Parting a bud of a leaf, ready to capture the first growth of spring , when I spied a huddle of tiny brown insects between the branch and the leaf. Suppressing the urge to scream I reached out for my…watering can and watered the base of the tree. “That will show them!”

Lovely, warm breezy spring is finally here and none too soon, unfortunately with the birds and bees comes unwanted vistors like aphids. Taking advantage of nature’s growth spurt and its impending attack, K and I signed up for one of Green Villages’s “What’s Eating My Basil” workshop a couple of weeks ago.

Green thumb: what’s eating my basil?

Discover how to invite the good bugs into your garden and keep the bad bugs out. This practical workshop demonstrates organic gardening techniques such as building healthy organic soil, choosing plants that are right for your garden and creating natural pest remedies. Start gardening the low-impact way!

The workshop was hosted by the lovely people at The Grounds. I’m sure there are plenty of other blogs out there blogging about The Ground (great coffee, service and brunch!) so I’ll share some photos of their organic garden itself. The miracle of the cafe is that so many lemon trees and herbs are intact with so many kids running around grabbing things.

The workshop encouraged gardeners to use non toxic solution when taking care of their garden instead of reaching for the spray. Inviting “good bugs” such as ladybugs, spiders and the like as well as growing a diverse garden mixing flowers and vegetable to confuse the garden. Despite the crazy wind, I really enjoyed the workshop. It’s a different way of growing a garden as well as giving me the more reason to grow flowers. Green Villages will be running the workshop again, check their website for more details, definitely highly recommended for the novice gardener.

As an added bonus we received bug friendly plants such as the gorgeous  smelling Pineapple Sage and Pyrethrum.

In the meantime, my little patch is growing rather nicely. What I thought were chilli seedlings turned out to be some forgotten baby spinach. My kale is starting to grow its true leaves and the dwarf bean is growing a couple of cm in a week.

Added to the family is a strawberry seedling and some corianders.

Not so great are the brown aphids attacking the Japanese Maple’s new leaves. Taking a leaf from the workshop I started watering the tree hoping that it is just a little dehydrated and can protect itself in time.