As with all things in nature, there is a balance.

Organic garden pest control doesn’t upset that sensitive arrangement too much.

We’ve got to eat of course, and we’re not hunter-gathers now, so we sow, plant and harvest on cleared land.

Even if we practice organic gardening, pest control is still necessary. Garden pests just love the concentrated gatherings of their favourite foods.

Enlightened farmers now use what they call integrated pest management.It’s about striking that crucial balance between protecting their crops and protecting the environment… as well as protecting their bank balance by reducing their use of chemical sprays.

You will have some advantage in managing garden pests if you are gardening organically as you will be encouraging natural biological control. Still it’s wise to be prepared for action should your plants come under attack.

Controlling pests organically

Here is a summary of what exactly organic garden pest control mixtures consists of and how they work:

• Smell: Garlic, tobacco, rhubarb, fish and other strong smelling substances that are used to repel pests.
• Gases and odor molecules: Many plants give off natural odors or have volatile oils which some bugs find unpleasant. Often these odors or oils are a warning to bugs that the plant contains its own built in insecticide. Concoctions made from these plants will deterpests.
• Heat or fumes: Chilies, kerosene, methylated spirits, salt etc, willburn, harm or kill pests.
• Oil: Mineral oil, vegetable oils and proprietary oils, such as those made with cottonseed oil, will suffocate soft-bodied pests.
• Soap: Natural vegetable based soaps or detergents are added to sprays in small amounts to make them stick to plants. Many insects dislike and are harmed by soap also.

Never use spray on plants during hot sunny weather as it may cause the leaves to burn. Natural soap is tolerated by plants better than detergent (which may have other ingredients such as surfactants, enzymes and softeners added). A small dash of detergent is okay to give a spray some ‘stickiness.’

Decide what you need to do and do no more. For example, do you want to kill the wretched caterpillars that are making a mess of your cabbages? Right, get the biggies by hand and/or make up a strong killer mix and stop them in their munchy tracks!

From then on you should be able to keep an eye out and use only a mixture that deters or repels the butterflies or moths from landing to lay eggs.

Always remember you want a garden teeming with life with the many insects and creatures keeping each other in check without you rocking the boat too much.

Yes you want wonderful vegetables, flowers and trees to eat and enjoy; so practice diversity and don’t aim for perfection and neatness. Even when using natural sprays, do as little harm as possible and don’t try to outgun nature.

Non-Toxic, organic garden pest control Solutions:

Garlic fire spray is the stuff of legend. There aremany recipes, but they consist of some or all of the following: garlic, chilli peppers, soap, vegetable oil, kerosene and water. Don’t leave home without a concoction of this. Depending on its strength it will slay dragons and ants (must have dragons if we mention legends)!

The brew I use at the moment is very effective and goes like this:

• 2-3 garlic bulbs (about 6-10 cloves per bulb)
• 6 large or 12 smaller hot chilli peppers (any variety will do, or if unavailable try 1-2 tablespoon hot chilli powder)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3 squirts of liquid detergent (approximately 1 dessertspoonful)
• 7 cups water. (Use about 2-3 cups in the blender, and top up with the rest later)

Put the whole lot into a blender and vitamize well, then strain through muslin, a coffee filter or similar. Pour what you need into a spray bottle for use and keep the rest in jars with lids on in a cupboard or on a shelf somewhere, well labeled.

Experiment with it if necessary and check for results or any damage to young plants. If it fixes the problem and your plants are happy, you’ve got the perfect mix, but if there’s still a few biggie pests, albeit struggling, then lower the water dilution rate or change the ingredient quantities slightly.

Lovely garlicky, pongy stuff, but the smell dissipates quickly once it’s been sprayed around. This garlic fire mixture needs to be re-sprayed frequently, such as after rain and dew. It’s best to spray every few days until there’s no sign of pests, then about every week to 10 days for any eggs or larvae that may have hatched out.

Uses for this natural garden pest control are unlimited. Because it has oil and dishwashing liquid in it, it sticks to plants as well as suffocating pests such as scale and mealy bug. It will kill ants, aphids, caterpillars, grubs, bugs and just about anything small. SO BE VERY SELECTIVE — MIND THE LADYBUGS, LACEWINGS, BEES AND OTHER BENEFICIAL FRIENDS.

Spraying this mixture around the edge of your garden will deter pets. Rabbits, gophers, woodchucks and other garden gate crashers will also be discouraged.

Here’s another version, if you don’t have a blender (really!). Put a whole garlic bulb through a garlic press and let it sit in a glass jar with several ounces of mineral or salad oil. Mix a few spoonfuls with dishwashing liquid, hot pepper sauce and water in a spray bottle.

You can make a pure smothering oily mixture. Blend together ½ cup of liquid or grated pure soap in 1 cup of vegetable oil. Any cheap salad oil from supermarket is fine. Use a blender or beat by hand and it will become a thick white consistency. To use, mix 1 tablespoon with 1 litre of warm water and spray every bit of plant where you find the pests you’re after.

Fish Fertiliser is another useful jack-of-all trades deterrent for unwanteds, such as mites, caterpillars and even nematodes. It seems some gardeners, orchardists and farmers noticed that when they sprayed their plants with fish fertiliser, the pests held their noses, packed up and left, spreading the word as they did so.

Exactly why it works is not yet clear but there are a couple of possibilities:

Firstly, because fish fertiliser is oily, this smothers nematodes and mites.

Secondly butterflies and moths find their host plants by their acute sense of smell. So they are not going to hang around breeding caterpillars when the smell of cauliflowers or apples is masked by fish!

