Nature’s Helpers
Bees, hoverflies, ladybirds and the other insects and animals that do useful work in a garden.
Buzz pollination: the native bees that shake tomatoes into fruit
Tomatoes, eggplants and blueberries lock their pollen inside a pored anther, and honey bees cannot shake it out. Here are the Australian native bees that can, and how to bring them into your garden.
The wasps worth keeping: predators and parasitoids in the vegetable patch
Most wasps in an Australian vegetable patch are hunting your caterpillars and aphids. Here is how to tell the parasitoids, mud nesters and paper wasps apart, what to do about the European wasp, and what to plant.
Hoverflies: the aphid eater you keep mistaking for a caterpillar
The adult hoverfly pollinates, its larva eats aphids, and almost nobody recognises the larva. How to identify both in an Australian garden, what to sow so the flowers open before the aphids, and which sprays undo the work.