Gardening would be a great deal simpler without interference from garden pests. The majority of garden pests are small, but they sure are a big nuisance. The most common garden pests are insects, of course and it is a curious thing that these insects tend to prosper in circumstances that are not quite correct for flowers. Most garden pests do not actually live on the plants themselves, they live in decaying rubbish nearby or in saturated soil and go to the plant to feed. Some insects live in the roots if the soil is too wet.
So, one of the first things to do is to try to reduce the number of harmful insects in your garden. You can go a long way down this route by clearing away any old decaying rubbish and decayed wood. Make sure that your soil is well drained and keep cats out of your garden by squirting them with a water pistol until they get the message. Cats discourage birds and many birds eat insects.
You should also support insects and other animals that feed on garden pests. Ants can be a pain, but they do eat a lot of insects. Ladybirds do too and so do spiders. Larger animals such as frogs, toads and lizards eat heaps of insects, so a small open-ended garden pond could be used to breed frogs and toads. Lizards will come on their own, if the conditions are right.
It is worth taking positive steps to encourage the right kind of garden animals. Never use strong insecticides on your garden as you will kill all the insects that are on your side too and the spray may poison the earthworms that are helping to ventilate and dry out your soil.
A small pond will encourage birds, frogs and toads, but frogs and toads also like a nice rock to shelter under during the day. Place a few rocks the size of a loaf of bread around your garden in the shadow of trees or bushes. Erect a bird table. Birds that eat bread and nuts do not usually feed on insects, but some do. However, the sight of other birds in your garden may encourage insectivores to come in and have a look.
There are basically two types of garden pests: the ones that actually eat the plant and the ones that extract the sap out of it. Caterpillars can be picked off and destroyed of or you can spray the leaves that are being eaten with a poison for the caterpillars to feed on. Many of the sap-suckers can be seen with no trouble, others cannot. A solution of washing-up liquid and water such as you use to wash dishes will kill the majority of of these including greenfly (aphids).
Slugs and snails do a lot of harm, but some birds including chickens and thrushes find them a delicacy. Chickens can be helpful allies in a garden, but they can be destructive too with all their scratching. Otherwise, you can reduce the population of slugs and snails by killing their eggs.
They tend to lay their eggs in decomposing leaves or rotting compost, but not in compost heaps which are normally too hot for them, so a good clean up will eradicate a lot of the next generation.
You can kill the adults by placing a few low containers of beer by your plants. The slugs will drink the beer and drown. It is very efficient. Slug pellets should kill the t-totallers off. Taking these actions will greatly reduce the number of garden pests attacking your plants.
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