gardening  


Sustainable Gardening

  
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Pesticide-Free Gardening

Americas home owners and hobby gardeners
are emerging as the greatest new threat
of toxin-related environmental damage.

Integrated Pest Management


When we use chemical controls in our gardens, the problem is not only with residues in our food; we pollute the water, poison the air and contaminate the land with toxins, nitrates or salts.

Master Gardeners the world over will tell you: "Accept a level of imperfection in the landscape, give nature the opportunity to solve the problem on its own."

Resist the use of chemical controls, avoid artificial fertilizers & sprays. Use composts & biological methods instead.

Build up a natural balance of predators to keep the garden pests under control.

Keep landscape clear of debris, leaves, limbs, trimmings and weeds. This removes hiding places of pests and deters fungus & disease.

Visually inspect your plants for early detection of problems.

Place outside night-lighting away from gardens and pest-prone plants. Lights are an invitation for pests.

Try to use resistant varieties and companion plants. Use plants that attract beneficial species and birds.

Alternate plant heights, mix leafy & flowering plants. This allows predators to see into the beds and between plants.

Beneficial insect populations do not recover as quickly from exposure to insecticides as pest species do. Use selective control methods that target that pest only, leaving beneficial insects to do their job.

Frogs, toads and snakes- the greatest predators of the garden, eat thousands of slugs per season. So give them a pond or shade garden. The birds, butterflies and dragonflies also need a shady water source.

Many gardeners kill beneficial insects, they think they're pests. They treat for pests when it is a natural characteristic of the plant, a disease, fungus or care problem. When in doubt do nothing.
 		  
 

Green Manures
 Plants that are grown for the sole purpose of tilling the green matter into the soil to fix nitrogen & add organic matter, or added to compost.

By providing an insulating blanket, microbes and
earthworms will thrive with the weeds being smothered out.

Alfalfa, winter field beans, buckwheat, clover, fenugreek, bitter lupin, mustard, grazing rye, trefoil, winter tares, corn salad, milk vetch, goats rue, soya bean, melilot, radish, peas. The goal isn't to let these plants fruit, it's to till them under in their green-growth prime.

Beneficial insects are attracted to cover crops;
alfalfa attracts parasitic wasps, lady bugs, damsel bugs,
big-eyed bugs and assassin bugs.

White clover attracts tachinid flies, ground beetles
and parasitic wasps. In turn, they prey on aphids, scales, caterpillars and whiteflies.

Most grains attract lady bugs. Clovers and vetches attract minute pirate bugs.

Fava beans and buckwheat attract predatory, parasitic wasps, syrphid flies and bumblebees.

Turn the green manure plants into the soil about a month before you're ready to seed or plant.