Bug off, Bugs!

Starting a vegetable or flower garden with your kids is a great hands–on way to spark their curiosity in nature. Keeping a garden pest–free can be a real hassle, though. Reaching for a store bought chemical pesticide might seem like the easiest solution, but consider this: Pesticides not only kill garden nibblers like mealy bugs, aphids and slugs; they also kill beneficial insects. We want those beneficial insects around because they can do wonders for your garden by pollinating flowers, eating the pests that damage crops, helping recycle nutrients by eating dead plants and animals, and aerating the soil by digging and burrowing. You can attract pest-eating bugs to your garden by planting flowers such as cosmos, sweet alyssum, sunflowers, corn cockle and marigolds. Herbs such as coriander, dill, caraway chervil, fennel, and parsley also attract these do–good bugs, and smell great to boot!

Below is a chart of common beneficial garden insects (“the warriors”) and garden pests (“the destroyers”):

Garden Warriors     vs.     Garden Destroyers

• Lady Bugs                           Mealy Bugs
• Praying                                Mantis Aphids
• Bumble Bee                         Weevils
• Centipede                            Spider Mites
• Dragonfly                            Slugs
• Hover Fly                            Japanese Beetles
• Yellow Jacket                      Army Worms
• Assassin Bug                       Earwigs

To learn more about garden pests visit The Pest Library at Garden.org.

Pesticides can also be toxic to your health. Luckily there are ways to scare off pests without hurting yourself or the environment. Follow these simple steps to help your garden become pest-free, this year and next:

• Clear your garden of weeds and dead plants, which are breeding grounds for insects.
• Plant a variety of vegetables. Pests are often attracted to specific plants, so when planting is mixed, pests are less likely to spread throughout a crop.
• Many pests like to hunker down and go dormant for the winter in your garden and can re–infest your plants in the spring. You can avoid re–infestation by rotating your crops every year. To rotate your crops you can either plant new varieties of plants, or simply rearrange the location of the plants in your garden.
• Pests and fungi—which can also infect plants--thrive on wet foliage, so water your garden early in the morning, as opposed to night, so that plants dry more quickly and stay that way for most of the day.
• Plant marigolds. They have a strong stench that deters pests.

And when all else fails, you can make your very own homemade pest repellent. Kids will love helping you with this task, but just make sure they don't use it on each other!

Here’s what you need:

• One tablespoon of any brand of liquid dishwashing soap, pure castile soap or liquid hand soap.
• One cup vegetable oil
• One cup water
• Empty spray bottle

And here’s what you do:

1. Mix soap and vegetable oil together in a glass jar or other spill-proof container.
2. When you are ready to spray, combine one or two teaspoons of the mixture with a cup of water in a spray bottle and shake well.
3. Spray every part of the infected plant, paying special attention to the intersections and the undersides of leaves where pests like to hang out and lay their eggs. However, be cautious not to spray when the weather is too hot, as vegetable oil can burn plants in hot weather. If you are unsure whether it is too hot, test a leaf or two with the spray, then wait a day and check the leaf for damage before you spray the entire plant. Reapply once a week until those little buggers have hit the trail!