07/02/2020 / By Zoey Sky
For a homesteader, a garden does more than add beauty to your property. When SHTF, your garden can provide fresh produce so you can keep your family healthy and well-fed.
But maintaining a garden means you also need to know natural and effective ways to protect your plants from garden pests. (h/t to BeansBulletsBandagesAndYou.com)
Pesticides are used to eliminate organisms that can invade or damage crops.
There are different kinds of pesticides, such as:
Ideally, pesticides should destroy its target pest without causing negative side effects to humans, other plants, animals and the environment.
But while some commonly used pesticides come close, they are far from perfect. Using pesticides in your home garden can still negatively affect your health and the environment, which you may not want to risk when SHTF.
Synthetic pesticides are created in industrial labs while organic pesticides, or biopesticides, are made using naturally occurring chemicals.
Avoid using the classes of synthetic pesticides detailed below to keep your crops safe for human consumption and to avoid harming the environment.
Companion planting
Companion planting involves growing certain kinds of plants in your garden that offers benefit to your other crops. Some plants can keep out certain insects from your garden.
For example, marigolds and nasturtium help repel squash pest insects. Meanwhile, borage, which deters tomato hornworm and cabbage moth caterpillars, should be planted near strawberries and tomatoes.
Physical methods
Physical methods are cheaper than buying various products, but they often require more of your time and energy.
Try the recipe below to make a natural insect spray for your home garden.
Ingredients:
Steps:
For small applications, store the mixture in a sprayer bottle.
To cover larger areas, use tank sprayers that are pressurized by pumping air. Use a tank sprayer with a long wand attachment so you don’t hurt your back while spraying low plants.
You can tweak the homemade spray by using other ingredients you might have at home, like chopped hot pepper if you don’t have cayenne.
Replace the grated soap with liquid soaps or dish detergent. The soap helps the mixture to stick to the leaves since some plants wax their leaves to shed water and deter fungi, but this also sheds homemade insect spray without soap.
Use these natural methods to help your crops thrive and keep your home garden free from pests and harmful chemicals.
Sources include:
Tagged Under: companion planting, gardening, green living, home gardening, homesteading, natural insecticide, natural pest repellent, off grid, organic pest control, prepping, survival, urban gardening, urban prepping
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