Whether your garden grows flowers to beautify your home or vegetables to feed your family, you want to keep it safe from the attacks of garden pests. Some yard pests will merely damage the surface of your garden, while others can strip it right down to the buds. Part of good gardening is figuring out methods to keep these pests away and protect your plants. You can easily get rid of garden pests with the right tools and ingredients. Keep reading to get a few good ideas for deterring any unwanted guests from your beautiful garden.
Contents
Stick a Fork in It
Even if you don’t have household pets of your own, you might find that neighborhood cats and dogs are getting into your yard and ravaging your garden. If you have dogs and cats that routinely come and dig up your garden, think about pushing old forks into the places where they are inclined to dig. Forks make digging painful, and after a few sessions, the animals will usually give up. This is an easy way to get your furry neighbors (or even your own pets) to leave your garden alone without hurting them.
DIY Insecticidal Soap
Insecticidal soap serves two purposes. In some cases, the scent of soap is unpleasant enough to the insects that it drives them off. In other cases, you can spray it on the insects themselves to get rid of them for good. To make your own insecticidal soap, add a quart of water, a tablespoon of canola oil and ¼ teaspoon of liquid dish detergent to a spray bottle. After that, shake it thoroughly to mix, and then spray your plants thoroughly. Take care to spray the undersides of the leaves, where aphids and mites congregate.
Homemade Ant Bait
Not only do ants kill off insects that help your garden, they can also take a serious toll on vegetables and new buds. To make your own ant poison, simply mix about a liter of water, a cup of sugar and a teaspoon of Borax together in a container. Then you can simply soak cotton balls in the solution, creating a kind of bait. Place the cotton balls in an old plastic container with holes punched into it, allowing the ants in garden to smell the bait and preventing the solution from drying out. The sugar will draw in the ants, and they will carry the poison back to their colony. Do not do this in yard with children or free-roaming pets.
Give the Slugs a Beer
Slugs can be very harmful to a vegetable garden, but there is a surprising remedy that will get rid of them quickly. Slugs are drawn to beer, and a little bit of careful planning can help you get rid of them completely. Push a wide, shallow jar into the earth in your garden, close to where you have seen signs of slugs. Fill the jar with beer and leave it for a few days. Slugs will be drawn to the beer and then drown in it.
Hot Chili Powder for Roots
When you are planting root vegetables, one great way to keep pests from digging down to get at your potatoes and turnips is to sprinkle the earth with hot chili powder. According to an exterminator in Columbus Ohio, in some cases, the chili powder simply acts as a deterrent, and for some pests, it actually kills them off. Chili powder is a humane option for fending off dogs and cats as well.
Aromatic Herbs as a Weapon
Not only are herbs great in the kitchen, they can also help you fend off harmful insects like mites, aphids, leafhoppers and cucumber beetles. In general, the more powerfully scented an herb is, the more effective it is. Some of the most useful herbs include basil, sage, wormwood, mint, rue, lavender and tansy. Sprinkling these herbs in areas where you’ve seen pesky insects will help keep them away.
When you are starting a garden, it’s usually good to spray for bugs before the season starts to avoid infestations. If you have any lingering pests, you can use items around the home to ward them off and show them who’s the boss around the garden. These methods are also great ways to get rid of pests without endangering the life of your plants and vegetables. Take charge of your garden by using a few simple remedies, and you’ll soon be enjoying a pest-free yard and healthy plants.
