Controlling Insects Organically

Most gardeners are anxious to get out into their gardens as soon as the weather warms up and the first green sprout appears. Unfortunately, plant-eating insects are just as anxious as we are to get into the garden. They seem to think that our beautiful shrubs and tasty vegetables were planted for their benefit!

There are many fine products available in catalogs and garden centers to control insects. But for health or environmental reasons, some gardeners are hesitant to use chemicals in their garden, especially in a vegetable garden.

So what can you do to avoid sharing your beautiful flowers, shrubs and vegetables with every insect that passes through the neighborhood without using potentially harmful chemicals?
Practicing good garden housekeeping should be your first defense in the battle of gardener versus insects. In other words, keep a clean garden and don’t give the insects a place to hide and reproduce. Rake up any dead leaves from the ground and discard them, or better yet, add them to your compost. Harvest vegetables as soon as they ripen, and don’t leave over-ripe vegetables in the garden. Clear out all dead foliage from your gardens in the fall. Prune out any dead or damaged branches from your trees and shrubs, making clean cuts without ragged edges where insects can hide.

If you find insect damage on your plants, there are a large number of organic products that work in a variety of ways to kill insects or discourage them from eating your garden plants. Because many organic insect controls are used for specific types of insects, it is very important to know what insects you are dealing with before choosing the correct organic insecticide. Carefully examine the damaged plant to find the culprits, looking under the leaves and along the stems where they may be hiding. Your county’s Ag Extension Agent can help identify specific insects, or you can also do an online search for insect identification sites.

Butterflies often lay their eggs on plants, and when those eggs hatch the little caterpillars will stay and feed on the plant as they grow. Caterpillars can be controlled using a common organic insecticide known as Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt. Bt is a naturally occurring bacteria that causes caterpillars to stop eating and die. There are several varieties of Bt that can be used, depending on the type of caterpillar you’re after, including one specific to Colorado potato beetle larvae and another for corn earworms. Bt is also effective against tomato hornworms, the little green worms that like broccoli and cabbage, and bagworms. Bt should be applied at 1-2 week intervals to kill succeeding generations of insects. Gardeners with butterfly gardens should avoid using Bt on their plants because it is harmful to butterfly caterpillars. However, Bt is completely harmless to pets and people.

Diatomaceous earth is another natural insecticide that may be used on a variety of insects. Diatomaceous earth is a fine powder that feels like talc, but it is actually the fossilized skeletal remains of small aquatic critters called diatoms. It is completely harmless to people and pets, but when soft-bodied insects come in contact with it, the tiny sharp edges of the diatoms lacerate the insects, making them dehydrate and perish. Apply diatomaceous earth in the early morning or evening when the plants are wet with dew, which will make the powder stick to the surface of the leaves and doom the insects that walk through it. Diatomaceous earth can be used to control ants, aphids, beetle grubs, box-elder bugs, flea beetles, those nasty little earwigs and many more insects. It’s also safe to use on houseplants, and can even be sprinkled on the ground to control slugs.

Insecticidal soap is another favorite organic insect control. Safe to use around bees, birds, and animals, insecticidal soap is made of fatty acid salts. It can be used in the garden and on houseplants to control aphids, spider mites, whiteflies and some leafhoppers and caterpillars. The drawback to insecticidal soap is that it must be sprayed directly onto the offending insects to be effective. Insects breathe through their shells, and insecticidal soap suffocates insects by coating their shells so they cannot breathe. Insecticidal soap must be applied thoroughly and repeatedly for the best results.

There are also plant-based insecticides available. The seeds of the Neem tree produce an oil that disrupts insects’ reproductive cycle, preventing them from multiplying. The Neem tree is native to Southeast Asia and is also grown now in Australia for its insecticidal properties. Neem works quickly and is effective against a variety of caterpillars, beetles, aphids and borers.
Many insects are actually fussy eaters and they won’t eat plants that are distasteful to them. If you’ve grown garlic you may have noticed that insects leave it alone. You can find insect repellants made with garlic that can be sprayed onto plants to prevent insects from eating them. These garlic-based insect repellents become odorless within five minutes after they’re applied and leave no aftertaste on food crops. The plants actually absorb the garlic and stay distasteful to insects for up to a month. There are also garden insect repellants available that are made with hot peppers. Like the garlic-based repellants, the hot pepper repellants are sprayed on the plants to make them distasteful to insects.

Organic insecticides and insect repellants are becoming available at more garden centers and gardening catalogs every year. It is not difficult to control insects with organic insecticides, but the organic gardener must be diligent with frequent plant inspections and take prompt action to avoid infestations when insect damage is found in the garden.

