==== ==== Please check out The Organic Gardening Academy for great tips on Gardening Organically. www.bestorganicgardeningpractices.com ==== ====
Edible Garden Organic Bug Killer - Do you need one? First thing to consider is, are the bugs in your garden a pest? Does the plant appear to be dying? Is the fruit or flower of the plant affected? Is the plant still growing? There are many bugs that actually help in the edible garden. If you do decide you need to take action, then you may kill helpful bugs, as well as the ones doing harm to your garden. You should take several days to monitor the affected plants. There are some simple and safe tips that will maintain the edible garden, First you must work out which bugs are affecting your plants. You must establish which bugs you need to target, there may be plants which deter the bugs or that a predator of the bug may like to live in. Bugs do not like garlic and chillies; you can make your own spray by grinding these down and adding water. Keep the concentration low to avoid leaf burn. This is a great method for the edible gardener that wants to avoid using insecticides. However the smell of the garlic is not to everyone's taste. Plants that are properly watered and fertilized are more resistant to pests. Do not use your own seeds if the plant that they came from had some disease, it is best to buy new seeds from a seed supplier each year. Water your plants in the morning to prevent disease; you may get fungal trouble if you water at night. Changing the layout of your edible garden each year will help to eliminate some soil born disease. This is called crop rotation. Some crops take more from the soil than others; some crops also add nutrients to the soil. It is important to reduce the places in which the pests may live such as debris piles and weeds. Barriers around the plants can be affective against some bugs like grubs, wireworms and cutworms. Predators in the edible garden include spiders, ladybirds, lacewings, praying mantis and ground beetles. Some common pests in the garden.