In the Garden: Investigate different ways to control pests

Do you ever feel like the insect world is out to get your garden? While it can sometimes seem that way, there are many strategies you can employ to grow a healthy, productive garden without chemicals.

Even though it’s easy to reach for a can of bug spray, I would like you to consider a few things first:

Pesticides are non-selective, meaning they can kill both the targeted insect and others nearby. They adversely affect pollinators, especially if used around flowering plants.

Pesticides are harmful to us. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to handle them, breathe them or be exposed to them. And when it comes to growing my own vegetables and fruits, I want to know they are safe to eat.

In general, chemicals throw off the balance in our gardens. If you kill one type of insect, what will their natural predators eat?

The most important thing you can do is monitor your garden on a regular basis. This will help you spot a potential problem in an early stage when you can easily address it. That said, I’ve often found that beneficial insects will take care of a problem before I need to act on it.

When you see insects, determine if they are beneficial, benign or damaging. If you aren’t able to identify them, ask your local Master Gardeners to help you with this. There is no cost for this service.

Most songbirds eat insects so make them welcome in your garden by providing trees and shrubs that they can hide in, along with a water source for drinking and bathing.

Consider hand-picking the damaging insects off your plants, or remove the leaf or branch they are on and dispose of it. Aphids can be blasted off of plants with a strong jet of water.

In last week’s column, I mentioned the use of floating row cover not only to extend the garden season, but also to act as a physical barrier that keeps troublesome insects away from your plants. The row cover can only be used for crops that don’t need to be pollinated. This includes cabbage family crops, beets, spinach and Swiss chard. For those crops, I keep them covered for the entire season to avoid problems with aphids, cabbage worms and leaf miners. I don’t need to cover any other types of plants.

I created an organic pest control guide on my website to help gardeners find safe ways to address insect problems on edible crops. You can find it at susansinthegarden.com/guides/organic-pest-control.

What other organic practices can you engage in? Avoid adding synthetic fertilizers to your soil. You would be amazed at how fertile our gardens can be by just placing a thin layer of organic compost to the soil surface annually. It doesn’t need to be rototilled in, which can damage the structure of the soil where beneficial microorganisms reside.

If your plants really seem to be struggling, consider having a soil test done to see if it’s lacking certain nutrients. The Spokane County Conservation District (sccd.org) conducts these tests. Always use organic amendments to address a deficiency.

If weeds have been a problem in the past, avoid weed killers and synthetic pre-emergent chemicals. Instead, mulch around your plants thickly to make it difficult for weeds to grow. The less you disturb your soil, the fewer weed seeds you’ll bring to the surface – and that will make gardening much more enjoyable.

Watch this week’s “Everyone Can Grow A Garden” video on my YouTube channel, youtube.com/c/susansinthegarden.