How to Keep Your Garden Safe From 4 Types of Pests
By Oscar Collins
Author bio: Oscar Collins is the editor-in-chief at Modded, where he writes about the outdoors.
Your garden deserves to be beautiful to reflect all the work you've put into it. Try as you might, you may be unable to rid yourself of some of the most common pests that do the most damage. You might be confused by the pest around your raised beds or your containers. Luckily, there are a few natural ways to repel pests that you may not have tried.
How to keep your garden safe
These options may not work for every garden, but they're an excellent way to target all pests instead of a select few. Try these options if you're dealing with a lot of problems all at once.
1. Put Up Barriers
Barriers might be an eyesore to a beautiful garden, but they can do well to keep pests away from your beloved plants. Insect mesh is a great way to keep pests off your crops, but you must remember to secure them on the ground so bugs can't just walk in. This mesh has tiny holes that will allow water in, but it'll keep out any bugs that try to squeeze their way through. Admittedly, setting barrier is not the only way to keep your garden safe. Taking firm containers to grow vegetables can have better protection, especially using metal raised garden beds. Learn more details in VEGEGA.
2. Grow With Resistance
Some pest-resistant varieties of vegetables and fruits exist. Thanks to the Andean tomato — a native of Peru — scientist Martha Mutschler-Chu is engineering tomatoes to grow in cooler climates with the same sugar compound that repulses insects in Peru. While these tomatoes may not be available for a while, you can look into other varieties of crops — like potatoes that repel eelworms — for your personal garden. Read more about planting tips to grow high-yield tomatoes.
3. Bring in Beneficial Bugs
If you can't handle a garden all on your own, it's okay to have a little help. Plant things that will attract beneficial bugs, like ladybugs and lacewings. They can help control the number of pests and show them they're not welcome in your garden. Alongside your crops, plant flowers that will bring these beneficial bugs to your garden. Some of the best flowers include:
- Black-eyed Susans
- Cosmos
- Goldenrod
- Laceflower
- Sunflower
Try planting some in your garden and waiting for the results. You might see pests disappear over time. Also read: Beneficial Bugs You Will Want to See in a Healthy Garden.
How to Repel Certain Four Pests
Sometimes, you may just have a certain type of pest plaguing your crops. To get rid of these problems, you may have to take additional measures to prevent them from getting to your garden. Here are some of the most common garden pests and how you can rid yourself of them, once and for all.
1. Aphids
Whenever you think of garden pests, aphids will likely come to mind. These irritating creatures will suck the sap out of your plants and lead to disease. Unfortunately, they can target just about any crop and attract ants while ruining your garden.
To get rid of aphids, you can wash a plant with a spray of water. Doing so should knock any aphids off. You can also use a vegetable-based oil spray to suffocate any aphids or you can bring in lady beetles to gobble them up.
2. Japanese Beetles
You will most certainly know a Japanese beetle when you see it. They shine with metallic colors, and they can cause a lot of problems for your roots and leaves from birth. The grubs feast on the roots of your crop. To get rid of the grubs, you may have to target the adults that lay their eggs in your garden first.
Aside from using covers on your crops, there are only a few options to get rid of pesky Japanese beetles quickly. You may have to hunt them down early in the morning when they're less active. Once you spot one, put it in a jar full of soap and water to kill it.
3. Mice
Sometimes, mice can pose a serious problem for gardens. They like to chew on crops and may dig through your soil to get to worms, grubs and other small insects. In the worst cases, they may also find a way to get inside your home and cause interior damage, likely getting in through your garage and attracted by the smell of food that may be in storage.
The best thing to do to get rid of them would be to install a fence around your garden so the mice can't get in. However, if a fence isn't an option for you, you can use humane traps to deal with the mice. Cages can stop them in their tracks without killing them, so you can release them elsewhere — preferably far away from your garden.
4. Slugs
Everyone has seen a slug before. These seemingly harmless creatures can actually ruin your crops. You won't see them during the day, but you will see the damage they did the night before or after a good rain. No plant is safe, as they'll eat the leaves of just about anything.
The best way to rid your garden of slugs is to place containers full of beer in your garden. They'll end up drowning in the beer in their attempt to get close. Otherwise, you should be able to sprinkle them with salt if you have the time to search for them. Either of these options would stop the slugs from preying on your crops
Safeguard Your Garden in Natural Ways
Opting for all-natural solutions can benefit you and the environment. Instead of chemicals leaching into the ground, your natural solutions to these pest problems can keep your garden beds as safe as possible. Once you know what kind of pests plague your garden, you can deal with them in the best, most environmentally friendly way possible.
Luckily, many of these solutions are easy to implement, meaning you'll be on your way to a healthy garden before you know it.
