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Homemade Pest Barriers for Your Vegetable Garden

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One of the most satisfying and relaxing hobbies is gardening. Growing your own vegetables offers a lot of benefits. For one, you’re almost always assured of healthy food. This is especially true if you’re using organic methods in caring for your crops. Two, owning your own vegetable garden also allows you to save money. After all, you won’t have to purchase vegetables from your local grocery store, since you can simply pick them from your own garden. Three, gardening is a great way to boost your mood. The repetitive task can help reduce your stress, and when you see your vegetable garden flourishing, it can easily bring a smile to your face.

However, tending to your vegetable garden can also be a bit stressful. You have to protect it against the different weather conditions, and most importantly, you have to protect it against pests. If you don’t want to use pesticides, then here are some homemade pest barriers that you can do for your vegetable garden.

Homemade Plant Cover

Plant covers not only help retain the soil’s heat, but it can also help you a lot if you want to plant early. In addition to these, plant covers can also protect your plants from pestiferous insects as well as rodents.

In creating your own plant cover, all you will need are woven plastic and wooden frame. You can also make use of wire frame as well as muslin. Setting this up is easy if you have basic carpentry skills. You only have to build the frame and cover it with the muslin or the woven plastic. Once done, simply cover the plants you want protected and secure the entry points by placing weights over them. This can keep pestiferous pests and small rodents from damaging the plants.

Homemade Screen Cones

Cabbage is susceptible to maggots and other insect pests. If you want to protect the young plants from these pests, what you can do is to make homemade screen cones. These pest barriers work similarly to plant covers in such a way that you place the cone over the young plant, preventing pests from damaging the cabbage.

What you need are the same materials – a strip of wood and a woven plastic. Shape the woven plastic into a cone. See to it that it’s big enough to cover the plant without crowding it. Once done, secure the edges on the wood. You can simply pin the edges of the screen on the wood and secure it with small nails or staple it shut.

Screen cones can not only prevent maggots from chewing through the roots, but it can also prevent flies from laying their eggs on the plant. These eggs, when they hatch, become the maggots that attack the roots.

When to Call a Pest Control Company

These pest barrier methods are very effective in controlling the pest population in your vegetable garden. However, if these methods don’t work and your plants are unhealthy and/or dying, then maybe it’s time to call your local pest control company. Just see to it though that the company offers green services to get rid of insect pests, particularly since you don’t want toxic chemicals to contaminate your garden’s soil and plants.

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Jennifer Dallman contributes articles to a number of pest control blogs, including http://www.preventivepestcontrol.com/ Owning a vegetable garden is very rewarding, but if your garden is infested with pestiferous insects, then be sure to get rid of them the organic and safe way.

 






5 Changes That Will Help Your Garden Look Like A Forest

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Most people only own a small patch of land and they should treat it as their castle. It’s the only place in the world where you can do almost anything you want because you think it will look nice. When you come home from a hard day at the office you want to appreciate what you have. Not have to keep looking at it and wishing things were different. Luckily it’s not too hard to make something look beautiful without spending all your money, especially if you don’t go crazy.

One place people seem to forget about is the garden. Everyone can walk through the forest and appreciate it because it all looks so tranquil. Why don’t you turn your garden into something that resembles a forest? Somewhere you will feel at one with nature when you step outside to sit in the sun. You won’t find swimming pools and climbing frames in the middle of the forest, but you will find other things so let’s take a look at what you’ll need.

Plant some trees

If you want your garden to look anything like a forest then you won’t get very far without trees. Unless you have a few years to sit around waiting you will need to buy ones that are already quite large. You’re not going to get full-size trees carried into your garden, but you can get some large enough that they actually look like something you might find in a forest. They’ll look much better in autumn when the leaves have fallen onto the ground and everything looks yellow-brown.

