Organic and Natural Garden Guide for Managing Garden Pests: Part 2

Welcome back to our short series on controlling garden pests naturally!

If you have anything that stops your organic garden from yielding the best results, it is likely to be those pests that invade or surround your garden spot. Now, if you’re very determined in relation to controlling these pests and getting them out of your backyard for good, a number of resources is available so that you can be prepared and informed on the varied varieties of pests that could threaten your crop.

The difficult consideration about insect control is the fact that there are so many kinds of pests that might invade your garden patch; it will truly be rather a problem to remember them at once, so informing yourself well beforehand is really the only reliable way to gain enough knowledge on which pests to watch out for.
One of several most successful tactics of pest management is always to familiarize yourself with the more common bugs as well as critters. These enemies to the garden could really hinder the growth of your plants, but only if you let them.

The devices and implements utilized for battling plant pests are of two kinds:
(1) those which offer physical shelter to the crops;
(2) those which are applied to the plants and/or pests, in order to kill or else fend off the insects.

A mechanical device often used to shield brand new seedlings is a covered frame. It typically consists  of a wooden box, approximately 18 inches to 2 feet square and roughly eight high, enclosed by glass, protective cloth, mosquito net or mosquito wire. The 1st 2  coverings hold, obviously, the additional advantage of retaining heat and shielding from chill, which makes it feasible through their use to sow earlier than could be otherwise safe. These are utilized widely to get an extra early and sound start for cucumbers, melons as well as other vine veggies. They can also keep away a large number of pests.

Here are a number of common garden pests, and some recommendations (both mechanical and otherwise) used for diminishing their impact without the usage of harmful chemicals:

Image via WikipediaBeetles
You’ve got 2  options for beetles: manually eliminate them by hand or else spray them with insecticide which is poisonous to them. There are actually a number of natural pesticides on the store shelves at the present, which you may utilize to control these pests without damaging your family’s health (for some tips, visit our web page at http://www.newholisticliving.com/sustainablegardening.html).

If left untouched, beetles possess the capacity to bore scores of holes in your leaves and munch away on your plants over time, especially when their population expansion is unrestrained. The striped beetle eats tender melons and squash leaves. If you happen to notice your squash leaves riddled with holes, you could have striped beetles. They can be recognized by their dark colored bodies with gold stripes running end-to-end. Then again, beetles come in a variety of types, but the best remedy is normally one of these two approaches described above.

Aphids
You may often become aware of sticky communities of bugs in shades of scarlet or jade when you’ve got aphids in your garden. Fortunately, it is possible to simply remedy this via spraying with insecticidal soap or a comparable material. Aphids are probably common to just about every garden veggie one can possibly conceive of, therefore if you are growing veggies, you will be most likely to encounter these sticky organisms.

Cut Worms
If you observe crawling, dull caterpillars that are brown or gray in hue, then you may have discovered cutworms invading your garden!

Cutworm collar from toilet paper roll

However, because they tend to hide under  ground during the day and pop out to find food only at the hours of darkness, it could be tricky to spot them. An excellent technique to safeguard newly-set plants, for example cabbage or tomatoes, from the cut-worm, is to put stiff tin, cardboard or tar paper collars around the plants. These ought to be a couple of inches high and big enough to be placed around the stem and extend about an inch into the soil. (A terrific and cheap material you may use as collars, are empty toilet tissue rolls! If they’re too high, simply cut horizontally to preferred size with a pair of clippers or scissors. Gently situate around the plant, and press a little into the dirt.)

Garden Slugs
And also you have garden slugs, which can be awful and extremely harmful  pests. The slug will demolish just about every garden plant, whether it’s a flower or perhaps a vegetable. These lay a great deal of eggs within old rubbish piles, or underneath dried vegetation.  Slugs do more destruction in your garden than virtually every other single insect pest.  They might be hard to spot, because they habitually take cover slightly below the surface of the soil during the day. However, in most cases, they are going to hide very close to the plant they’ve been eating, and therefore if you see indication of slug damage, try probing under the exterior of the mulch, or particularly when there are also fallen leaves nearby. If you find slugs, the most effective way we have discovered to remove them is a nifty little product called Sluggo. Sluggo is OMRI certified for organic gardening, and works by attracting the slugs with natural bait, and kills them by the use of iron phosphate, a mineral that’s not dangerous for animals and humans. (I had hundreds of little slugs eating my own garden last season until I found this gem, and it did the trick!)

