Preventing Garden Pests the Natural Way

There are few things more discouraging than spending countless hours planting and weeding a garden, only to have it decimated by harmful insects. We’ll discuss ways to get rid of pests in a minute, but first let’s go over the steps you can take to keep them out of your garden in the first place!

1. Get rid of sick plants. Any plant that is not healthy could be harboring pests, or is bound to attract them. They should be pulled out and disposed of outside the garden.
2. Keep leaves dry. If you don’t have drip irrigation you might want to water the garden first thing in the morning, so the plants can dry out quickly. Damp foliage encourages both insect and fungal damage.
   

   Watering the Garden

3. Eliminate insect habitats. While encouraging beneficial insects and pollinators is a good thing (see our post about how to attract them here) we don’t want to invite the harmful kind. Keep piles of debris and weeds out of the garden.
4. Build healthy soil. Adding your own compost and mulching around your plants will help add organic material to the soil. This helps your plants to grow healthy and strong, and better able to withstand harmful insects. Learn how to start your own compost here.
   

   Compost in the Garden

5. Rotate your crops. Growing the same vegetable in the same spot each year makes it too easy for the pests that overwintered in the soil to start munching their favorite plants again. Interplanting, or mixing different kinds of plants instead of growing them in segregated beds or rows, will keeps those pests confused. Find out which plants grow well together here.
   

   Mixed flowers and veggies

6. Try a seaweed spray. Seaweed mulches and sprays contain trace elements of minerals like iron, zinc, calcium, and magnesium that give your plants a healthy boost. It’s another way to promote healthy growth to ward off invasion.

If you keep your garden healthy, you may still find that you’ve been visited by some unwanted pests. So let’s look at ways that you can get rid of them, without spraying toxic chemicals on your veggies.

1. Mites, aphids and mealy bugs. Soft-bodied insects like these can be repelled by a mixture of 1 tablespoon canola oil and a few drops of dish soap in a quart of water. Shake well and spray onto the leaves from above and below, to smother the insects.
2. Earwigs, snails, and slugs. Use diatomaceous earth sprinkled around the base of plants and on the leaves. The particles are very small and sharp for soft-bodied pests. 
3. Fungal diseases. Mix 2 tablespoons of baking soda in a gallon of water, spray onto affected areas every couple days until it clears up.
4. Powdery mildew. Combine equal parts of milk and water, and spray on affected plants. Treating three times, a week apart, should control it.

Floating row covers can be helpful to deter pests as well, letting in sun and water while keeping out bugs.

Hopefully with prevention and early treatment, your garden will be healthy and able to resist any invasion! Then when your harvest is ready you can enjoy delicious, organically grown vegetables without any pesticide residue. Doesn’t it feel good to know what you’re eating? Happy gardening!

 

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