Gardening tips

I'm no expert gardener, but here are a few things I have learned to help reduce the amount of chemicals used in our yards and gardens.

For aphids and other small pests, get a spray bottle of soapy water (use mild soap like dish soap) and spray affected areas daily. The soap creates a film over the bugs and they suffocate. They don’t die instantly, but repeated applications will help. Avoiding insecticides also helps protect the insects you do want such as bees, butterflies and ladybugs.

Start a compost heap. Even if your yard is small, you can probably find room to put one, it just may take a little creativity. There are also plenty of resources online to help you to make the best compost. You can purchase composting containers, some even come complete with worms to aid the process.

Use a mulching mower, don’t bag it. When you use a mulching mower, the grass is shredded into smaller bits which settle on the soil. As the layers of grass fall, the lower layers break down which gives your grass more nutrients.

Don’t under water, and don’t over water. And don’t water in the rain! (My pet peeve) Both over watering and not watering enough makes your plants and lawn more susceptible to pests and diseases. When our plants get ill or infested, we tend to use more chemicals to treat them. Some soils hold water better than others, so I suggest you purchase (mine was about 12 dollars) a water meter which I push into the soil (and potted plants) and it tells me how moist the soil is.

I like to keep roses, and here, their biggest nemesis is aphids. But watch the ants too! Ants like the (sorry, I can’t remember the technical term) dewy sweet stuff which aphids suck from the plant. So the ants will actually pick up and move the aphids around the plant so they can collect this stuff. You can hose off the aphids with a strong stream of water, but the ants will often just carry the aphids back onto your plant. If ants are causing damage, locate the anthill and pour boiling water on it. You can also try soapy water. If you must use insecticides, look for the kind which ants will collect and carry to the nest. This is more effective which reduces the number of chemical applications you need to use.

As always, any other ideas are more than welcome, just add a comment!