In the concluding part of this short article series on organic pest management, we are going to go over one or two more frequent pests which can plague specific kinds of crops, so be sure check back for this in a few days!

Rose.
P.S. For more recommendations, resources, and information on organic gardening as well as managing garden pests naturally, you can visit http://www.newholisticliving.com/sustainablegardening.html.

Organic and Natural Garden Guide for Managing Garden Pests: Part 1

While tending to my own garden plot, I have discovered that one of the most frustrating things that can happen to the gardener is to walk outside to check on the plants. It’s only a habitual walk to verify that your garden is thriving, but you find yourself seeing holes in all your plants which looked just fine merely hours earlier! The explanations for most plant-damaging blemishes are garden insects. A few of the main backyard pests are slugs, worms, caterpillars, birds, snails, and also the occasional gopher. Even though we can most likely never wipe out these vermin entirely, there are a number of methods that may help any garden flourish much more fruitfully, without adding harmful chemical substances to the soil, air, or food.

Image via WikipediaInsect pests can be among the worst things to have in the garden plot; they can dwell beneath the topsoil, within dead unwanted weeds and heaps of leaves, or in a number of other areas. To help drive insects away, always try to  eliminate places within your garden and also in close proximity to the garden that these bugs and other plant disease might be living. Remove dead vegetation, weeds, or any other moldering material which bugs and diseases might be dwelling from the garden. (A properly tended compost pile is acceptable, although it will nonetheless be prudent to maintain this away from the primary gardening area.) Also, you might want to regularly turn over your garden soil and break apart the clumps of dirt so as to eliminate the homes of certain insects that might be hiding beneath the soil (hoeing your garden to get rid of unwanted weeds throughout the summer season will also help achieve this).

There are certain helps to keeping pests defeated. The constant mixing of  the earth by means of earthworms can be an aid to keep the soil open to air and water. Many of our ordinary birds feed upon bugs. Sparrows, robins, chickadees, meadow larks and orioles are all types of birds who assist in such a way. A number of insects feed on other damaging insects. Certain types of ladybugs do this beneficial deed. The ichneumon-fly helps also. Also toads can be wonders in the quantity of bugs they may eat in one single meal. The toad deserves exceptionally kind treatment from us all.

Every gardener should aim to build his or her garden patch into an area attractive to birds and toads. An adequate birdhouse, seeds strewn about in early spring, as well as a water pool, are invitations for birds to remain some time in your backyard (be aware on the other hand, that some types of birds could create issues, especially if you are cultivating berries or other fruit — see below for more regarding birds). If you would like  to encourage toads, you can actually make things better for them as well. Throughout a hot summer day toads like to hide in the shade. By night he is able to go off to find food (though not to kill, since toads favor live fare). How may one “fix up” for toads? One idea you can try is set up a silent, dim, damp sanctuary. Two or three rocks of some size under the shade of a bush, in addition to possibly a covering of moist vegetation, would seem exceptionally pleasant for a toad.

There are two general types of bugs which can cause issues for your garden patch. One sort chews at the plant and actually devours parts of it. This sort of bug carries a mouth fitted for this work. Grasshoppers and also caterpillars are of this type. Another kind sucks the juices from a plant. Plant lice go here (consider something similar to a mosquito, only they prey on plants rather than humans). Those we see tend to be green in color. But they are sometimes scarlet, yellow or brown. Lice can be simple enough to discover as they are always hanging on their host. Being sucking insects they need to stick close to a plant for food, and it may be simpler to find these. However the chewing insects perform their work, and go off and hide, which makes them more difficult to take care of.

