Organic Pest Control

When it comes to green gardening and being organic, many are suddenly faced with a problem - how to get rid of those garden pests in an ecologically sound way. Taking the organic route means no pesticides, no insecticides, no round-up, no weed killer, no nothing. It's all down to natural methods, which can take longer, are more labour intensive and often cause the question "why?" as you try the third attempt at killing off a particularly large army of blackfly. But it doesn't have to be this way and a few simple ideas and alterations to your gardening life can prove that nature really does have a way, with your helping hand of course.

When it comes to aphids, those nasty little sucking warriors, fairy liquid or a washing up alternative is by far the best antidote. It may not be truly organic but it beats spraying plants with an insecticide which will kill every living insect in the area, even the good ones. A mist sprayer is an ideal receptacle for the liquid, allowing you to keep it on hand and spray the little blighters whenever you see a new colony sprout up. Alternatively you can simply use your fingers and squash heavy concentrations. Encouraging lady birds, lacewings and an assortment of other aphid snacking species into the garden is also a good idea. The lack of insecticide use in the garden will soon have these natural predators flocking in, so you shouldn't have to do much more than squash the most over zealous colony or two.

Possibly the most hated pests are those that attack in the depth of the moist night, destroying vegetables, bedding plants, and hosta's to name but a few of their favourite dishes. Though widely available, slug and snail pellets don't work that effectively, and you still need to continuously cull numbers as if you were using other, natural and organic means. Ideally try to eradicate or at least lessen population numbers, as simply protecting plants will only mean more destruction when your defences are down. Beer traps are a minimal labour method and all that is required is a small pot, some cheap lager and an old broken pot or slate. Sink the pot into the ground near particular plants you want to protect, fill with booze and cover with the broken pot, allowing enough of a gap for snails and slugs to slime their way through. Morning investigations should reveal an assortment of drunk, dead pests which can be thrown out and the beer replaced for the next night. Though this method works well, it does require constant supplies of beer and throwing away of rather disgusting morning mixtures. A far better way is to wait until dark, arm yourself with a torch and plastic bag and literally go through the garden picking the critters up. You can then either tie the bag up and discard, or, a preferable method, recycle them by feeding to your chickens.

Of course, you'll never totally vanquish every nasty from the garden, but the question is, do you really want to? Leaving a few caterpillars nibbling here and there encourages birds, who'll quickly snap them up to feed to hungry nestlings. Ladybird and lacewing friends will continue to gobble aphids, whilst you may even find hedgehogs and frogs snacking on snails. The living garden is organic, full of bustling activity, do you really want to have the perfect petunia surrounded by a chemically sprayed dead and barren landscape?