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Think First: Pest Control In The Garden

Category: flower gardening | Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 2:41 pm

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Take some time right now and think about pest management in your garden. The cold winter months is the best time to plan and research you strategy for fighting garden pests. If you have a bit of wisdom in your pocket you can avoid spraying toxic chemicals which are bad for you, your family, your pets and the wildlife which visit your lovely flower decorated garden.

Being unprepared with your pest contol plan can lead to the unhealthy use of quick chemical fixes. Take a minute today to think about garden pests that will visit the garden this summer and the earth friendly ways to control them so that we can have more fun in our garden this summer.

Slugs are certainly an unwanted visitor in the garden. They leave holes in our hostas making them look like a ragged mess and they also leave slimy trails all over the garden. Yuck. Before you break out the most deadly of slug pellets which will also kill all the snakes, toads and little bird feedingcreatures you can try some other things. Try slug traps using terra cotta pots turned upside down which flip over in the morning and pick off the slugs. Throw bundles of newspaper in your garden and then pick them up during the day and throw them away. For a "crawl in but don't crawl out" trap, partially fill soda cans with a solution of beer, water and yeast. You can spread used coffee grinds like mulch to keep slugs away. These are better than the nerve damaging slug killer you buy at the hardware store.

Japanese beetle, black vine weevil, fleas and cucumber beetles are some more unwelcome guests in your plants. Yellow flowers attract Japanese beetles to your garden...Color choices in the garden can impact what pests come to your garden. Blame Black Vine Weevil Beetle for jagged leaf cuts on your rhodos, and Cucumber Beetles make polka dots on your daisies.

You can put mother nature to work fighting these garden pests by hiring some beneficial nematodes to get to work in your garden. Beneficial nematodes are wiry little microscopic worms that you add to water and spray on your garden. Nematodes need to be poured or sprayed on the garden on a cloudy day as exposure to sunlight will kill them. Nematodes have grub sensing radar and once they find a pesty grub it's all over for said grub. Nematodes are harmless to you and your family. Apply them in the spring and again in the fall. Nematodes can be initially expensive but pay for themselves in the second year. They can also be sprayed on the lawn for grub control. They are great medicine for your landscape and the soil in it.

Aphids are especially bothersome to roses. A strong blast of water once in awhile will take care of them. You can spray them with a spray bottle filled with soapy water and vegetable oil. You can try predatory lady bugs and praying mantis, but these bugs are kind of like hiring interns to do a job: they don't always show up when you need them the most and you still have to pay for them.

Mosquitos are an unwelcome guest in the garden! Citronella is the best and most accessible tool for fighting mosquitos in your garden. Firepotsfilled withcitronella fuel gelare a key defense against these invasive and unwelcome garden pests!

You can feel good knowing that you are using these environmentally sound methods of pest control vs. poisonous pesticides. While these measures may not kill every living pest in your garden you can sleep knowing you are doing your best to create a balanced environment. You are doing the world a favor when you think before you break out the toxic chemicals which kill everything including the honey bees and the butterflies which actually enhance and decorate your garden. Think before you act.

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Plants I Like to Plant

Category: flower gardening | Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:12 pm

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Butterflies in My Garden


One plant I really love is regular old-fashioned Milkweed...it can grow up to 7 feet tall or more in my garden! And I love it's big dusky rose colored pom poms that smell like honey...mmmmm. And all the bumble bees and honey bees go absolutely NUTS over it.
A few day ago I was like, sigh, how come I never get any butterflies in my garden...I work so hard and not a single butterfly...whine, whine, whine...yada, yada, yada....And then the very next day I saw a monarch butterfly all over that Milkweed! YES!
And today I was whining to my dad about how I was not going to get any caterpillars because all the ants would eat them first...and low and behold-I saw TWO baby monarch caterpillars!!! YES!
I realize that two does not bode well against legions of predators...but I feel very happy none-the-less!
I even saw a hummingbird buzz by to check out my first time in bloom Trumpet Vine...only took 5 years...but hey...gardening is an exercise in patience and hard work!
I can thank both my parents for leading me to the joys of gardening and bird watching. I'm sure I thought they were crazy when I was a kid, but now I totally get it....



Milkweed ( photo / image / picture from GartenGrl's Garden )





Last edited: Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:16 pm

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