How To Prevent Bugs From Your Garden

Most gardeners face plant-munching pests in their gardens from time to time, and usually, they are not that big of a deal. However, sometimes pest numbers rise to an unacceptable level and the little buggers cause more than mere aesthetic damage. Gardeners become more and more aware of the potential dangers of exposure to synthetic chemical pesticides, many want to skip the sprays altogether and turn to other pest control methods instead. By far, the most useful technique for controlling garden pests is preventing them from nibbling on your plants in the first place.

ENCOURAGE BENEFICIAL INSECTS
While pollinators are great to have in the garden, the beneficial insects about here are those that take a literal bite out of pest insects. Ladybugs, lacewings, minute pirate bugs, parasitic wasps, damsel bugs, and other beneficial naturally help keep pest numbers down by eating the bad guys for lunch or using them to house and feed their developing young. To attract these good bugs to the garden, you need to supply them with protein-rich pest insects to consume as prey, as well as carbohydrate-rich nectar. The more pest-munching beneficial you have around, the less likely it is for pest numbers to get out of hand. It’s all about creating a good balance.

CHOOSE YOUR PLANTS WISELY
Some plants and plant varieties are more prone to pest issues than others. Preventing pests in your garden is sometimes as simple as choosing pest-resistant vegetables.

EMPLOY PHYSICAL BARRIERS
One of the most useful methods of preventing pests in your garden is to put a physical barrier between the plant and the insect. Cover pest-susceptible plants with floating row cover, a lightweight, spun-bound fabric that rests on top of the plants or on wire hoops. Make sure there’s plenty of slack in the cover and pin the sides to the ground to keep sneaky pests from crawling under the edges.

UTILIZE INTERCROPPING
Preventing pests in your garden can also be the result of increasing the diversity of your vegetable patch. By inter-planting different vegetable crops with each other – and with flowering herbs and annuals – pests may have a more difficult time locating their host plants. Rather than planting a single crop in a row or block, mix everything up to keep even small monocultures out of the garden.

GROW HEALTHY PLANTS
It may seem like a no-brainer, but in this horticulturist’s opinion, this is the most important method of preventing pests in your garden. Healthy plants have a whole host of cool tricks for deterring pests through the use of their own chemical defense system. The healthier your plants are, the better able they are to fight off pests all on their own.