Be considerate of your neighbours though, as they might not like the fishy aroma that lingers around for a day or so

Yet another great share from our friends at Homestead Survival

Wrap a headband light around a milk or juice jug full of water and voila! Instant ambient light for a tent, patio, blackout, whatever!

Add a quick an easy potato garden anywhere! I plan to grow mine in the greenhouse as well as a strip alongside. The plans for the greenhouse potatoes will be explained in a later post.

In theory you can do this on any surface including concrete, gravel, fill, roof…

To grow potatoes on an area there are just a few steps. The coolest part of this is the lack of digging required.

What you need:

Bags of soil, compost, or manure (any combination)
A bale or two of straw
A stack of old newspapers or carboard boxes
Seed potatoes
A little free time

Spread a layer of brown over the area. This can be compost, manure, or soil. You can add blood & bone too. It doesn’t have to be a thick layer. The thickest layer of this project should be the straw.

Cover the area with newsprint. Make it as thick as you like. Cardboard boxes work too. Saturate the paper with water. This keeps it from blowing away and starts the decomposition process.

Place your seed potatoes on the paper in neat (or not so neat ) rows.

Pile loose straw over the area, covering the potatoes. Put it on nice and thick. Add more manure/compost/soil (kind of sprinkle it instead over creating a new layer).

I will be adding some sawdust too to keep out the light. Potatoes + Light = Bad.

Saturate the plot. You can’t overwater at this point. As for the continued watering after this point there is some conflict of opinion. Some say you shouldn’t have to water at all. But I think these are places where regular rain is expected. Given last summer here in Winnipeg was so hot and dry you may need to moisten things a bit. Use your judgement.

Sit back and watch your potatoes grow. When it comes time to harvest simply get on your knees and start tossing straw

The great thing about the straw plot is you can plant it again next year, adding some new layers, spread it around, scoop it into your compost, or leave it where it is (maybe till it in) to form a conventional soil garden.

Directions For Preparation and Use of Sea Salt and Essential Oil Bath Salts

Place the sea salt in a glass or stainless steel bowl and thoroughly whisk with a stainless steel whisk to evenly blend. Do not use plastic or wooden utensils! To grind dried flower petals, green tea, etc. place in a coffee grinder and pulse until a fine powder before blending with the sea salt and essential oils. Keep tightly sealed in a glass or ceramic jar until ready to use. Store in a cool dark place. To use, pour 1/4 cup of the bath salts into the tub or place in a special aromatic showerhead. Each bath salt recipe yields 2 to 4 baths and takes approximately 5 minutes to prepare.

Calming Bath Salts

Ingredients

1/2 cup Sea Salt
6 drops pure essential lavender oil
6 drops pure essential geranium oil
6 drops pure essential rose oil
2 drops pure essential rosewood oil

Centering and Balancing Bath Salt

Ingredients

1/2 cup Sea Salt
6 drops pure essential geranium oil
4 drops pure essential rosemary oil
6 drops pure essential rosewood oil

Earthy Bath Salt

Ingredients

1/2 cup Sea Salt
14 drops pure essential patchouli oil
6 drops pure essential sandalwood oil
4 drops pure essential cedar wood oil

Energizing Citrus Bath Salt

Ingredients

1/2 cup Sea Salt
8 drops pure essential sweet orange oil
4 drops pure essential lemon oil
6 drops pure essential tangerine oil
4 drops pure essential grapefruit oil

Rose Petal Geranium Bath Salts

Ingredients

1 cup any Sea Salt
2 Tablespoons finely ground dried rose petals
12 drops pure essential geranium oil
6 drops pure essential rose otto oil

Lavender & Lavender Petal Bath Salts

Ingredients

1 cup any Sea Salt
10 drops pure essential lavender vera or lavender augustifolia oil
2 Tablespoons finely ground dried lavender petals

Lavender and Tea Tree Oil Bath Salt

Ingredients

1/2 cup Sea Salt
10 drops pure essential lavender oil
10 drops pure essential tree tea oil

Lavender Green Tea Bath Salts

Ingredients

1 cup any Sea Salt
2 Tablespoons finely ground Eden Organic Sencha Green Tea (loose leaf)
15 drops pure essential lavender vera or lavender augustifolia oil

Lavender Bath Salt

Ingredients

1/2 cup Sea Salt
22 drops pure essential lavender oil

Peaceful Bath Salt

Ingredients

1/2 cup Sea Salt
6 drops pure essential jasmine oil
6 drops pure essential ylang ylang oil
6 drops pure essential rose oil

Relax and Renew Bath Salt

Ingredients

1/2 cup Sea Salt
8 drops pure essential jasmine oil
4 drops pure essential ylang ylang oil
4 drops pure essential sandalwood oil

Relaxing and Warming Bath Salt

Ingredients

1/2 cup Sea Salt
6 drops pure essential tangerine oil
4 drops pure essential ginger oil
4 drops pure essential cinnamon leaf oil
6 drops pure essential clove bud oil
2 drops pure essential lavender oil

Rosemary and Cranberry Bath Salt

Ingredients

1/2 cup Sea Salt
6 drops pure essential rosemary oil
18 drops pure essential cranberry oil

Stimulating Bath Salt

Ingredients

1/2 cup Sea Salt
6 drops pure essential sandalwood oil
6 drops pure essential patchouli oil
6 drops pure essential ylang ylang oil

Uplifting Bath Salt

Ingredients

1/2 cup Sea Salt
8 drops pure essential lavender oil
4 drops pure essential rosemary oil
4 drops pure essential geranium oil
6 drops pure essential lemon oil