Gardening: Mulvihill book great resource on managing garden pests
News flash gardeners. We have a new, comprehensive resource to help manage bugs in the vegetable garden.
Susan Mulvihill, my Spokesman-Review colleague and co-author with me of the “Northwest Garden’s Handbook,” just published her latest book, “The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook.”
Mulvihill’s book is different from many other garden insect books because not only does it cover all the common vegetable pests we have to deal with, it also has sections on organic gardening techniques and a large pest profile section with organic control methods. All of the sections are integrated and cross-referenced so that a gardener has several ways to identify the pests. Lastly, for the do-it-yourselfer, the book has a large section on ways to build pest traps and structures to keep the pests at bay.
“You can find some general insect encyclopedias that will help you identify them, but they don’t talk about how people will experience them in the garden. I really felt having pictures of the insect’s lifecycle and the damage they do and what to do about them organically was important. I also felt information on how to manage a healthy garden in the first place was important.” All of Mulvihill’s recommendations are based on research so they are accurate.
The heart of the book is the chapter of pest profiles. Each profile has a description and pictures of the insect’s larval and adult stages to help identify it, the number of generations a year, which crops they are usually seen on and photos of the damage they cause. The descriptions also have lists of the insect’s natural predators and references to the book’s section on common predator insects. “It’s important to know who the good guys in the garden are too,” said Mulvihill. Lastly the profiles list the organic methods you can use to control them.
The other sections of the book are all tied back to the pest profile chapter. The first chapter covers organic gardening methods and garden management techniques that reduce the potential of bugs moving in in the first place. The old saying that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is very true when it comes to pest management. If you can eliminate hospitable habitat in the first place, you are well on the way to controlling the pests.
The third chapter of the book has detailed description of organic control methods including both cultural management techniques and chemical controls and how to apply them. “One of the main reasons for including this section was to let readers know that even organic chemicals can cause harm to beneficial and pollinator insects and have to be handled carefully,” said Mulvihill.
The last section of the book lays out pest control DIY projects to build different kinds of insect traps, and barriers to keep insects out of your plants. One project provides information on how to build a floating row cover hoop over a raised bed.
The book is available on Amazon and from local books stores.
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Pat Munts can be reached at pat@inlandnwgardening.com