Organic Tips for Keeping Harmful Bugs Out of Your Vegetable Garden

There's nothing more annoying than working for hours and hours preparing and planting your garden - only to have those annoying pests move in and destroy what you worked so hard to build! Insects can damage your plants within a matter of hours once they’ve found the fruits of your labor.

The best way to control these bugs is to keep them out of your garden to begin with. There are many pesticides that you can use to keep the bugs away, but you need to make sure they’re safe to use.

A ladybug eating aphids on a weed. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Some of the sprays can be harmful to the health of other animals and possibly small children. Even some organic insecticides aren't healthy for you to breathe in, so take care when applying these, even if they are all-natural - and don't use anything that's not marked "OMRI Certified," or "Safe for organic gardening".

When getting rid of insects from your garden, you also want to make sure you don’t get rid of all of them, since there are some bugs that you actually want to keep in your garden.

Some of these helpful insects, such as ladybugs and spiders, feed on the annoying insects that damage your plants. They’re essentially the best bodyguards you could have for your garden.

In fact, one of the best ways to control the insects and pests that damage the plants in your garden is by allowing helpful buts in that will drive the harmful ones away - or eat them.

By planting inviting plants or “homes” for the helpful insects, you can keep the harmful ones at bay quite efficiently. Check with your local gardening center on which plants attract the good insects.

Another thing to keep in mind is to keep your garden clean. The harmful pests are often attracted to piles of leaves, and dense spots of weeds. These pests can thrive in those areas, so weed your garden regularly.

Some organic gardeners use a natural hot pepper wax that they lightly spray on the leaves of their plants. The oils from the spicy contents of this wax wards off the harmful insects and other pests as well.

The wax solution is safe for most plants and doesn’t affect the produce at all, so don’t worry about “spicing” up your vegetables. As long as you properly clean them before consuming them, you won’t notice any residue.

Borage. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There are some plants that give off a scent that repels harmful bugs and keeps them away from your precious produce. Such plants - like marigolds and the borage herb plant - are very effective at keeping those pests away from your tomato plants. Plant them nearby and watch your tomato plants grow to be healthy and robust.

Every gardener wants to see their garden thrive after putting a lot of hours of hard work and dedication into it. No one wants to see that labor go down the drain by losing their plants to those annoying pests that move into your garden.

Before planting your garden, do your research and find the best companion plants to repel the annoying pests, as well as the ones that invite the good insects in according to your geographic location.

The Squirrel Battle - Update

Well, a few weeks ago I had posted some suggestions on keeping squirrels out of the garden - an annual and ongoing battle, for me.

Image via WikipediaI actually found quite a few suggestions I had not tried before, but the only one I have actually implemented so far is the spices....because I haven't needed another method!!

I am SO excited that this is working, and I would have posted sooner, but wanted to make sure the results I was getting were for real, and not just a coincidence. But it will be a month, this week, since I started trying this, and I've had virtually NO digging in my garden - whereas before, it was more than once a day.

I've still seen plenty of squirrels around, so I know they're still in the vicinity, but they just seem to be leaving my garden alone.

I had tried cayenne pepper before, but on the advice of the video I posted, I decided to try some stronger smelling spices. I had a small bottle of ground cloves in the pantry - obviously very potent, scent-wise, which I'd had for ages and never used much of. So I started with that, and just using the shaker bottle, sprinkled it around the perimeter of my tiny garden plot, and also over the area where the most active digging was occurring.  Immediately, I stopped finding holes everywhere, and my dear lettuces stopped being molested.

Image via WikipediaEncouraged, I continued this, but my small bottle soon ran low, so I picked up a big container of ground cinnamon at Aldi's (I think I paid a dollar?). I've been using this ever since, and it seems to be working just as well, although it is more obvious to the eye - the cloves were the same color as the soil, so you wouldn't notice it, but the cinnamon now gives a rust-colored perimeter to the garden. It doesn't bother me though, and hopefully the neighbors don't care!

The one drawback is that I do need to reapply every time it rains - which, this spring, is a lot - but it only takes a minute or so, and it is working so well, I don't mind at all.

I haven't planted the potatoes just yet, but the onions are all up and growing nicely, and the gladiolas are just planted and mulched - and nothing is digging them up!

Anyway, I hope this method proves helpful for others - it sure worked for me!

If you find your squirrels impervious to spices, there were a couple other interesting suggestions I haven't tried: 1. Castor Oil mixed with water, and used to water the areas in question (this is supposed to be good for the plants as well as repelling squirrels). 2. Cotton balls soaked in peppermint oil, and tucked into the toes of old pantyhose, hung in the corners of the garden (works on the same premise as the spices, with the strong scents).

Feel free to post your own comments below! What have you used to repel squirrels from your garden?  What have you tried that has worked, or hasn't?