustenance. Consult a gardening store for proper lawn advice.