A New Series: Organic Gardening Pest Control Techniques

It is a bright, cool spring morning when you walk out to check on your garden. The other day you had noticed that the lettuce seeds you had sown were finally beginning to germinate. So you head toward that section of the garden, wondering how much they have grown since you last checked. You get there, and see…nothing.

Every single seedling has disappeared, apparently victims of some hungry flea beetles or sow bugs.

Later that year, you harvest your first cucumber, only to discover that several leaves on the vine are infested with aphids You don’t want to spray, but you remember a friend telling you that if you don’t do something about aphids right away, they will reproduce worse than rabbits, and then spread disease that will take down a previously healthy plant in no time flat.

If you are a veteran gardener, you can relate with these two scenarios. If you want to start a garden but have been hesitating to do so, those very scenarios are probably one of the main reasons for your hesitation. No vegetable gardener wants to put in hours of time and sweat into nurturing plants that are intended for the dinner table, only to have an entire crop decimated by pests.

Unfortunately, to prevent that, many gardeners resort to buying and using chemical sprays. These pesticides, which are known to increase cancer risk and disrupt endocrine production, don’t just sit on the outside of the plant. They actually get absorbed into the plant so that when you eat it, the toxins build up inside of you. In addition, the pesticides kill beneficial insects, can poison wildlife, and eventually seep into the groundwater.

Many would-be gardeners are sensitive to environmental issues and would love nothing more than to be able to grow their own food in harmony with nature. The problem is that what they hear out in the gardening world – especially the mainstream gardening world – is that to garden without the use of pesticides is to encounter frustration and heartache, because everybody “knows” that organic pest control methods don’t really work.

The good news is that, with the right tools and techniques, you can control pests without using any toxic chemicals, and even prevent them from becoming an issue in the first place. Over the next twelve weeks, I will provide one organic pest control method each week which has proven to be effective. I will start with the least invasive methods and end with the most invasive.

I urge you to do the same. the least invasive methods are preventative, and you know what they say about a pound of prevention! The more you can prevent pest problems, the more you will enjoy gardening, both the activity of it and the harvest you reap. So stay tuned to The Crunchy Coach for the next twelve Thursdays to help you get a handle on the bugs that bug you.