1. As an organic gardener you shy away from the use of
chemicals in your garden and instead rely on natural
treatments and remedies to keep your garden tip top. Pest
control is no different and you can do this without
resorting to the usual commercially available pesticides.
You can undertake your garden pest control naturally.
2. Natural pest control products such as various sprays and
powders can be obtained from your local garden centre.
For example a bacteria spray or powder. Spray or sprinkle
as appropriate on to the plant. Insects will eat it and be
poisoned though this can take some time to take
maximum effect. Another spray alternative is horticultural
oil. When used it is designed to basically suffocate insects.
3. If you decide to use an organic spray as insect treatment it
may still be harmful to you or your pets so do be
absolutely certain to read the application instructions very
carefully and follow them. You may find that the best time
to apply the spray or powder treatment in your garden is
the early evening as things are cooling down and
troublesome insects may be less active.
4. Did you know that birds and 'good' insects can help you
with your pest control as well as the sprays we mentioned
above. That's right - nature itself can help you if you let it.
5. Birds eat insects. You can make your organic garden bird
friendly quite easily by for example putting a bird bath in
there, perhaps a feeding table or a nesting box or two.
Anything that will encourage birds to visit and do what
they do naturally which can help to keep those annoying
pests at bay.
6. Ladybirds shouldn't do you any harm either and will
probably find their way to you all by themselves.
Depending on your location and if you have a water source
then you might attract the odd frog or lizard in to your
garden for some additional natural pest control and bug
bashing. If you do not have a naturally occurring water
source you can make one simply by placing a large dish of
water in to your garden. If any frogs or lizards find it they
might just hang around for a while and chomp through
some bugs for you whilst they are there.
7. Slugs are everywhere. You will almost certainly have to
factor natural slug control in to your organic garden
maintenance schedule. Slugs can be hard to get rid of and
until they do, if you have them, they can cause a
significant amount of damage to your plants.
8. To control the slug presence using only natural remedies
there are a number of steps you can take. The first one
may surprise you. Slugs like beer. Or rather are attracted
to it. A trick you can employ is to bury a small pot in the
garden up its neck - for example a jam jar - and place some
beer in to it. Slug smells the beer and crawls in to take a
nip. Only it cannot crawl back out and drowns in the beer.
Not a bad way to go I guess.
9. If you can get it, seaweed used as mulch can help to repel
slugs as well as decompose naturally and nourish your soil.
The salt content is what the slugs do not like. And on the
subject of salt - this is perhaps the most common form of
natural slug control for the organic gardener. Slugs leave a
trail behind them as they slither around. Sprinkle some
salt on the trails you find and directly on to any slugs you
see. This will dry them up and kill them. Do not go wild
with the salt though - just use enough - or you could
damage your soil.
10. And there we are. A quick look at some natural methods
you can use to keep on top of insects and other unsavory
guests you do not want in your garden. And by using them
you are sticking firmly to your principles as an organic
gardener and not reaching for the chemical alternative.
