There’s nothing worse than planning and planting a garden full of hopes and dreams, only to have it overrun by various pests and plagues. Fortunately, by following nature's lead, there are many ways that we can avoid outbreaks of crop-ruining infestations. Looking at natural systems, we can see that plants exist in polycultures and don’t require anyone to go around spraying toxic chemicals or manually removing unwanted bugs by hand.
By following some basic principles, we can make sure we collaborate with nature as opposed to working against her. Read on to find out about some easy ways you can help take care of pests naturally and achieve the thriving, beautiful, ecologically diverse garden you’ve always dreamed of.
Key Takeaways
Grow Soil
Growing healthy soil is the most important thing you can do if you aim to grow a natural, organic garden. By growing healthy soil, you give plants the best chance to express themselves to their full potential. Focus on feeding your soil, and the soil will take care of the health of your plants.
By adopting a more holistic purview, we can see the garden as a single organism that functions through the cooperation of all its parts, as opposed to separate, isolated instances of plants and pests.
Let’s look at some of the ways that you can go about growing soil in your garden.
Compost
There are innumerable ways to make compost. Compost is simply decayed or decaying organic matter that is used to build and regenerate soil. Compost adds nutrients to your garden and also helps in retaining water. When plants can keep themselves healthy, it becomes very difficult for them to suffer attacks from disease or pests, as they have built strength and resilience from their surroundings.
Different types of compost made from different materials and different methods will provide a different array of microbes for the soil. By using different composts made from different methods, you can ensure that your soil has the widest range of life in it, making it strong, healthy and capable of growing resilient and bountiful plants.
Generally speaking, good compost needs a balance of green and browns, (carbon and nitrogen,) Annuals tend to prefer a bacterial-dominant compost which will have been made with a greater amount of greens, whereas trees require a fungal-based compost, which is made from more carbon-based compost. However, the wider the spectrum of microbes you can feed your plants, the better off they’ll be!
Companion Planting And Intercropping
Companion planting involves planting numerous plants together that can work in harmony; each providing a different function for the other.
Examples include things like basil or marigolds close to tomatoes, broccoli with nasturtiums, dill, or chamomile.
Hot peppers work well planted with many different plants because capsaicin serves as a deterrent for many insects.
Companion planting is a dynamic living process, and many factors can affect its efficacy. These are just the tip of the iceberg!
Perhaps one of the most famous companion planting systems is what is known as the Three Sisters.
The three sisters are responsible for the proliferation of life in the land known nowadays as the Americas.
The Three Sisters are corn, beans and squash. Corn grows upright, providing a stake for the beans to grow up. The beans, in turn, being a legume, fix atmospheric nitrogen into the soil, making it available for the corn and the squash.
The squash acts as a ground cover, retaining moisture for the other two. When eaten together, the three sisters provide a complete diet. Strong-smelling perennial herbs or aromatic plants such as thyme, chives, lavender etc. are also useful in repelling pests.
Plant Densely in Mixed Beds
By simply planting a dense mix of plants together you can confuse pests that may be looking for something in particular. Monocultures are more susceptible to attacks than polycultures, as the vast array of scents, flowers, textures, colours, and shapes can throw insects off. They also provide a wider ecological habitat, which can provide a home for predator insects such as ladybirds which can eat unwanted insect visitors to your gardens.
In short, by mimicking natural systems and shying away as much as possible from single-species gardens, we can give our gardens the best chances of providing the ecological niches necessary to harbour predators of unwanted pests.
As Bill Mollinson, one of the founders of permaculture said, ‘You don’t have a slug problem, you have a duck deficiency.'
FINAL THOUGHTS
Taking care of pests naturally is done by creating, as best as you can, a healthy and fully functional ecosystem. This can be done by carefully observing the way natural systems work and emulating them in your garden.
Examples include but are not limited to building soil fertility with compost and mulch and making sure the soil is always covered and never exposed, to maximize the life in the soil. Companion planting can help confuse and distract pests by taking them off the scent of your precious crops.
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