"A well-balanced garden shouldn't be munched down to the ground and left a wasteland – that should never happen in a biodiverse system, says Jones." This. Care

"A well-balanced garden shouldn't be munched down to the ground and left a wasteland – that should never happen in a biodiverse system, says Jones." This. Care for the soil. And grow a diversity of plants. Then those plants -on average- will grow well, and strong enough to ward off pests. Some plants will do poor in a season, other plants will do better than usual. Have faith in your garden's ecosystem to regulate itself. So that you 'need' to interfere (read: work, remove weeds, and occasionally water) as little as possible.