Controlling Garden Pests From Your Kitchen is an Easy Organic Gardening How-To
It's an easy organic gardening how to to use items found in your kitchen to control garden pests in your organic garden.
But, a few words of caution! Many of these items are intended to be sprayed on your plants and you need to avoid doing that during the warm hours of the day.
The sun's heat can warm up fine mists of liquid very quickly and this can damage your plants.
So, always spray in the early morning or late in the afternoon.
Most garden pests dislike soap and a lot of organic gardeners apply soapy solutions to their organic gardens.
It is a good answer to controlling garden pests, but you do need to be careful.
Many soaps found in your kitchen contain chemicals that you would not want to apply to your organic garden.
To avoid this, use insecticidal soaps to avoid this problem.
Insecticidal soaps can be found at most of your neighborhood nurseries.
Is rose blackspot a problem in your organic garden? If so, put 1 gallon of water, 3 tablespoons of baking soda, 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, and 1 tablespoon of soap in your pressurized garden sprayer.
Shake vigorously and apply to your roses.
Now, this needs to be done at the beginning of the season before the blackspots first appear and it needs to be repeated throughout the growing season.
Do not apply more than once per week or an oil buildup could cause damage to your leaves.
Normal rainfall usually prevents this.
This same solution can be used to deter whiteflies and aphids on your other plants.
Slimy slugs are a problem in my garden.
To control these slugs, I took an empty plastic cup and dug a small hole in my garden.
I placed the cup in the hole so that only about 1/2" of the cup protruded above ground.
I filled the cup half-full with the least expensive beer that I could find.
Slugs love beer! They slime their way into the cup and they drown.
I emptied this cup every two days until the slugs were under control.
Another organic gardening how to are aphids.
Aphids can be a problem in any organic garden.
To control this problem, grate two lemons and place the grated peel in a quart jar full of water.
Leave overnight.
The next day, pour the solution through a coffee filter or cheesecloth to remove the grated peel.
Place solution in your pressurized sprayer, add one additional quart of water and three drops of insecticidal soap (the soap helps the solution to flow evenly over your leaves).
Shake and spray.
The aphids will be gone and they will stay away! Another slimy creature in many gardens are snails.
If snails are a problem, slice the peeling off of an orange and place this peeling in a small area of your garden.
Snails will be attracted to this orange peel.
Collect the snails and place them in a bucket of soapy water.
Dogs and cats, our household pets, sometimes are a nuisance because they like to dig in our gardens.
If that is a problem, mix one quart of water with one cup of vinegar and two tablespoons of chile paste (found in Asian markets).
Sprinkle this on the ground of your organic garden and household pets will stay away.
Having a problem with rabbits or squirrels? Take a bulb of garlic and break it into cloves.
Smash all of these cloves with a heavy pan, brick, or hammer.
Place these in a quart of warm water and add one tablespoon of hot pepper flakes (or, three fresh hot peppers, chopped).
Let this sit in a warm place for a week.
After a week, filter the solution using a coffee filter or cheesecloth.
Pour 1/2 quart of this solution into your pressurized sprayer and add one additional quart of water and one teaspoon of soap.
Spray evenly over your plants.
Besides rabbits and squirrels, this solution will keep many garden pests out of your garden.
These are but a few of the things that you can find in your kitchen cabinets that will help solve your garden pests problems.
But, be imaginative with these, also.
By that I mean, try variations of these recipes.
Garden pests are responsive to different smells and tastes.
Try mixing different herbs into these blends.
Try cinnamon, mint, rosemary, onion or clover! Keep an eye on your garden and you may find something never found before.
That's what organic gardening how to is all about!
But, a few words of caution! Many of these items are intended to be sprayed on your plants and you need to avoid doing that during the warm hours of the day.
The sun's heat can warm up fine mists of liquid very quickly and this can damage your plants.
So, always spray in the early morning or late in the afternoon.
Most garden pests dislike soap and a lot of organic gardeners apply soapy solutions to their organic gardens.
It is a good answer to controlling garden pests, but you do need to be careful.
Many soaps found in your kitchen contain chemicals that you would not want to apply to your organic garden.
To avoid this, use insecticidal soaps to avoid this problem.
Insecticidal soaps can be found at most of your neighborhood nurseries.
Is rose blackspot a problem in your organic garden? If so, put 1 gallon of water, 3 tablespoons of baking soda, 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, and 1 tablespoon of soap in your pressurized garden sprayer.
Shake vigorously and apply to your roses.
Now, this needs to be done at the beginning of the season before the blackspots first appear and it needs to be repeated throughout the growing season.
Do not apply more than once per week or an oil buildup could cause damage to your leaves.
Normal rainfall usually prevents this.
This same solution can be used to deter whiteflies and aphids on your other plants.
Slimy slugs are a problem in my garden.
To control these slugs, I took an empty plastic cup and dug a small hole in my garden.
I placed the cup in the hole so that only about 1/2" of the cup protruded above ground.
I filled the cup half-full with the least expensive beer that I could find.
Slugs love beer! They slime their way into the cup and they drown.
I emptied this cup every two days until the slugs were under control.
Another organic gardening how to are aphids.
Aphids can be a problem in any organic garden.
To control this problem, grate two lemons and place the grated peel in a quart jar full of water.
Leave overnight.
The next day, pour the solution through a coffee filter or cheesecloth to remove the grated peel.
Place solution in your pressurized sprayer, add one additional quart of water and three drops of insecticidal soap (the soap helps the solution to flow evenly over your leaves).
Shake and spray.
The aphids will be gone and they will stay away! Another slimy creature in many gardens are snails.
If snails are a problem, slice the peeling off of an orange and place this peeling in a small area of your garden.
Snails will be attracted to this orange peel.
Collect the snails and place them in a bucket of soapy water.
Dogs and cats, our household pets, sometimes are a nuisance because they like to dig in our gardens.
If that is a problem, mix one quart of water with one cup of vinegar and two tablespoons of chile paste (found in Asian markets).
Sprinkle this on the ground of your organic garden and household pets will stay away.
Having a problem with rabbits or squirrels? Take a bulb of garlic and break it into cloves.
Smash all of these cloves with a heavy pan, brick, or hammer.
Place these in a quart of warm water and add one tablespoon of hot pepper flakes (or, three fresh hot peppers, chopped).
Let this sit in a warm place for a week.
After a week, filter the solution using a coffee filter or cheesecloth.
Pour 1/2 quart of this solution into your pressurized sprayer and add one additional quart of water and one teaspoon of soap.
Spray evenly over your plants.
Besides rabbits and squirrels, this solution will keep many garden pests out of your garden.
These are but a few of the things that you can find in your kitchen cabinets that will help solve your garden pests problems.
But, be imaginative with these, also.
By that I mean, try variations of these recipes.
Garden pests are responsive to different smells and tastes.
Try mixing different herbs into these blends.
Try cinnamon, mint, rosemary, onion or clover! Keep an eye on your garden and you may find something never found before.
That's what organic gardening how to is all about!