Dave Goulson's garden is a jungle of long grass, colored with wildflowers and shaded by apple trees. But hidden below the foliage is a rich harvest of healthy vegetables.

Despite the wild appearance, his garden is carefully cultivated to protect the insect population, all without the use of pesticides.

"There's clear evidence that pesticides are the drivers of the collapse of insect populations, which are vitally important creatures. They pollinate our flowers, our crops, they perform all sorts of other ecological services," said Goulson, the author of Silent Earth. And he has launched a petition calling for the use of pesticides in urban areas to be banned.

"Herbicides kill all plant life, but the commonly used ones turn out to be quite poisonous to most animal life as well. Insecticides kill all insects, not just the pests – but also the butterflies, the bumblebees, the honeybees and all the other insects that we really need."

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The petition is backed by Pesticide Action Network UK, which has successfully convinced 70 councils to stop spraying pesticides in parks, schools, playgrounds, and other public spaces.

"Pesticides are poisons. They're designed to kill living organisms and that's what they do," said Nick Mole, policy officer at Pesticide Action Network UK.

"They don't, however just restrict themselves to the things they're targeted at, whether that's a weed, or insect or whatever," he added. "Children are the most vulnerable or one of the most vulnerable groups to the harmful effects of pesticides. So, using pesticides in spaces where they play is just crazy."

France has already banned domestic pesticides and environmental campaigners argue the UK government could do the same.

"We have a wildlife crisis. Pesticides are considered to be one of the leading factors in that," said Louise Payton, policy officer with the Soil Association, which is also backing the campaign.

"There's a lot that we don't know about the harm of pesticides. The way the regulations are made in terms of their safe use tends to be on the basis of individual pesticides.

"The problem is there are dozens and dozens of pesticides being used and the effect of all of these is really hard to tell."

Many homeowners still reach for a bottle of weed killer to tidy gardens and paths. But Goulson argued that is not necessary: "You just don't need them. Once you've applied them, they are poisons. You are poisoning your garden to get rid of some weeds or some aphids.

"There's a whole army of beneficial insects, predators, of insect, pests that in a healthy garden will come to your rescue and get rid of all the pests for you. You really don't need to spray pesticides in your garden."