Household Remedies for Garden Nightmares

If you've ever had a garden you know the joys of creating beautiful designs, nurturing your favorite plants and watching them bloom all around you. But, what about the problems that arise with gardens? How do you fix them? This article will take an in-depth look on how to deal with common garden nightmares using everyday household items.

Garden Remedies: Ants

There are several things that make us cringe when we've spent so much time making our gardens beautiful. Ants are one of those things. The ant eats leaves from your garden and carries them back to their nest. If they find that they have easy access to your garden they will continue coming to your garden as often as they can. The damage that ants can do is enormous. Instead of letting these bugs mutilate your garden try sprinkling a little bit of baking soda on the ground where the ants have been demolishing your plants. It might take a few days but they will eventually disappear because baking soda is highly poisonous to them.

By pouring dry cream of wheat on anthills you can kill the colony. As the ant eats these little grains it will expand in their stomach and cause them to explode. Peppermint leaves are also a natural ant repellant . By growing peppermint in your garden you can discourage them form coming around it at all. This is especially good if you have ants that come into your home. By plucking a few leaves and placing them in problem areas, the little insects will find somewhere else to live.

Garden Remedies: Aphids

These little insects can be a nightmare by themselves. I'm sure you all have experienced the rose bush scenario. You fertilize, you nurture, you cut them back, and keep it well watered all to get the prettiest, largest blossoms come spring. But aphids have a different design. After you go through all that work and you see all the big beautiful buds sprouting to find that they are covered in aphids, and these little menaces are feasting upon your newly formed buds.

Lemons are pretty inexpensive, and are free if you have a lemon tree in your garden, and can kill these pests rather quickly. Lemons contain lemon oil in the rind and in every drop of juice. Within this oil is limonoids. By taking a cheap, clean spray bottle and squeezing one lemon's juice into the container and filling the rest with water, you can spray directly on the rose buds or wherever these irritating little pests are and it will kill them if not on contact then shortly after.

Another thing you need to remember about this insect...If you have them, chances are you will get an ant problem. Aphids secrete a sweet liquid from their bodies that is referred to as honeydew, this is a favorite taste to ants.

Garden Remedies: Gnats and Mosquitoes

Gnats are extremely annoying and can cause a bit of damage to your garden. However, before you go out to tend to your garden in the evenings when gnats are at their worst, simply rub a little bit of baby oil or vapo rub on any skin that is exposed. The vapo rub works great in repelling the mosquitoes especially. This will keep them off of you but what about your plants? You can make sticky "fly paper" by using a paper grocery bag cut into small strips and placing 100% pure honey on it. Then, hang these tacky little things discreetly between, above, or behind the plants in your garden with the most trouble.

Invest in some lemon liquid dishwashing soap if you have a problem with mosquitoes in your garden. By placing a bowl of water out of sight and squirting a generous amount of this lemon soap into the water you will attract many of these disease carrying pests to their death. They love the smell but will get trapped in the stickiness of the soap.

Garden Remedies: Rodents

These hairy little varmints can cause quite a bit of trouble in your garden. If you find yourself dealing with them, then rest assured there is hope. Classic Bounce fabric softener (sheets) contain an oleander fragrance which is a natural rodent repellent.

Another great trick is castor oil. By taking an empty milk jug and putting a cup of castor oil mixed with just over a half of the jug of water you can water your plants thoroughly with it. The castor oil enriches the soil, nourishes the roots, and repels rodents all in the same token. This is especially great on veggie gardens.

If you have gopher, ground hog or mole holes in your garden, you need to know someone with a cat. If you have a cat, you're in luck. The predator that hunts down and kills these varmints is the cat. By placing scoopfuls of used kitty litter in every hole you find you will keep your garden free of these types of pests. I know this seems nasty but the litter must be used.

Garden Remedies: Slugs and Snails

These nasty little critters can be damaging to your garden. But, not to worry, they are easily rid of without buying highly toxic chemicals at the store. By sprinkling a healthy amount of salt on your garden floor you will spread the word fast through their slimy community that your garden is off limits.

If you don't want to use salt, you can use an old pie tin filled with beer and place it in your garden. By keeping it out of sight, the beer will draw in and attract any snails and slugs that may be hiding by day and eating by night. Once they get into the liquid, the alcohol will destroy them. Refresh it every other day.

Garden Remedies: Wasps

Wasps are an irritating, and to some, a dangerous pest to have in your garden. You can handle this in a variety of ways. For instance, hanging a half empty can of beer in the area where your wasps are used to hanging out you will notice that it is a one way trip into this tiny little bar. They fly in, they drink, they get drunk, they drown. End of story!

Another trick you may want to try is using heavy corn syrup on pieces of card board or paper grocery bags and hanging them in your problem areas. The corn syrup has such a sweet, delightful aroma that it will attract them and while eating they will get stuck and die.

Garden Remedies: Wake up from your Nightmare

I hope this has shed a little light on the subject of gardening. By using these household remedies you can keep your garden healthy and beautiful all year long. These are fairly inexpensive, and in most cases we have these items already in the house. Get out there and take charge...Happy gardening!