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Organic gardening tips
and resources
 Growing garden
vegetables and fruits organically is the safest and healthiest
choice for community gardeners. Practicing organic gardening methods
involves a commitment to learning about and understanding the
relationship between soil, plants, weather, and insects. Organic gardening centers on stewardship and managing
your garden for long
term results, rather than short term success fueled by chemical inputs.
This
involves working with nature by devoting time to building healthy soil,
planting a diversity of crops, and carefully observing the life cycles
of plants and insects.
The community side
of organic gardening
 In a
garden, community starts with the earthworms, bacteria, and fungi that
inhabit the soil and support plant life. Gardeners can help to
replenish the soil community through composting, mulching, and cover
cropping. Plants and animals living in a garden also form a community.
Bees and butterflies transfer pollen between flowers, enabling zucchini
and cucumbers to produce so abundantly,
while amphibians consume slugs, snails, and insects.
Because of their permeable skin, frogs and toads can be easily killed
by
chemical pesticides and fertilizers—yet another good reason to reduce
the use of these products.
For millennia, human beings have cultivated gardens organically to
nurture and sustain communities. When gardens are woven into the fabric
of a town or city, people of all ages are strengthened by their
relationship with the soil, plants, and organisms that make life
possible. While chemical fertilizers can cause rapid plant growth,
crops grown organically in healthy soil tend to have
more flavor and a higher concentration of nutrients.
Here's
what you can do to go organic:
- Use environmentally
friendly
materials in your garden. Click on reuse and
recycle tips for garden ideas.
- Buy organically
grown
seeds, and
learn how to save and use your own seeds the next season. A great
source for organically grown seeds is High Mowing Seeds, a
Vermont company which offers high quality vegetable, herb, and flower
seeds for home gardeners and commercial growers.
- Instead of frequent
watering, build organic matter in your soil by adding compost each
spring and fall, by mulching beds with hay, straw, or grass clippings,
and by cover cropping fallow areas of the garden. Harvest
rainwater and use compost teas where possible in your garden, rather
than chlorinated tap water.
- Avoid using bark mulch,
sawdust, or
woodchips as mulch in a vegetable
garden as these mulches tend to bind nitrogen from the soil. Apply
grass, hay, or straw mulch in early summer after weeding your garden
thoroughly and when
the soil is moist following a steady rain.
- Practice organic
pest
control. To prevent pests from overwintering in your garden, remove and
compost dead plants as the season progresses. If plants are diseased,
remove them from the garden site.
ORGANIC
PEST CONTROL
Topics include:
There are many
ways
to control garden pests naturally, without using synthetic
chemicals. From where and what you plant, to homemade sprays and
beer traps, organic pest control is easy and practical. Not only
will you save money on expensive pesticides, but you can eat your
produce in confidence, knowing that it is free of potentially harmful
chemicals. Keep in mind, though, that many of these solutions are
not completely species specific, and if overused you could damage your
plants and kill
beneficial insects.
Homemade Remedies
These
solutions
can be made up in your kitchen out of inexpensive everyday
supplies. Try a few versions and see what you like best!
Solutions containing the following plants are popular: members of the
allium family (onion, garlic, chives), hot peppers (jalapeno, cayenne),
and herbs (basil, coriander, wormwood, peppermint). These sprays can
successfully repel a wide range of insects.
Soapy
water sprays
can be quite effective against aphids and spider mites. When using any
of these sprays, wet both sides of the leaves and repeat after a rain
or as often as necessary.Flour
and salt can
also be used to repel pests. Use them as a dust to suffocate or
dehydrate many kinds of caterpillars. Wood ashes sprinkled around the
base of plants also discourages cutworm attack.
| Homemade
Soap
Sprays .
Soap is a deterrent to soft-bodied
insects such as aphids. It disrupts insects’ cell membranes, and kills
pests by dehydration. To make a soap spray, dissolve 3 tablespoons of
soap
flakes or liquid soap (not detergent) in a gallon of water and spray on
plants. |
 |
| Herbal
Insect
Repellent .
Gather leaves from tansy, lavender, and sage, which have strong insect
repelling qualities. You'll need an ounce of leaves from each plant.