Make a little pond

When you’re walking through the forest it’s always nice to find a little lake or a river with some nice fresh water. You obviously won’t be able to create something on such a grand scale in the garden, but you can build a little pond and it will still attract wildlife. If you have children you should think carefully about where you’re going to put it. Don’t have it out of site so you can’t see it from your window, just in case an accident was to happen.

Hide the garden fence

Unless you go for walks in a different forest from me, you don’t see any fences laying around. It looks better and more real when you can’t see them, especially if they aren’t even wooden ones. They probably run all the way around your garden, so how will you get rid of them? You need to use plants and place them either directly in front of the fence, or use a species that will grow into the fence. This means they are completely out of view from the inside and you will forget you even have one.

Get rid of the grass

You do see grass in the forest, but it doesn’t exactly look like proper forest flooring. Something that will look great and give you the feeling of a forest is bark chipping. Just rip up your grass and buy enough bags of bark chipping from the garden center. Once they are lying down on the ground it will give the place a completely different look. If you don’t want to get rid of all your grass you could keep a patch that’s closer to the house. You don’t have to get rid of everything to make your garden look like a forest.

Attract the wildlife

You really need wildlife if your garden. The easiest way to do it is by leaving nuts and seeds out for them to eat. If they have a lovely person providing them with food and making their life easier you can be guaranteed they will stick around. Throw some nuts and seeds around the ground and also have some food plates that hang from the trees. Try to use wooden ones so it still feels like a forest.

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Steven White is a Nature lover and he tries to spread awareness among people to embrace nature through his blogs. He is also an active member of the nashville painters group.

How To Care For a Vandalized Garden

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Vandalism is difficult to prevent and control, most especially if your neighborhood is filled with youth looking for something naughty to do. Building walls, fences and public spaces are not the only places that can be vandalized because even gardens can be vandalized as well. Community gardens must be cared for by everyone in the community, most especially by those who live nearby and not just by the gardeners alone. Private gardens on the other hand, must constantly be populated and secured, but its beauty must also be shared by the community. Here are a few tips you use to help you care for your garden:

Always Maintain Your Garden

When your garden has been vandalized, you must not give up caring for it. It is important that you continue to care it regularly in order to bring it back to its original state. Spend some social time in your garden, talk to neighbors over the fence or hedge as you go about with your gardening tasks. You can also invite children who are interested in gardening to help you out.

Give Your Garden Sufficient Light

While gardens need sufficient light during the day, they also need sufficient light during the night for protection. Thought the sidewalk lamp may provide ample light for your garden, it is still essential that you have low voltage lights inside your garden. Not only will it keep vandals away, it can also help keep large pests away too.

Secure Your Garden

Locking your garden gates whenever you leave and even during the night is important. Sure, vandals may consider climbing your garden fence no matter how high they may be, but sometimes a locked garden discourages vandals from exerting too much effort just to have fun.

Plant Wisely

Visible plants, vegetables and even fruits that have attractive sizes and colors can tempt vandals to enter your garden. Plant your vegetables and fruits away from the pathway and other spaces in the garden that can be easily seen by passer-bys.

Celebrate Your Garden

Your garden may be your pride and joy, so why not share it with your neighbors and other community members? If your garden can hold quite a number of people, throw a simple garden party or potluck and invite some neighbors and their kids over. Make it a point to have youths invited as well because they are potential vandals in a community. You can also engage them in a gardening activity or just have some outdoor games.

Get Children Involved in Your Garden

If you have concern for your community, you can get the children help you beautify your garden. You can have them paint murals on your garden wall depicting the beauty of nature and its importance. When you get the young ones involved, they become concerned for your garden and even look out for it.

Have Troublemakers Pay The Consequences

It is understandable if you feel frustrated about having to repair or replace what has been damaged in the garden. This is why you can always get the vandals to pay the consequences by having them help you out each day in the garden and even chip in to cover any serious damages inflicted.

Valerie Clearwater is a freelance writer specializing in criminal law. She regularly contributes articles to legal websites where well experienced lawyers can be consulted about Massachusetts underage drinking and other offenses.

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