In the fifth and final article, you'll learn how to promote biodiversity in your garden – simply by forgoing intensive care.
Conventional gardens create a lot of work for their owners: The uniform lawn constantly needs to be mown, fertilized, sprayed, and watered, while boxwood hedges and rose beds are repeatedly sprayed with various poisons. Even plants whose fruits we eat, like fruit trees and berry bushes, often need to be sprayed to prevent them from dying due to diseases and pests.
This type of garden care not only entails a lot of work – it primarily harms biodiversity. Fortunately, there are blooming alternatives that are easier to maintain and offer countless wild bees and other insects a valuable home and essential food.
Traditional lawns are very high-maintenance. The problem: A single pass with the lawnmower spells the end for countless insects. In contrast, a wildflower meadow only needs to be mown twice a year. Ideally with a scythe or a gentle bar mower. But that's not the only reason why a wildflower meadow is an immense asset. The wildflowers growing in it offer countless insects vital food that they can hardly find elsewhere. And it offers you a magnificent sight and a lively garden.
Spray less: With resistant varieties, you save work and save lives
Many fruit trees and berry bushes found in Swiss gardens need to be sprayed to protect them from pests. However, this not only kills unwanted pests but also many insects that are indispensable for our ecosystem, such as ladybugs, butterflies, and wild bees.
Fortunately, there are alternatives: fruit trees and berry bushes, for example, that are resistant to many pests and do not need to be sprayed to survive. A good starting point for this is the online variety finder from ProSpecieRara, where you can find an overview of a variety of native fruit and berry varieties – including information on purchasing options. Many of these old varieties are disease-resistant and extremely easy to care for.
Resistant berry varieties
ProSpecieRara has compiled a selection of berry varieties for us that are suitable for your own garden and are particularly robust. Cassis and blackberries, by the way, are generally among the robust berry varieties.
Currants:
- London Market
- Houghton Castle
- Gloire des Sablons
- Mulka
- Rosa Holländer
Gooseberries:
- Poorman
- Robustenta
- Resistenta
- Rochusbeere
- Captivator
Raspberries:
- Winklers Sämling
- Pérpétuelle de Billard
- Hauensteins Gelbe
- Matterhorn
- Schönemann
- Shaffer’s Colossal
Poison in the garden? Andermatt Biocontrol offers biological alternatives
If you want to plant species in your garden for which no sufficiently robust varieties are available on the market, that's not a problem. You don't have to do without them. Just pay attention to what kind of pesticide you use to protect your plants. There are significant differences between various offerings regarding their harmfulness to biodiversity. We recommend always choosing biological alternatives to conventional pesticides. A good place to start is the provider Andermatt Biocontrol. Get advice; it's worth it. After all, your garden is an important habitat.