Gardening Bytes

Archive for the ‘Pest Control’ Category

Chives are great for cooking and an easy herb to grow. If you let them grow to flowering, the pink flowers are a nice addition to the garden, and re-seed readily once established. Many gardeners grow chives under roses as a companion plant. Chives are known to help keep aphids in check and off your roses, the theory is that the onion smell of chives keeps aphids away. Chives also reportedly help prevent powdery mildew, black spot, and brown canker. If you have other plants bothered by aphids plant some chives nearby and see how quickly they vanish. This companion planting idea for roses will not only help keep them disease free naturally, the lovely pink puffs of chive blooms look wonderful in the garden as well.

The use of broken sea shells or egg shells can be used as a deterrent to snails. The sharp edges of the shells scrape against the snails body, making it difficult to reach plants. Try using broken shells or egg shells at the base of your newly planted plants to ward off snail attacks. Snails often find overhanging leaves to reach plants if they cannot crawl directly to the base of the plant so tidy up branches and overhanging foliage around the susceptible plant. Clean egg shells thoroughly so there is no smell to attract animals to the area.

Here is part two of deer resistant plants to use in your garden. The list includes plants that are rated as rarely damaged by deer:

Common Yarrow – Perennial
Corkscrew Willow – Trees
Creeping Wintergreen – Groundcover
English Holly – Shrub
Fall Mums – Perennial
Forget-Me-Not – Annual and Perennial Versions
Fringed Bleeding Heart – Perennial
Golden Bamboo – Ornamental Grass
Grape Hyacinth – Bulb
Heartleaf Bergenia – Perennial
Heliotrope – Annual
Japanese Maple – Tree
Lamb’s Ear – Perennial
Lantana – Perennial
Lavender – Perennials

Companion plants often help keep a garden healthy. Nasturtiums attract aphids before they attack your other plants, sacrificing these bright, easy to grow plants for others the aphids may attack. Nasturtiums also attract ladybugs who will eat aphids. An adult ladybug can eat up to 5,000 aphids during its year of life, making ladybugs a friend in your garden. Some gardeners plant chives as a companion plant to roses, believing they help avoid blackspot on roses. Marigolds planted near tomatoes helps deter whitefly away from your crops.

Looking for deer resistant plants for your garden? If you have deer grazing on your plants you know how frustrating it can be to have a garden that looks healthy. Here are a number of plants rated rarely damaged by deer that would be a good choice for your garden:

Angel’s Trumpet – Annual (all parts of plant are poisonous)
Annual Vinca – Annual ground cover
Autumn Crocus – Bulb
Barberry – Shrub
Bearberry – Ground cover
Bleeding Heart – Perennial (shade plant)
Blue Fescue – Ornamental grass
Butterfly Bush – Shrub
Cinnamon Fern – Fern
Foxglove – Biennial
Daffodils – Bulbs (bulb and leaves are poisonous when eaten)
Flowering Tobacco/Nicotiana – Annual
Heaths & Heathers – Shrub
Iris – Perennial bulb
Japanese Painted Fern – Fern

Snails can be the bane of the gardeners existence. There is nothing like finding the chewed up petals or leaves of a new plant you know has been ruined by snails. An effective way to help control snails in your garden is to gather them in a bucket. Water doesn’t work to drown them since snails are pretty good at crawling up or surviving in water. Snails tend to hang out in shady spots, making lush leafy gardens a perfect place for them to hide. Look under overhanging foliage, ferns, leafy vines and in corners and sheltered areas on fences and structures.

When salting a snail, through osmosis the snail dries out, the body foams up and the snail dies of dehydration. Find a deep bucket you can carry easily with you as you go through the garden. Place a small amount of water in the bottom of the bucket. Add salt to the water, salt will foam up the snail bodies and kill them. This is a time consuming but very cheap way to help eradicate snails as you go about your gardening tasks.

A mix of dish soap with water will give you an organic way to spray against pests such as aphids, blackfly and more. Use this natural spray consistently until the pests die back or disappear:

Organic Pest Control

2 tablespoons baking soda
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon dish soap (do not use dish soap that contains bleach)
2 quarts of water

Combine the above ingredients in a spray bottle to spray on your infested plants. Shake to mix every time you use this natural spray in your garden.

We have a gang of raccoons that like to visit our back yard every month or so. These mischievous critters like to investigate potted plants, play in water and find new places to poop in the yard. As cute as the raccoons appear from a distance, they can cause some damage to your yard and should never be approached directly since they can be carriers of the rabies virus. Raccoons can be deterred by eliminating some of the items they find interesting in your garden.

If you put out food or water for cats or dogs in the yard, take them out of the yard at night when these night time animals like to visit. Raccoons enjoy playing in water and can make quite a mess when they want to. Keep potted plants at a lower level, curious raccoons have great manual dexterity and like to tip over high set pots, having been known in our yard to dig for bulbs in pots. Fruit trees can be attractive as a food source for raccoons since they have a sweet tooth when it comes to food. If you have a pond or water feature this may attract raccoons to your yard. Making sure there is no water or food supply in your yard will lessen the goodies available to these nocturnal visitors.

Iron phosphate is a natural snail bait that is safe for use in your garden, as well as around wildlife, children and pets. Iron phosphate works by the snail ingesting the ground particles, giving them a stomach ache so they stop feeding, they crawl away and in a few days eventually die. The iron phosphate based snail bait is sold under the names Sluggo and Escar-Go. Bait in areas that snails frequent since they tend to return to food source sites. Baiting during temperate weather is helpful since snails tend to hide out in very hot or very cold weather.

Learn more on here about managing snails and slugs in your garden: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7427.html