Place the herbs in a 1-quart jar and fill it
with boiling water. Let it set until it cools. Or make an infusion
by steeping the herbs in a jar of water placed in a sunny outdoor spot.
Drain off the liquid and set this solution aside. Dissolve 1 teaspoon
of soap flakes in 2 cups of water. Add 1/8 cup of the herb solution and
mix well. Use a sprayer to coat all plant parts with the bug
repellent. |
 |
Hot and
Spicy Spray
. Some
gardeners combine hot peppers and garlic in a soapy solution. Puree two
hot peppers and two cloves of garlic in a blender. Add 3 cups of water
and 2 tablespoons of biodegradable liquid
soap. Strain and fill a spray bottle with the solution. |
| Bug
Juice .
Although it seems a bit macabre, consider using bug juice to fight
pests. Collect at least 1/2 cup of pesky insects and
place them in an old blender with enough water to make a thick
solution. Blend on high and strain out the pulp using cheesecloth or a
fine sieve. Dilute at a rate of 1/4 cup bug juice to 1 cup
of water, pour into a spray bottle, and apply to plants. (Some
scientists believe that pheromones from the blended insects send
a warning to their living relatives!) (from
www.kidsgardening.com/growingideas/Sept_01/7organic.htm |
Beneficial
Insects
Beneficial insects
feed on the insect pests in your garden. Beneficial insects will
frequent your garden if you plant natives and other desirable plants in
the garden and around the periphery. When
the following
plants are allowed to bloom, they attract beneficial insects with their
nectar and pollen:
- Parsley
family
(parsley,
fennel, coriander, dill and chervil)
- Sunflower
family
(sunflowers,
daisies, asters and cosmos)
- Sweet
allysum
- Native
buckwheat
- Baby blue
eyes
- Tidy
tips
|
 |
 |
Beneficial
insects can also be purchased and added to your garden:
- Beneficial
Nematodes for
cutworms, weevils, grubs and fungus gnat larvae
- Green
Lacewings for
aphids,
mealybugs, scale, mite and thrips
- Thrichogramma
for
moths and
caterpillars
- Ladybugs for
aphids, mealybugs,
scale and leaf hoppers
|
Companion Planting
Many
plants have
natural defenses that make pests want to keep their distance.
Plan your garden layout so that plants with pest-repellant qualities
are next to more susceptible plants. Use this chart as
a guide:
| PEST |
PLANT
REPELLENT |
| Ant |
Mint,
tansy,
pennyroyal |
| Aphids |
Mint,
garlic,
chives, coriander, anise |
| Bean
Leaf Beetle |
Potato,
onion,
turnip |
| Codling
Moth |
Common
oleander |
| Colorado
Potato
Bug |
Green
beans,
coriander, nasturtium |
| Cucumber
Beetle |
Radish,
tansy |
| Flea
Beetle |
Garlic,
onion,
mint |
| Imported
Cabbage
Worm |
Mint,
sage,
rosemary, hyssop |
| Japanese
Beetle |
Garlic,
larkspur,
tansy, rue, geranium |
| Leaf
Hopper |
Geranium,
petunia |
| Mexican
Bean
Beetle |
Potato,
onion,
garlic, radish, petunia, marigolds |
| Mice |
Onion |
| Root
Knot
Nematodes |
French
marigolds |
| Slugs |
Prostrate
rosemary, wormwood |
| Spider
Mites |
Onion,
garlic,
cloves, chives |
| Squash
Bug |
Radish,
marigolds, tansy, nasturtium |
| Stink
Bug |
Radish |
| Thrips |
Marigolds |
| Tomato
Hornworm |
Marigolds,
sage,
borage |
| Whitefly |
Marigolds,
nasturtium |
Barriers and Traps
Barriers
are simple to use, and many are easy to make yourself. Cutworm collars
are an effective physical barrier to prevent cutworms from girdling
transplants of tomatoes, cabbage family members, peppers, and vine
crops. Simply cut out a 1-1/2" strip of newspaper and place it 2 inches
from the stem, anchoring it into the soil around transplants. When the
cutworms emerge at night, they will run into the collar rather than
girdling the new plant.
