With summer finally here, you’re likely spending a lot more time outdoors, including in your garden. For true green thumbs, this is a great time of year – a time when you get to see your hard work of seasons’ past finally come to fruition as your plants and vegetables grow.
After all of that effort, it can be very annoying, and even upsetting, to see your garden destroyed by different vermin or pests. In some cases, it may be necessary to call in a professional. But luckily, there are still some things you can do to help prevent certain pests from ruining your garden so that you can continue to enjoy and maintain it. Below, find some of our top tips for keeping your garden pest-free.
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Certain Pests are Not Fans of Certain Plants
There are certain things you can plant to keep vermin away from your garden, that still look beautiful and add to the look of your landscaping. Here’s a short list of some of the best:
- Basil
- This herb has been known to keep away flies and mosquitoes
- Chrysanthemums
- Commonly known as “mums,” these plants release a natural chemical called pyrethrin, which repels small, pesky creatures including ticks, roaches, and fleas.
- Lavender
- In warmer climates, lavender has been known to repel scorpions, but it also keeps away moths, fleas, flies, and mosquitoes.
- Garlic
- This favoured cooking ingredient repels rabbits, who might enjoy chewing on other items you’ve planted, as well as maggots and certain types of tree borers.
- Lemongrass
- A proven enemy of mosquitoes.
- Petunias
- These beautiful flowers are great to look at, but they also keep away a whole host of bugs, including aphids, beetles, and leafhoppers. They’re also great to plant near tomatoes, as they keep away hornworms, which like to burrow into the fruit.
- Rosemary
- Slugs and snails, in particular, are not fans of rosemary, and neither are certain types of flies and beetles.
- Spearmint
- It has a super refreshing scent for humans, but spearmint has one of the longest lists of pest enemies, including fleas, ants, moths, beetles, aphids and even rodents.
This list is by no means exhaustive either. When deciding what to plant in your garden, whether it be for the appearance of your home, or for growing your own fruits and vegetables, you should also look up what kinds of pests tend to feed off of what you’re about to plant, and the kinds of other things you can grow in order to keep pests away from your harvest.
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Shed Some Light on the Situation
If your garden is near a wall, deck or fence, you would be wise to install a motion sensor light. A light will particularly scare off larger vermin, including raccoons, rabbits, and skunks – all creatures that like to go on nocturnal adventures while humans are asleep, to see what they can scavenge for food. Rather than staying up to shoo away these larger vermin, set up an automatic system that will do it for you while you’re trying to get a good night’s rest.
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Use Sprays With Ingredients that Pests Don’t Like
There are certain scents and substances that pests are not fans of, and we’re not just talking about pesticides. There are actually lots of organic options for things you can spray in and around your garden to keep away vermin. Here’s a quick list of options:
- Citrus Spray
- Skunks, in particular, do not like the smell or taste of citrus fruits. You can either leave lemon and orange peels in and around your garden, or you can put some lemon rind in boiling water, and spray the resulting substance onto your garden.
- Garlic Spray
- Here you’ll find a recipe for an effective spray that combines garlic, (some recipes say it should be soaked in olive oil overnight), with liquid soap and water. It keeps away aphids, ants, slugs, termites and more from your garden.
- Epsom Salt Spray
- This is one of the easiest mixtures you can make – simply add a few tablespoons of Epsom salts to a spray bottle filled with water, let the salt dissolve, and voila! You’ve got an effective guard against garden pests is said by some gardeners to be an instant pest killer.
- Hot Pepper Spray
- We all know what it feels like when we taste an unexpectedly hot pepper, and at some point, we’ve likely all made the mistake of touching our noses or eyes with fingers that just came into contact with a hot pepper – not a fun time. The same can be said for pests bothering your garden if they happen to encounter a spray made with hot peppers as a primary ingredient – it’s instantly effective in terms of sending vermin in the opposite direction.
- Use a Common Kitchen Item to Keep Animals and Insects Away
It may sound strange, but one of the most effective materials for keeping a wide range of unwelcome guests away from your garden is one that you already have in your kitchen – aluminum foil. Depending on how you use it, tinfoil can be used to repel all kinds of pests. What’s more, it’s been scientifically proven to keep away the kind of moisture that attracts slugs and other pests that might try to make a home in your garden and kill your plants.
Laid down under soil near plants you want to protect, it can scare away deer and rabbits who step on it and aren’t expecting the noise or the strange texture underneath their feet. Strips of tinfoil can also scare away birds who might be trying to swoop in and take some berries or other hanging fruit.
Call Us If You Need Help
Despite your best efforts, pests can sometimes get the better of us and our living spaces. In the event that home remedies just aren’t cutting it, you can always call our team at Pestend for insect and rodent removal services – we look forward to assisting you and making things right.