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Beginner’s Guide To Organic Gardening: 4 Natural Pest Control Techniques

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Organic gardening can be an excellent way to save money and eat fresh, delicious fruits and vegetables; however, it also comes with a fair share of problems and frustrations. One of the main problems that one might encounter is pest control. There are a lot of things you need to take into consideration, especially if you want to use safe and organic techniques.

Organic pest control may seem like a contradiction, but it is not. This involves combining preventive methods as well as supporting the natural eco-system. If you are interested in organic gardening, it is also important to learn how to control the pests in your yard and garden without using chemical insecticides or pesticides. It is crucial to understand that complete annihilation is not the answer in controlling these unwanted creatures.

Why Should You Use Organic Pest Control Techniques?

As a gardener, you need to understand that a healthy garden also needs to have insects. They are an important part of the ecosystem and must not be completely eradicated. Insects and bugs serve as food for lizards, birds, and wildlife as well as assist in the pollination process. They also help break down the nutrients found in the soil, compost, and become nutrients themselves once they die. With that said, completely eradicating them from your organic garden won’t be such as good idea. It is best to simply control them to avoid a full-blown infestation.

When controlling these insects and bugs, you need to avoid using chemical pesticides since these products can eliminate the nutrients produced by plants and vegetables. Chemical pesticides also eliminate beneficial soil microbes which will result to an unhealthy environment. Lastly, long exposure to these toxic chemicals may lead to health problems, such as cancer, alzeimer’s, and fertility issues. If you want to properly control the insects, bugs, and other pests in your organic garden, you can try a more natural approach.

Natural Pest Control Techniques

Companion Planting: This is a crucial technique in organic gardening. This method involves using plants that have natural properties which help others grow as well as deter pests. The plants’ natural properties will also help increase the production in the garden. Here are a few of the most common companion plants:

  • Basil: This plant can be planted alongside tomatoes to improve its production as well as its flavor. Basil is also a good companion plant for peppers. It is also said to successfully repel mosquitoes due to its scent.
  • Chamomile: This is a wonderful companion for cucumbers, onions and cabbages. It also attracts beneficial insects that can help get rid of harmful pests, insects, and bugs.
  • Catnip: This is an herb which is great for squash and cucumbers. It also helps repel bugs and aphids. You can also use its dried leaves to create your own pest control spray in your organic garden.
  • Dill: This plant can improve the flavor of cucumber lettuce and cabbages. It also repels pests found in the garden.
  • Marigolds: You can plant marigolds throughout your garden to repel mosquitoes, flies, and other stinging insects.
  • Sunflowers: These are another excellent companion plants and can add aesthetic appeal to your organic garden while keeping aphids and other bugs at bay.

Powdered Kelp Solution: Aside from companion planting, you can also create a natural pest control spray, such as creating a solution from powdered Kelp. This solution can repel Japanese beetles and aphids while nourishing the plants in your garden. You can spray the solution once a week or before infestation times.

Lemon Balm Tea: This natural solution can keep squash bugs and aphids away from your garden. You only need to spray your plants with lemon balm tea at least two or three times a week when necessary.

Hot Pepper And Garlic Spray: All you need are 2-3 cloves of garlic, 4 hot cayenne peppers, 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, a tablespoon of liquid soap, and 2-3 cups of hot water. You must then blend all the ingredients together for several minutes then let it sit overnight. Doing so will help intensify its effects. The next day, you can then strain the solution with a strainer or towel and store the solution in a glass container or spray bottle. Spray the solution directly onto the plants at least once a week. This solution can successfully repel garden bugs, insects, and wildlife pests.

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Kris Lim is an avid gardener who shares her tips and techniques to her readers. In this article, she aims to help her readers learn more about the natural pest control techniques they can apply to their own organic garden.

Pest Control for Organic Gardening

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The idea of organic gardening pest control is not a new theory, and in fact is as old as agriculture. Man-made pesticides have substituted organic ones since World War II in civilized countries and these pesticides are harmful to the environment as well as the population who eat the plants sprayed with the synthetic pesticides. More and more people today are doing organic gardening and prefer not to use pesticides. There are varying beliefs on the use of these products, with some people opposing their use only on food crops, whereas others simply try to reduce their use as much as possible.


There are a variety of sensible reasons that appeal to logic for using organic gardening pest control methods. Most importantly, if pesty insects are left alone, free of pesticides, they ae less likely to become resistant “super bugs”. Organic methods tend to be less polluting and blend into the ecosystem around it instead of disrupting it. In addition, because many of the pesticides that are available are derivatives of petrochemicals, their costs are higher, thus making alternatives more attractive. Whatever the reasons may be for avoiding their use, the organic gardener has to be prepared to work in order to make up for the loss of those chemical products that he chooses to abstain from using.

Natural gardeners have a number of valuable, non-chemical methods that they can use to manage garden vermin. Using a method known as varietal selection, where pest and disease resistant seeds are used, is one of the easiest ways to avoid pest problems. The cultural control method of organic gardening pest control involves changing your gardening methods in order to reduce the hospitality that your garden offers to pests. This may mean removing or burning diseased plant material and destroying weeds and plan debris that provide hiding places for insects. Using stakes to keep fruits off the ground as well as pruning to remove diseased limbs, removing sickly plants, proper building of the soil, and making sure the plants are in raised areas in rainy seasons also help control diseases and pests. Crop rotation can also help in the prevention of disease and in pest control.

Using non-pesticide methods for pest control may not be as quick as the use of pesticides, but it is safer and over time, these methods will not simply repel the insects for the current season but prevent their reappearance in other corps. Organic gardening pest control might entail a lengthier process, however, all the effort is repaid.

Tips for Garden Pest Control

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Gardening can be great fun and good exercise. You can also reduce your grocery bill as a result of gardening, but if you don’t address a few issues you may find that you are feeding the pests rather than your family.

House Pest control is one of the most important issues when planning your garden, whether it is a flower or vegetable garden. If you allow pests to overrun your garden instead of a thing of beauty and source of food you will have nothing more than an ugly mess.

Thankfully, there is a myriad of products and garden pest control tips that you can help your garden mirror all of the work that you put into it. Without pest control you might as well leave that patch as a piece of lawn.

What is a garden without a beautiful lawn beside it. Nobody puts a beautiful painting in a very ordinary frame so why would you put all of that work into your garden and then leave the lawn for the pests, and the pests can very easily spread to your garden.

Before you go laying down baits and poisons, turning your garden into a toxic waste dump, do a bit of research; there is plenty of information on the Internet to help you make your own pesticide. You can kill or deter garden pests without killing your neighbour’s cat.

I have known too many people complain about the pests getting into their garden, and then going to the nursery or hardware store to buy something that will not only kill the snails or beetles but everything else that enters the garden, including, in extreme cases, themselves.

Some pests will avoid a nice healthy garden, so nurture it by giving it the correct amount of water, the right fertilizer and don’t cut the grass too short. Now that your garden is healthy you can start to eradicate the pests that have stayed.

After getting your garden beautifully verdant, you may find that the snails and slugs will make an attempt to take over. These can be particularly harmful to vegetable gardens. In Toronto, Canada most pesticides have been banned, but Scotts EcoSense ferric phosphate is still used to eradicate snails and slugs. Why? Because it is safe to use.

I hope that I have made it abundantly clear that if you want to reap the benefits of all of your hard work in the garden you have to minimize the damage that the pests can cause. In order to defeat your enemy in the garden you must get to know them.

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