Organic Gardening Tips to Reduce Pests
The biggest problem most people have with organic gardening is dealing with pests and disease. While these things are easy to kill with chemicals, they are harder to prevent with only organic solutions. Organic gardeners need to start their gardens knowing that they will lose some of their fruits and vegetables to pests; it’s unavoidable. That said, the percentage should be small and manageable. Here are some tips that can help you reduce pests while still maintaining an organic garden.
Introducing natural predators to your garden’s biggest insect problems is a good way to combat this. There are several ways to do this. One option is to buy these predators live from a nursery or gardening store and bring them into your garden on your own. You can also attempt to lure these good bugs in by planting flowers that they like. Some of these plants have other good uses, too, such as being edible themselves, so you’ll get two benefits for the price of one.
Don’t plant the same plants in the same places every year. When a plant is in the same place all the time, the predators to that plant, including diseases, fungi, and pests, know where to be and will be there waiting for the plant come planting season. When you plant in different areas, though, the pests won’t already be there and may not even find their way to your new plants.
Arrange your plants so that they can help each other. Bugs are often repelled by some plants, even as they are attracted to others. Planting a repelling plant next to a plant the bugs like to eat can help keep them away naturally. Bug-repelling plants are often perfectly tasty to humans, so you’ll also be getting some interesting edibles out of the deal. You can find a list of repellent plants, and what they repel, on the Internet or in other offline resources. If your pests include the larger, four-legged variety, there are also plants that repel these mammalian critters.
Organic gardens benefit from the existence of livestock. Chickens love to eat the bugs that feast on your garden plants. Adding a couple of chickens to your household not only helps reduce plant-eating pests, their droppings are also rich in minerals and make great fertilizer and compost additive. Of course, chickens also lay eggs that you can use to supplement your own food resources. Not all neighborhoods allow you to keep chickens, though many cities are relaxing restrictions on these birds in residential areas. Check with your city to see if chickens are allowed in your area.
– Thomas Broberg is an industry journalist and powerful industry voice. He enjoys debating the latest industry news, blogging, and eating sushi. Check out this link for more information: garden dad Find out more on the author’s website.
