Controlling Insects in the Garden
Many gardeners do not like to use chemicals and spend money on certain pest control methods that could hurt their vegetables, and consequently, the people that eat those vegetables. In a healthy garden the balance between pests and insects is always going to be present, but controlling the overwhelming population of either of these may become necessary.

Posted Thursday, April 6, 2006

Strengthen your garden by amending your soil, growing healthy plants that can survive the typical insects in the garden. Plants that are healthy will continue to grow even if there are a few pests in the garden. Birds are vital to the balance of the garden. Allowing birds to be around can help control the pest population. You can also keep insects and pests busy with other types of plants so that your vegetables will grow and be healthy.

Insects and bugs love marigolds, zinnias, cosmos, dill, and nasturiums. Keeping flowers around your garden will feed the bad insects and pests and keep them away from your vegetables. If at all possible buy insect resistant varieties when planting your garden. If potato bugs are prevalent in your area for example, buy a variety that is stronger or resistant to this problem.

At the end of summer be sure to take measures to cut down on where pests can hide over the winter months, making them leave your garden to find another home. Tilling your garden under, getting rid and pulling out all dead plants will be a good first step. If you have major infestation, hosing your garden down with a insecticidal soap will help keep these pests under control without harming the environment or your vegetable crop.

Be sure to rotate your crops so that any bugs or pests that are attracted to one particular plant, and are living in the soil in your garden, will not be attacking the same plants every year. When these little bugs can't find the plant that they want they will move on and out of your garden. Hosing down your garden in the late evening will attract bugs. The best time to water your garden will be in the early morning so that the sun can dry your plants without hurting them, and without attracting more bugs and insects.

If you are having little success controlling the bugs and pests, you might want to consider using some of the organic powders that are meant to control pests. Botanical pest controls are powders that are derived from plants such as rotenone, and sabadilla. One thing that you do have to watch if you are using these last resorts is that they can aslo kill beneficial insects.