Organic Pest Control

Pest control is one of the places where organic gardening can actually be superior to chemical methods. Instead of using harsh pesticides to get rid of garden pests, it is often better and more effective to use beneficial insects to get rid of harmful ones. Harmful insects are often unable to compete once more beneficial insects have been brought in to the organic garden.One of the most common pests encountered by gardeners, and one of the biggest reasons they use chemical pesticides, is aphids. These common garden pests can be organically controlled by spraying the infested stems, leaves and buds with a diluted mixture of soapy water, then an application of fresh, clear water. This technique has been used by organic gardeners for many years, and it is effective even against heavy infections of aphids. By using organic methods you are not killing the beneficial insects as well, thereby leaving the beneficials to populate your yard and return year after year.

If you garden organically your yard will naturally attract the predators you need to take care of the pests you have.

If you use chemicals you will kill everything and will have to continue to use chemicals over and over. It becomes a never ending cycle of potential harm to you, your family, your pets, and the environment.

The earth can take care of itself if you let it. Where there is pest there is predator.

Happy gardening, organically!

Christy
Mother Earth's Farm

If a healthy soil is full of death, it is also full of life:
worms, fungi, microorganisms of all kinds ...
Given only the health of the soil,
nothing that dies is dead for very long.
- Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America, 1977

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"Teaming With Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web"

Sometimes scientists can talk over the layman's head and not even realize that the message is not being conveyed. This book is written in a very understandable language, that even a simple worm farmer like myself could understand and relate to. A must read for anyone who wants to learn more about the life producing your food.

Smart gardeners understand that soil is alive and what is in the soil is what supports plant life. Healthy soil is exploding with life - beyond the worms and insects we can see with the naked eye - there are a multitude of bacteria, fungi, and other microbial forms of life vital to the soil food web that sustains healthy plant life. Resorting to chemicals destroys this delicate balance and results in an unhealthy situation for the soil, the plants, and the environment. You can't destroy this balance and not have an affect on the people, the children, family and friends. As gardeners, farmers, and inhabitants of the Earth we have an obligation to the next generation to leave behind a healthy soil. Venture beyond your current understanding that good soil grows healthy plants and understand why...

This book is newly available and can be purchased by clicking on the buy from Amazon.com link above.

Learn the why and strengthen your resolve to garden organically.

Garden for your health and the health of the earth.

Christy