Salca eNews!

1. Plant the right crops at the right spots. If your veggie thrives in a well-drained area, don’t situate your garden bed in an area that puddles up when it rains--you’ll be setting yourself up for weak plants more suceptible to disease. If you notice one of your plants is diseased and isn’t easily nursed back to health, you might want to get rid of it before spreads to healthier plants.
2. Cover them up. Floating row covers, which you can buy at most garden supply stores or even online, keep pests, particularly virus-carrying aphids, off your crops while still allowing most of the sunlight to seep in. You can generally use them until temperatures are consistantly above 80 degrees.
3. Plant for protection. Don’t just plant the garden staples, like tomatoes, potatoes, and cabbage. Mix in flowers like marigolds (their roots put off chemicals that keep some pests away), and herbs like dill, whose blooms attracts predatory insects that will devour garden pests. Catnip deters flea beatles, thyme scares away cabbage worms, and mint keeps white cabbage moths away. There are many other combinations that work. Look up companion planting in your favorite gardening book, or visit Organicgardening.com for more free tips.
4. Take matters into your own hands. Some bugs you can simply pick off your plants by hand, and other times, you can blast them off with a strong stream of water from the garden hose. Some gardeners like to use BT, or Bacillus thuringiensis, bacteria to kill certain leaf-eating insect larvae. It is nontoxic to mammals and won’t hurt beneficial insects, but you need to be sure of the pest you’re targeting before you select the specific strain of BT that will kill it. To target aphids, mites, and similar pests, you can make an insecticidal soap by mixing 1-3 teaspoons of mild, unscented soap to a gallon of water, and spray the solution on the bugs every 2 or 3 days for 2 weeks straight.
5. Tamp down weeds. If weeds are what you’re out to conquer, look no further than organic mulches. Place compost, grass, clippings, or shredded bark over shredded newspaper or pieces of cardboard to keep weeds down in selected areas of the garden, particularly the walking paths in between rows. You can also use corn gluten meal, a by-product of corn production, can stop seed germination in weeds if applied before the weeds go beyond the sprout stage. And, of course, you can do some good old-fashioned weed pulling from time to time, too!
6. Protect yourself. Certain pests, specifically ticks, are out to get you when you’re gardening. Since many (by some estimates, up to 50 percent) of deer ticks in the area carry Lyme disease, you should take preventive measures to avoid getting bitten. Wear light-colored clothing so you can spot a tick, which in certain stages can be as small as a poppy seed. DEET and other chemicals are often recommended for protection, but these can also be harmful to our health and the health of the environment. If you use these products, strictly follow the directions and don’t over apply. Keys, a Maryland company, offers natural insect repellant online, and claims the neem oil scares away ticks. If you’re looking for some action in your yard and you have the space, consider getting a few guinea hens, known as voracious tick eaters. Chickens also peck away at ticks. Some research has also suggested the American beauty berry bush repels ticks, so planting a few in your area couldn’t hurt.
~~ Leah Zerbe is a Rodale online editor.
Get lots of great info by visiting the Rodale website.