Garden Season Tips: Get Rid of Garden Pests Without Using Chemicals

When it comes to protecting your plants and garden, it would be best to go the natural way. Find out the safe and environment-friendly ways of getting rid of pesky garden pests and insects.

Getting rid of garden pests without using chemicals may seem “easier said than done.” After all, you can easily pick up a bottle of pesticide, and apply it, right? But, we probably don't need to convince you that chemical pesticide is harmful. While chemical pesticides have been widely used for a long time now, the results are quite unfavorable. So why not choose to get rid of garden pests naturally?

Garden Season Tips: Get Rid of Garden Pests Without Using Chemicals

Natural Ways Of Getting Rid Of Garden Pests That's Safe For You And Your Garden

Find out how you can protect your plants and garden from destructive pests and insects without having to risk your garden, your family, and your environment. It may mean going the extra mile, but it'll do a great deal of good to your garden, and the environment. Read on to learn more.

Prevention Is Better Than Cure

Keeping the soil and plants in your garden healthy is the best way to keep pests from coming in the first place. Mulch and compost are ways you can keep your plants healthy. Using seaweeds as mulch is also a great idea because it provides tons of minerals for your soil and plants. Plus, seaweed itself is a pest repellent. Pruning, deadheading, and pulling out unhealthy plants will also keep plant diseases from spreading to other plants.

Invite Good Bugs

One thing that makes chemical pesticide unpleasant is along with the harmful pests and insects, beneficial insects (praying mantis, lady bugs, and hover flies) are eliminated too. They prey on harmful insects like aphids, mites, and caterpillars. Besides, you wouldn't want to harm your pollinator bees and butterflies too! So, either you go easy on the chemicals or just depend on your beneficial insects instead!

Use Non-Toxic Homemade Remedies

Chemical pesticides and insecticides that you buy from the store will cost you big bucks. Homemade pesticides or repellent are cheap, and you know what goes in them. As an alternative, the most common of homemade pest repellents you can opt for is the chili pepper and garlic solution. Chili Powder is usually diluted in water, and made to stand overnight. Ivory Soap or Irish Spring is usually mixed in as well. After making the mixture, you can spray it on your plants to keep off pests like insects, slugs, snails, aphids, and beetles.

Use Traps And Barriers

Barriers like mesh fences and greenhouses are the long-term solution for keeping garden pests at bay. Traps in the form of flypapers, sticky barrier papers, pheromone traps, and apple maggot traps can be effective too. Another smart idea is using floating row covers to keep insects and pests from harming your garden. These are some of the lightweight materials that can be used to cover your plants. With them, you can keep pests out of your plants, yet let the sunshine and rain through.

Planting Method

Did you know that how you plant and the kind of plants you grow can affect pests' activity in your garden? For example, if you're growing the same kind of plants, pests will get used to them, and take over your garden. Now we don't want that, so it would be best to grow a variety of plants each season. Or, you can do intercropping, which simply means growing different plants in the same plot. Growing insect repellent plants with your vulnerable crops is also a great idea.

Watch this video from The Fruit Doctor for more organic pest control ideas:

Take the extra effort of protecting your environment now by going organic in your gardening. This includes getting rid of garden pests. This way you can enjoy the fruits of gardening without sacrificing your safety, your family, your garden, and your environment.

For more organic gardening tips and ideas, check here.