Every green thumb in Canada imagines a glorious world of gardening where pests don’t pester and dogs don’t dig. Plants flourish because nothing is eating them — and not because they have been sprayed with harmful pesticides, which are not only dangerous to the pests they target, but detrimental to human health as well. A balanced, healthy garden is achievable without commercial chemicals — we just have to dig a little deeper for the solutions to common pest problems.
Lynn Bishop, project manager at Everdale Organic Farm and Learning Centre in Hillsburgh, Ont., offers a few tips on how to organically pest-proof any garden. Each solution is not only environmentally friendly, but easy on the wallet, too.
1. Keep friendly plants together
Bishop suggests “lots of garlic” to make companion planting work. The strong scent will prevent some insects from finding their favourite host plants. This also works with onions — but be careful not to completely overpower your garden, because this can deter helpful insects too. [more...]
