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Five Ways to Keep Pests Away in the Vegetable Garden

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Organic Pest Control Tips for Chemical-Free Gardening

If every growing season you struggle with garden pests that damage and even ruin your harvest, there are several critical steps yoNatural aphid controlu should take to change your garden ecosystem now:

  1. Get rid of all chemical products. YES, all synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and soil amendments! Synthetic fertilizers create a burst of growth that weakens a plant’s ability to fend off pests. Other chemicals kill the good bugs and creatures that keep pests under control.
  2. Grow a variety of plants, next to each other. For example, plant borage near your tomatoes to attract pollinators. There’s strength in companionship in the garden. By growing different flowering plants, including herbs, you attract a multitude of natural predators and pollinators that keep your garden in balance. Do not devote an entire raised bed to one type of crop. Plant other crops in between to mix things up and to confuse pests.
  3. Really look at your plants. Look for creatures, not fruit. Train your eye to scan an entire stem, flip leaves up and inspect them for tiny worms that do major damage. Admiring your plants gives you other benefits – you will see things you didn’t know you had in the garden.
  4. Encourage pollinators with native shrubs and flowers. Most pollinators have specific plants that they lay their eggs on. A perfect example of this is the monarch butterfly. It only lays its eggs on milkweed. The adult butterfly will eat other plants but the caterpillar will only eat milkweed.
  5. Know the difference between pests and friendly bugs and insects. Do you know what the different is between a squash bug and leaf-footed bug? Do you know what a lacewing looks like. Is she good or bad? This is key. Beneficial insects will eat caterpillars, aphids and other pests that can ruin your vegetables and fruit.

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