Kathy Anderson has been an avid gardener for many years and has grown tomatoes by the acre, along with many other vegetables, flowers and landscape plants. Kathy recommends http://www.freeplants.com as a great place to learn more about gardening. Article provided by http://gardening-articles.com. If you use this article the above links must be active.

Building a Shed: Starting Off Right

A shed can add value to your home as well as add valuable storage space, but they are very expensive to buy. The answer is to build your own shed. This may seem very intimidating, but with the right instruction, almost anyone could do it.

The first step is to choose a shed plan. This is a very important step towards successfully building your own shed. You want to choose a shed plan that comes with very detailed drawings as well as a materials list. This will save you a lot of time and frustration, and will make life much easier through this process. There are a lot of free shed plans out there, but beware because if they are free they may not be the quality that you need to learn how to do this properly.

When you are looking at shed plans, try to find one that will meet all of your storage needs, but will also be visually appealing. You and your neighbors will be looking at your new shed for a long time, so it may as well be worth looking at. You will also want a shed plan that will allow you to store what you have now plus what you may have in the future. If there is any question on size go a little bigger; you won't be sorry like you will if you build one to small. If you will be storing any large items in your shed, make sure you get a shed plan with a large enough door. There would be nothing worse than building a shed for your riding lawnmower and finding that it won't fit through the door.

Many sheds don't have windows on them, but I would highly recommend having at least one. Having a window makes it much easier to see inside your shed and also allows for ventilation in the summer. You can add a flower box on your window to add some charm to an otherwise boring shed.

When you have chosen your shed plan go out to the spot you want to build the shed and mark it out on the ground. Make sure that you will have plenty of room all the way around. Make sure also that the door will be in a good location. If you do not know what the set-backs are (the distance from property lines that you can build a shed) call your county building department to find out. I had to move a shed once, call first, it's much easier.

When you are sure that everything will work where you have it laid out, Follow the instructions that come with your shed plan. When you are done, you will have something to be truly proud of.

Growing a Lawn From Seed

The first step in creating a beutiful lawn from seed is to remove any weeds or old grass from the area to be seeded. This may be done by hand when the weeds are still alive, or you can spray the weeds and wait for them to die.

Next you will need to ammend the soil, unless you have soil that contains a lot of organic matter. This is the most time consuming and labor intensive part but it is very important. I like to add compost or manure and till in with the existing soil until the top four to six inches becomes lose and easy to work. The goal is about fifty percent compost to fifty percent soil. This seems like a lot of work, but it will pay off big time in the end. Having enough organic matter in the soil will help it to retain moisture, and will keep it from getting too compacted. The result is a lawn that is lower maintenance and looks good for years and years.

Now that the soil is well mixed it's time to rake it out smooth. I like to use a three foot rake for this part but a normal garden rake will work fine. Try to get any rocks larger than about the size of a nickle, and rake them out of the lawn area. Keep raking untill the area is as smooth as possible. You can use a two-by-four to screed across the soil to make it flat if it helps you.

Now that the area is as flat as you can possibly get it apply starter fertilizer according to the instructions.

Now if the soil is dry, it is best to apply enough water that the moisture seeps well into the ground. Just avoid puddles.

Time for the seed. I like to apply the seed fairly heavy so that the ground is almost covered. This will ensure that the new lawn comes in nice and thick.

If you have access to a lawn roller, roll the seeded area to press the seed firmly against the soil.

Next is an important step that many people skip. You need to cover the seed with a light layer of fine mulch or sawdust to keep it moist. This also keeps the seed from blowing away, and keeps the birds out to some degree.

The last step is very important to fast success. DO NOT LET IT DRY OUT. It's a good idea to get a timer that will spray every few minutes all day. If the seed drys out after it germinates it will die and your lawn will not look very good. I try to explain this to people, but they don't understand how important it is.

Usually there will be a few spots that don't come in very thick. This is normal and easy to fix. Just sprinkle some seed on the thin areas and cover with mulch very lightly and keep it moist untill it has grown in.

When the lawn starts to get thick, you can start to cut back on watering, just keep an eye on it so it doesn't get to dry. It will take a couple of months before the lawn has enough of a root system to survive drying out much. This is where the compost plays a big role. It gives you a larger margin of error.

You may notice a lot of weeds that have sprouted with the grass seed. If there are a lot of them you can spray them when the lawn is mature enough. Apply spray according to the label. If you only have a few weeds, just pull them by hand.