Row
covers
can hinder flying insects (such as cabbage moths
and leaf miners) that would like to lay their eggs on your
plants. Cover your seedlings before the insects emerge and
fasten the sides securely. Check under the covers periodically for
insects..  Remove the covers,
if necessary, for pollination and then replace them again. In very warm
climates, you may need to remove the covers if the temperature
underneath gets too warm for your plants. When using row covers,
it helps to
know a bit about the life cycle of the pest you're trying to control.
If insects overwinter in the soil, you may actually be trapping
the emerging larvae underneath the covers. In this case, cultivate the
soil before planting to expose insects to birds and other
predators.
Traps can attract insects by using
color, taste, and sex hormones.
For example, yellow sticky traps will lure aphids, Whitefly,
thrips, and leaf miners. Slugs will drown in a shallow saucer of stale
beer if placed in the garden.
Japanese beetle traps commonly use sex hormones and floral lures
to attract the adult insects to them.
Bacillus
Thuringiensis
Bacillus
thuringiensis (Bt) is a naturally occurring, soil borne organism that
has gained recent popularity for its ability to control certain insect
pests in a natural, environmentally friendly manner. Bacterial agents,
like Bt, are effective in controlling insects in the larva stage only.
The larva stage in an insect's life cycle is the stage during which
most of the feeding occurs. Since, Bt must be ingested to work, the
insect must be controlled during the larval stage (in which the insect
appears worm or caterpillar-like).
The Bt
is applied
to the foliage of plants infested with a leaf or needle eating larva.
If possible, apply the Bt to the underside of the leaf surface, as most
larva feed from the underside of leaves and Bt is broken down quickly
in sunlight.
There
are
different strains or varieties of Bt available that have been selected
for the control of specific insects. Bt variety kurstaki (BTK) controls
the European corn borer, tomato hornworms, fruitworms, cabbageworm,
cabbage looper, spring and fall cankerworm, spruce budworm, and other
caterpillar-like larvae. Bt variety san diego (BTSD) controls early
larvae of the Colorado potato beetle. Bt variety
israelensis (BTI) controls mosquitoes, black flies and fungus
gnats.
 Common pests
Flea
Beetles,
Cabbage Butterflies, Colorado Potato Beetles, Striped Cucumber Beetles,
Squash Beetle, Mexican Bean Beetles, European Beetles, and Leaf Miners
are some of the most common pests frequenting community, school, and
neighborhood gardens in Vermont.
Rotenone and Pyrethrium (available as a concentrate or dust) are
botanical insecticides that are effective against adult beetles and
leaf miners. Pyola (which is pyrethrium dissolved in canola oil) is an
effective ovicide for the eggs of beetles and the very young larvae. BT
(Bacillus thurigensis) is a bacteria that is effective against the
larvae of cabbage butterflies.For potato
beetles, hand pick adults and/or apply rotenone/pyrethrium at the first
sign of adult beetles,
and until the plants are well along in their growth. If larvae hatch,
BT (variety san diego) can be applied. Hand picking of larvae is
also effective if done on a regular basis. For Mexican Bean Beetle, Bio
Neem can be an effective deterrant that interrupts the life cycle of
the larvae.
More Information
Here are some other
helpful web
sites: |
 |
Northeast
Organic Farming Association of Vermont
Provides information, resources, workshops, conferences, and links for
organic gardeners and homesteaders
http://www.extremelygreen.com/pestcontrolguide.cfm
Gives a great list of
garden
pests (along
with an identification key) and beneficial insect and organic solutions
to keep them out of your garden.
http://www.ghorganics.com/Page44.html
Includes a chart of pests
and
natural
pesticides with will work on them.
http://www.gardeners.com/gardening/content.asp?copy_id=5288
“How to tell the
good
bugs from the
bad” – a good identification guide.
http://www.cdcg.org/pests.html
Provides a few more
homemade
solutions and spray recipes.
http://eartheasy.com/grow_nat_pest_cntrl.htm
A complete source for
natural
garden pest
control, including: prevention, beneficial insects, homemade remedies,
insecticides, traps, and deer control.
Guide to lake
friendly lawn care
published by Friends of Burlington Gardens & the UVM Sea Grant
Program
|
