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Nothing is more annoying than having to deal with pests rummaging through your garden and eating away at your hard work. Of course, some of us do not want to hurt a fly at times, but having pest infestations,from insects to rodents can change your tune quickly as you see your garden go up in flames. With the winter rolling around the corner, many pests will start looking for shelter and food, making your garden quite an attractive location to scavenge. Here are just some ways you can keep pests out of your garden and save your hard work.
Boxing Out Animals
If you live in an area prone to some furry critters scurrying across your garden, it definitely can be a lot scarier than just your typical garden bugs. Ideally, you want to call the professionals to take away any big raccoons or other mammals, but if you're going to deter these pests from rummaging in your garden, you can install fences around your plants. Depending on the size of the mammal will determine the height of your fence and whether you need to opt-in for stronger countermeasures like an electric fence, but if you need an electric fence, you probably have more significant pest issues that need professional help.
Using Mother Nature To Your Benefit
Using pesticides or other chemicals can often be quite an extreme option as these chemicals can wreak havoc on your garden plants and soil. Instead of reaching for the chemicals, try encouraging local wildlife to come into your gardens, such as ladybugs, praying mantises, and other insects that naturally prey on common pests. You can also order ladybugs, alongside other beneficial bugs, online if you are impatient and want to speed up the process.
Keeping Up WIth Your Chores
Funnily enough, the best way to keep pests away is to keep taking care of your garden! Pests will prey upon weaker structures and plants that are far more susceptible to decay. With the winter season fast approaching, make sure to adequately water, trim, and take care of your garden so that your plants do not rot during the colder months and create a breeding ground for pests to take advantage of quickly. If you see a plant in your garden that is beginning to wane, looking not as healthy as the rest, be sure to pluck it out! The last thing you want to walk into during the Spring is a garden full of pests.
Covering Your Plants
Much like the fence solution from earlier, if you use a garden cloche or cage for your plants, you can cut down on pests from making their way into your garden. Enclosures can be bulky but offer excellent protection against larger pests, but if you want to choose a more aesthetically pleasing and seemingly less invasive structure, using a cloche can provide significant protection. The benefit of using a cloche is that you can help your plants retain warmth and humidity, especially during the colder months. Think of a cloche as your plants own miniature greenhouse that can help young plants grow and protect them during the winter.
The Element Of Surprise
Taking a page from the art of war, why not confuse your pests by switching up your garden plants. If you place a row of the same plant in the same location year after year, pests will begin to learn that area as a suitable place to feed. Instead of planting the same plants next to each other, try to grow different plants next to each other. Make sure that your plants complement each other to avoid any issues with roots or growth. If you have a polyculture instead of a monoculture, pests will begin to get confused as they try to search for food. Ideally, during this confusion, pests will get preyed upon by other insects.
Ol’ Reliable
If you walk around your garden and see some bugs crawling up your plants, you can get rid of them with soap and water. Mix a few tablespoons of soap with a spray bottle of water, and you have yourself some homemade insecticide. Be careful when spraying this mixture on some plants as the soap can be harmful to some garden vegetation, so test out your spray bottle on small areas first.
At Perm-O-Green we know how annoying pests can be year-round. So call (800) 903-1460, and we can get rid of those pests to make sure your garden is healthy when Spring rolls on through.