No doubt, rabbits, insects, slugs, deer and other plant destroying pests too are a part of this world but that doesn’t mean you have to put up with them as being a part of your garden. When we talk about garden maintenance, keeping pests away is an essential part. These effective tips will help keep pests away from your garden.
What Kind of Pest Is Present In Your Garden?
There are three major groups of pests that may wreck your garden. These are the mammals like rabbits and deer, the insects like worms, and the gastropods, which would include slugs and garden snails. There are various ways on how to keep these pests away from your garden. While most people will basically think of using harmful chemicals, there are still other options that are safer, healthier and will not involve the use of harmful chemicals.
Use Coffee Grounds
Apart from keeping pests off your garden, coffee grounds are also good for the soil. They increase acidity and add nitrogen to the garden soil. Smell of the coffee grounds can deter a wide range of garden pests. Basically, cats and slugs hate coffee. Additionally, this can also be used as an olfactory based repellent for those picky deer.
Slugs – The Most Annoying Garden Pest
Slugs have been dubbed as one of the most annoying garden pests. While it may be rare to see slugs in the morning, these pests descend on the garden during the night and will chew out your garden plants. There are a number of ways to deter these pests.
Coffee grounds do a good job in repelling the slugs. However, a more effective approach would be to use copper. Snails and slugs hate copper.
Decorative copper tape may be put around the flower pot to keep slugs and snails away from climbing up the plants growing in the pot. As for the plants growing directly on the ground, they can be protected by using thin sheets of copper; the sheets can be folded up like a ring and placed around the plants as a protective covering.
Traps can be another great way to keep away slugs and snails. Collect some shallow containers and fill them up with beer or grape juice. Place the containers at different locations in the garden. The idea is to attract the slugs and make them jump (and finally drown) into the container.
Repel Insects with the Use of Organic Sprays
There are organic sprays that can effectively repel insects. The recipes of these organic sprays will include garlic cloves, essential oil extracts, and hot pepper. The mixture will work effectively in repelling pests like bugs and bunnies.
Keeping Larger Pests Away From Your Garden
Larger pests can include deer and rabbits. Putting up a garden fence can keep large animals away from your garden. If you can’t afford this, you can use the organic spray with garlic and pepper. Another option would be to apply blood meal. Blood meal is a by-product of meat packing plants. This is dried and flaked blood. Animals do not like the smell of blood meal.