The question you will need to ask yourself is, ‘How can I ascertain what insect could be doing the destructive effect?’ Well, you can judge partly from the damage left behind from the insect, and then partially by seeing the bug itself. This second object is not always very easy to accomplish. For example, you could have cutworms, and not even catch a glimpse of them. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to see what has been done to the crops. If stems of tender crops are cut clean off, one can be pretty assured a cutworm is abroad. What does it look like? Well, this is a hard question because his type is known to be a big one. Should you catch sight of a grayish striped caterpillar hiding in the dirt, you may know it may be a cutworm. However owing to its preference of resting in the dirt throughout the day and eating by nighttime, it is hard to catch a glimpse of one. (Keep your eye out for the next part of this series coming next week, when we are going to talk about how to deter the cutworm, along with other strategies of organic and natural pest management.)

One more pest issue you may have in addition to insects is birds. For those that have small fruit-bearing bushes, you might wrap these by means of bird netting, which may help. An additional solution which may help to keep the birds away from your garden is to place a bird feeder close by — out of the garden patch, but somewhat close by. Instead of costing you time and money by eating your crops, the birds will eat from the bird feeder. Although it may not entirely get rid of the bird problem, it may help the situation. Getting a dog may also help!

If you begin to see heaps of dirt around your yard, and your plants start unexplainably failing (or maybe even vanishing from top to bottom!), you may assume you have a gopher problem.

This could depend on the region where you are located, as certain areas are moreImage via Wikipedia prone to gopher infestation than the rest. Gophers are rodents which are five to fourteen inches in length. Their fur might be black, light brown, or white, and they have little tails. One approach to getting rid of these root-devouring pests could be to place traps. The key to effectively catching a gopher using a trap is usually to successfully locate the gopher’s tunnels and set the trap properly. A different way to remove them is to make use of smoke bombs, which you position into the tunnel and then the smoke spreads all through it and hopefully reaches the gopher.

If you suspect your gardens may be being pillaged by some of these pests I discussed, I urge you to definitely try your hardest to eradicate the problem as soon as you can. The more time you let the creatures stay, the more entrenched they’ll grow to be.

In our next blog, we will address some of the more common specific insect pests to infest your garden, and how to manage these without harming yourself or the environment, so be sure to check back for this next week!

‘Til then, happy gardening!
Rose.
P.S. For more resources and tools for managing your garden sustainably and organically, you can always visit: http://www.newholisticliving.com/sustainablegardening.html

Planning Your Summer Garden

If you happen to be like many of us you want a summer time garden plot to bring a little life to your landscape through these so very warm summer months. Many of us though, would like a garden that does not demand perpetual care or attention. That’s why proper planning becomes important in favor of developing a summer time garden of your dreams.

There are several things you will want to ask yourself while setting up your summer garden. Each of these items will to a certain extent shape the kind of  garden your garden will accommodate. To begin with, what space in your landscape would you want your summer season garden to fill and on the whole how significant is the area. The majority of us live in houses that have sadly insufficient gardening room these days. Because of this it is important to develop a sensible idea concerning how much of that prime area you are prepared to devote for a summer garden plot.

When you have decided how much space you might be prepared to commit to your garden plot you need to decide about the site. Location is essential to identify before beginning the preparation phase since you’ll have to to plan in respect to the site. You need to be able to resolve the next few questions as regards your garden location. How much uninterrupted sunlight will  the location get in an average day of the week?

Mustard & kale in my early summer garden.

Is this a spot that is generally wet or typically dry? And also how much filtered sunlight will  this portion of lawn see in any given day? These are things which are important since they will, for the most part, determine what sort of crops your sustainable garden will have the ability to contain. You additionally will need to understand a little about the topography for the spot as well. Is it flat, rock-strewn, or muddy? These answers will each bear a different and significant impact regarding the manner of garden that will be grown as well as measures you may need to undertake in order to make a summer garden work out in this specific spot.

The next issue you may need to raise and then resolve prior to moving on to the preparation and shopping stage is how much time, on average, will you want to devote to your summer garden plot on a particular day of the week? Gardens often need tending and you should be ready to commit some time to keeping your garden in decent running order (although some certainly entail more maintenance than others.) You ought to hold a sensible idea of the amount of time and attention you will be ready to allot to making your sustainable garden the wonderful refuge it could be in mind before you make your mind up about the different types of plants or flowers that will comprise your summer garden.

