We all know that pets can be a huge problem in the vegetable garden. Whether you are trying to grow your own food or not, pests can make it difficult for anyone who is trying to enjoy a leisurely day outside in their yard. This article will teach you everything you need to know about preventing pests from destroying your plants and ruining your vegetables!
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Prevention is the Key to a Healthy Garden
There are many preventative measures that you can take to avoid pests altogether! One of the best ways to help keep them away is by using natural pest repellents, such as essential oils and homemade sprays. These tend to be much more effective than store-bought pesticides because they contain all-natural ingredients without any harsh chemicals or toxins. In fact, one study found that an orange peel spray was 100% effective at getting rid of aphids – talk about amazing! The only downside with these homemade solutions is that sometimes they don’t last for very long periods of time before needing to be reapplied again. If you want your homegrown veggies or fruits protected from bugs then you will need something a little stronger.
Give Your Plants Room to Breathe
Make sure you give your plants enough room to grow and breathe. Weeding is preventing weed problems. When weeding, make sure that the weeds are not touching any of the leaves on your vegetable or fruit plant. If they do touch, it can lead to damage as well as mold growth which will spread spores onto other parts of your vegetables!
Water in the Morning
Watering your vegetables and fruit plants in the morning ensures that they will get the full amount of nutrients from their food. Watering them too late at night can cause damage to any foliage on top because it will be wet when the sun starts shining brightly upon them. Watering is best done with a tripod sprinkler and hose-end sprayer.
Create Natural Barriers
Planting marigolds to ward off pests away from your garden. They also act as a natural fertilizer for the soil, attracting predatory insects that prey on harmful bugs in your vegetables.
Surrounding your garden with a fence or placing something in the ground to stop rodents from entering. Use chicken wire, plastic sheeting, hardware cloth, and other materials to prevent their entry. This will make it harder for them to get at tasty vegetables!
Putting Plants Against Pests
As an alternative to mechanical barriers, the aromas of many plants are also unbearable for pests and make them quickly run away or are simply inedible and poisonous to them.
Against Slugs:
Slugs are one of the most common pests in vegetable gardens. These animals love to do damage at night and can quickly devour your young seedlings or beloved plants, which you have put so much time into caring for!
As a natural means against slugs there is no better way than using beer traps: simply place a large pot with a diameter of about 6 inches in the ground. Fill it with beer and place a stone next to it so that slugs can climb inside but cannot get out again.
You should also make sure you do not accidentally sow your vegetables too early, as this makes them particularly susceptible to damage from rodents or bugs at an early stage!
- Ferns, grasses, and furry leafy plants are inedible in their eyes, but for gardeners a good idea to plant with them the edges of beds. These include, for example, stonecrop, lily of the valley, and carnations.
- Slugs cannot tolerate the smell of strong-smelling garden herbs, such as thyme and rosemary.
- Slugs also cannot smell incensed. Tip: Choose a semi-shaded spot in the flower bed. This is where frankincense thrives best.
Against Aphids:
Lavender drives away aphids.
- You can use garlic. If you plant it, they will not come near the plants anymore.
- Plants that contain essential oils, such as lavender, sage, and onion, keep the aphids away. Lavender is often planted between roses.
- Nasturtiums and savory are also unpopular with the little animals – although it is not yet known why. They are well suited for the protection of fruit trees and vegetable perennials, for example.
Against Colorado Potato Beetle:
Colorado potato beetle harms not only the potato plant but also peppers or eggplant.
The larvae of the Colorado potato beetle ( Leptinotarsa decemlineata ) are sometimes difficult to combat.
- This is why you should plant nasturtiums, which attract ground beetles or ladybugs that eat the eggs and small larvae. The leaves contain essential oils that repel several insects – just like mint!
- Onion juice can also be used against young stages in particular: boil red onions for one hour, squeeze it through a cheesecloth and spray on affected plants with the help of garden sprayers. You could try an onion extract instead of using chemical pesticides!
- Granted – these beetles are tough. But horseradish they deeply abhor. Horseradish cuttings you can get in the plant store. Tip: fence the plants in the bed with a root barrier, because horseradish tends to proliferate.
Against Voles:
Voles are rodents that love vegetables! They cause serious damage in the garden by eating roots and bulbs. A good idea is therefore to protect your beds with a root barrier of chicken wire or mesh. You could even apply an old trick: sharp objects like nails on which you have stuck some dried blood under the soil surface will repel voles very effectively. If they still manage to get through it – there’s always poison bait available at specialized stores… But be careful not to harm any other animals, including pets!
Root vegetables and perennials have to suffer from the voles.
- Helps garlic. However, you almost can not blame them.
- The garlic you can plant from February to March or September to October.
Against Ants:
Against the flock of ants helps wormwood.
Ants are actually beneficial pests rather than pests. However, Mediterranean herbs such as thyme, marjoram, or even lavender can help if their population gets out of hand.
Also, be aware of what happens if ants approach your plants: they may carry aphids that can damage leaves by sucking them dry! And if their numbers are high enough, their sugar excrements on which fungi spread are fatal for any plant! If something like that occurs, just spray ant trails with hot water mixed with dishwashing liquid.
- Wormwood also keeps ants away from beds (or kitchens, patios, sandboxes, etc.).
- Spread diatomaceous earth around your plants.
- Spray with an organic soap solution.
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Let Beneficial Insects Go Into Battle
Most insects feed off of plant leaves and vegetation, so if they are allowed to help naturally take care of pests in the garden, then there will not be a need for pesticides that damage both plants and beneficial bugs who eat them! Let some ladybugs go into battle for you against aphids on your vegetables. It is not hard to attract them! Just provide a place for them to live, water from time to time, and plant the kinds of plants they like. Ladybugs will eat aphids left and right while also laying eggs that hatch into larvae who then go on to do the same thing!