Gardening is a great hobby that can be relaxing and enjoyable for many. But even with the best looking gardens and the happiest gardeners, there is still a lot of frustration regarding pests. Whether your garden is threatened by aphids or rabbits, you have to have a plan in place to combat these pests. Here are some tips you can use to keep your garden pest free.
1. Do some research. Find out about which pests typically show up in your growing zone, and find out what people do to deal with them. Find out what each pest looks like, what they like to eat, and where they hide. Research like this will help you identify a pest early on and allow you to take the proper steps in eliminating that particular pest from your garden.
2. Switch it up in your garden. When you change the plants you grow every year, different pests have no reason to bother you. Different plants have their own pests, it seems, so keeping things fresh and new can prevent pests from making your garden a permanent home.
3. Encourage pest predators like spiders and ladybugs. By doing this, you promote growth of your own garden. Know what pest predators are, and don’t disturb them when you come across them. That is one of the reasons chemical pest control tactics can fail–they kill all bugs instead of just the ones you want. Let natural pest predators help you.
4. Blast your plants with cold water every now and then. That makes it more difficult for pests to adhere to the surface of your plants and can help your plants live another day.
5. Use diatomaceous earth. This is a great product. It is natural and non-toxic to people and animals. The only thing it does is kill insect pests. It does so by drying their exoskeleton; essentially their bodies dry out and they die. This is an easy, natural way to make sure your plants thrive. Simply apply the earth to the base of your plants.
6. Surround your food plants with wire mesh. While bunnies and raccoons may be cute, they are detrimental to any garden growing vegetables. To prevent critters from walking off with your food, put wire mesh around your plants. They won’t be able to get into your plants that way.
7. Take off eaten, mottled and damaged leaves. Leaves that have been chewed on are a sign to critters that they too can have a snack at your garden’s expense. Make sure you are in your garden as often as you can, removing signs of any damage to ward off further damage.
8. Spend time in your garden. If you leave your garden alone for days, you allow critters to overrun your garden. Be out there as often as you can so you can take care of problems quickly.
Use the tips laid out here to give you and your garden some relief from garden pests. They are something that every gardener has had to deal with, and if they can conquer them, you can too!
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