You must furthermore keep in mind what kind of summer garden you wish to start. Do Image via Wikipedia you want crisp produce, a flower garden, or would you only aim to add a little of added sparkle to your front lawn? Would you wish to add a water feature or have a sitting area?

When planning a summer garden you need to take into account all these questions and more. Another thing you may want to have in mind will be the local environment. Is it average, dry, wet, or cool most mornings? These questions could also have a fairly considerable effect on the sort of garden is suitable for your current setting.

Setting up a garden involves a great deal more than just strolling outside and just tossing some seeds over the soil. There is a significant amount of work that goes into setting up a flourishing summer season garden. Asking the right questions can be a helpful place to initiate this process. When you have discovered the answers it is time to start the more exciting elements of planning your garden plot, such as working up the soil and selecting what plants may presently dub your front lawn home. Just keep in mind that devoting careful attention to the fine points in advance will prevent a great deal of wasted time as well as money later.

For more  on summer gardening, tools, and resources, please visit our main website at http://www.newholisticliving.com/sustainablegardening.html 

Happy Gardening, and stay tuned for our next post, as we are going to do a brief series on natural pest control!
Rose.

Permaculture: Sustainable Gardening

We talk a lot about sustainable gardening on this blog…. So what is it, some of you have asked? Hopefully this post will clear the matter up for those who are wondering.

Sustainable gardening — also known as permaculture, or permanent agriculture united with permanent culture — came to being as a reaction to issues regarding unsustainable farming practices, the erosion of loam, waste of water sources, as well as a break down in the natural cycle of our environment, amid other things.

Image via WikipediaSustainable agriculture can be described as a way for man to learn from the natural world in developing biological, workable, edible ecosystems.  The thought should be to understand what is learned from the environment and put it to work within your specific landscape, whether you have a small garden or plenty of land.

Permaculture involves taking a look at the whole system and how every part relates to all the other pieces.  It is usually about finding then fixing the weak links or problems in a very sustainable way without the use of fossil fuels.  Diversity along with minimal waste are of the essence in sustainable gardening.

Permanent agriculture, or sustainable gardening, uses a zone concept.  The greater amount of activity that an area involves, the closer to your house that zone ought to be.  For instance, Zone 1 is closest to the home and therefore should contain herbs and vegetables which need to be harvested more often.  The zone that’s farthest away, based on the dimensions of the land that you’re working, should be fruit trees or other plants that require less maintenance.

If you should look at a forest, you may notice the “stacking” done in nature.  This may be intentionally mirrored by people.  The stacking starts with tall fruit trees which forms the cover, for dwarf trees, to shrubs, to smaller plants, then root vegetables, and lastly right down to ground cover plants like strawberries.  From imitating the natural world, one may form guilds, which are combinations within the stacking technique which work effectively together.  As an example, Native Americans planted a guild of corn, squash, and beans.

Sustainable gardening additionally asks plants and trees to provide more than one role.  For instance, an apple tree gives:
* shade for smaller, shade-loving crops,
* shade for its roots, meaning a smaller amount of water will be necessary,
* a resting or nesting site used by birds, who in return replenish the earth,
* fruit meant for humans and animals to consume,
* dead leaves that fall to the ground and decompose, helping to replenish the soil,
* branches for fire

Image via WikipediaYou may want to give some serious thought to tearing out your wasteful water-consuming lawn to grow food designed for human and/or wildlife consumption. Conventional ways of growing are usually fairly labor-intensive and also may require chemicals to maintain them.  However, when a sustainable garden landscape gets going and starts to support itself it becomes a far less time-consuming way to garden.  And it sets the crops up with a way more natural method of nourishing themselves.  Following sustainable gardening practices can also be a means to close the ecosystem loop and become more sustainable.

Hope that sheds some light on the subject!
Rose.

P.S. We have more info and resources for learning more about sustainable gardening on our main website. And for weekly sustainable gardening tips and updates, subscribe to our free weekly Sustainable Gardening News!