NATURAL WAY TO RID YOUR GARDEN OF PESTS - OAKVILLE HOMES

If it’s not creepy, crawly insects using your garden as their own personal salad bar, it’s a fungus that quickly and quietly takes over your plants or weeds so determined to grow you can’t see what used to be behind them.

Garden pests come in a number of forms, but most aren’t difficult to get rid of. After all, you planted that garden, so you should be able to enjoy it to its fullest!

Carson Arthur, host of HGTV’s GreenForce and Global’s Room to Grow says there are a few natural home remedies that will help you get rid of pesky insects, weeds and fungi in your garden.

If you have: Creepy crawlers (aphids, earwigs, slugs)

Try: The garlic press system

This is Arthur’s remedy for most of the creepy crawlers you’ll find in your garden. He takes an old lemonade jug, adds five to six bulbs of garlic (about 40 cloves), mashes them up and then fills the container with water. He lets this brew in full sun for three to four days then strains out the pulp and adds the juice to a spray bottle, which he then uses on garden plants.

The potent smell will turn even the hungriest insects away. “But make sure you wear gloves and wash your hands well or else you’ll smell like you’ve been eating Italian food for three months!” says Arthur.

Don’t worry about wasting the rest of your concoction, either — you can spread the pulp around other plants to deter slugs, which particularly hate it.

If you have: Slugs

Try: Copper wire

A simple copper wire, which carries a natural current, can also help keep slugs away. Place the wire in a ring on the ground, around your hostas for example, and slugs will stay far, far away. Copper wire is available at hardware stores.

If you have: Weeds

Try: Boiling water or vinegar

“This is a grandmother tip,” says Arthur. “My grandmother used to just walk around with her kettle and pour boiling water on weeds.” No muss, no fuss — your weeds should just die back. If this straightforward approach isn’t strong enough for the green monsters in your lawn, try a little bit of vinegar. “It’s an acid, so it will damage soil a bit,” says Arthur. After you’ve applied the vinegar to your weeds and pulled them out, it’s beneficial to your lawn to add new, healthy soil in the same spot.

If you have: Fungus on your plants

Try: Garden sulphur

Don’t let an ugly fungus like black spot taint the beauty of your rose bushes. Arthur says garden sulphur is making a comeback. It’s a natural mineral and is a quick and easy fix for almost any fungus in your garden. You can find different mixtures at home and garden stores.

One natural deterrent to stay away from: hot pepper flakes and cayenne pepper

We’ve all heard this home remedy for animals prowling in our gardens: spread a little bit of cayenne pepper or some hot pepper flakes on the ground and they’ll keep their nosy paws out. This is true, but if squirrels, cats and rabbits get too much spicy powder on their paws and then rub their faces, Arthur says they can go blind. We may not want these critters digging up our gardens, but we don’t want to harm them either, so opt for a more animal-friendly solution.

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