5 Tips on How to Keep Your Garden Bug Free: Organic Garden Pest Control That Really Works
Organic gardens are not without some of the drawbacks that every garden has. One of these drawbacks are various kinds of pests.
What is different in an organic garden as opposed to a conventional garden is the way you fight these pests. In our organic garden we want to fight them in an environmentally safe way, and not use strong chemicals that will cause harm to plants, good insects, your soil, and to you and your family. And they will often accumulate and also trickle down into the ground water.
Tips 1 for Your Organic Garden Pest Control: Handpicking For bugs big enough to be seen and picked, this is by far the most easy and least costly way. Enjoy your garden in the early morning and in the evening, and while doing that scrutinize your plants and remove all the little fellows you can see that are doing harm to your plants. Drown them in soapy water or just squeeze them.
Organic Garden Pest Control 2: Spray homemade remedies on your plants The simplest one is this: Add 1 dl of natural soap to 1 liter of water. Pour into a spray bottle and spray your plants. Note that you must spray on the whole plant, as the bug will suffocate when covered with the soapy water. Repeat frequently to kill of the bugs that hatch in the next few days.
Aphids are easily removed by this, but sometimes spider mites are slightly harder to get rid off.
A stronger remedy is this: Put 2-3 garlic cloves, a few large hot chili peppers and 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a blender and mix well, then strain the mixture. Add 1 tablespoon natural soap or dishwashing soap (may get bubbly!) and 1 liter of water and mix well once more. Pour into spray bottle and spray frequently, though not during mid day or in really hot and sunny weather, as this can burn the leaves of your plants.
This scares away most animal pests in your garden, even mice and moles if you spray near their holes. There is one major back draw with both of these remedies though: They will get rid of the good insects as well, which leads us to
Step 3: Organic Garden Pest Control by establishing ecological balance This is an extremly environmentally friendly way to control the pests in your garden, using the “good” bugs to prevent the ones harmful to your plants from expanding. You can tempt for example ladybugs, lacewings and the praying mantis into your garden by growing plants that they like and are drawn to. These little fellows are all good at devouring aphids and to some extent spider mites (and are pretty to watch!), and can also be bought from firms delivering them as egg sacks or live.
Tips 4 for Your Organic Garden Pest Control: Growing plants that deter the pests Lavender, wormwood, marigolds, onions and garlic are all good plants to choose for scaring off some of the pests in your organic garden. Lavender are wonderful as border plants and as companions to roses or other flowering bushes. Wormwood is actually good for the same purposes, and of course in your herbal garden. When you plant onions amongst your carrots, you will scare off the carrot root fly!
Also, it is very important to keep your plants strong and vigorous by making sure they get enough nutrients and grow in a healthy soil. Then they will be able to better withstand attacks from various pests.
Step 5: Organic Garden Pest Control by Spreading Mineral Dust Not any old dust will do however, it has to be Diatomaceous earth, which will penetrate the hard exoskeleton of insects like ants, fleas or small beetles. This will cause them to dry out. Spread a thin layer of the mineral on the ground, and repeat after heavy rain or watering.
Hollyhock saviour! Many are the gardeners giving up on hollyhocks because of the fungus that makes the leaves turn reddish brown and eventually fall of. However, if you use this homemade solution your hollyhocks will be able to keep their leaves and look the way they should.
Horsetail, enough to fill a kettle and covered with water, should boil for a minimum of 10 minutes. Having done that, filter the contents of the kettle, dilute the fluid with 5-10 times of water. This homemade remedy is to be sprayed all over on your hollyhocks and under the leaves.
The best of luck with keeping pests off and your plants healthy and beautiful!
