Set Your Garden Up For Pest Control Success All Season Long

A little spring know-how goes long way

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(Source: Sue Senger, Canva Pro)

As tiny seeds germinate into new plants, and the transplanting options start to pour into garden centers, it’s easy to forget that out in our gardens, a whole world is waking up to spring life.

All the micro-organisms begin to stir. Worms, and sowbugs, and springtails start moving through the warming soil. Beetles and centipedes and millipedes launch into action. Lacewings and ladybugs are crawling from their shelters. Moths and butterflies quiver in their chrysalises. Friends and foes alike are waking.

So what can we do as gardeners to set ourselves up for a successful garden season, support our allies and discourage the pest?

Resist the urge to clean up too soon

I am a chaotic gardener myself, but every garden magazine and Instagram will flood the scene with images of pristine garden beds with perfectly fluffed bare soil, spotless pathways, and manicured lawns. . . . .which is fine, unless you want a pest free garden this year.

Go back and read the second paragraph again. Your garden allies are waking up too! All that bustling garden clean up can set back or even remove your best pest defenses.

So while clean up is needed to get planting, too much cleaning up will come back to bite you later on.

Best tips for ally-friendly garden bed preparation:

1. Keep a pile of stems and leaf litter either right in your garden bed, or very nearby.

2. Turn the soil as little as possible with machinery.

3. Avoid working soil in the warmest part of the spring day when emerging insects and invertebrates will be most active.

4. Maintain some permanent herbs or flowers that can hold spaces relatively undisturbed.

5. Mulch bare soil as soon as possible or plant cover crops.

I am testing out some steel-frame grow boxes this spring (I can hardly wait!). One idea I have is to plant a cluster of perennial herbs in the middle of my long 4x8 boxes. I am also looking at adding a little in-row compost feature in the middle as well.

Either (or both) of these additions to the permanent raised bed will make it easier to maintain predatory insects and soil-builders.

Delay mowing the grass

Butterflies, bees, moths, crickets and other many insects benefit from delayed lawn mowing. While it may look a little messy, the taller spring grass actually sets up you for a much more productive gardening year.

(Source: Sue Senger, Canva Pro)

And when you do finally cut the grass, recycle those grass clippings into the garden for mulch! Just remember not to pile them too close to tender young plants and transplants because they will give off some heat as they initially start to decompose. You don’t want to inadvertently cook your baby garden plants (been there, done that . . .. . .soooooo frustrating!).

Add water

Despite spring often being a wet time of year, adding a bird bath or pebble pool (or both) to your garden can be super-beneficial to your long-term pest fighting team.

Bird baths typically attract songbirds who will scour your garden and lawn for pests.

What is a pebble pool? It is a shallow pan that gets filled with round rocks of different sizes. Then you add water, making sure to leave the top surface of the pebbles exposed. This creates an ideal situation for bees, butterflies and other insects to safely access a drink of water without drowning. Many small native pollinating bees need access to water, but are susceptible to drowning in buckets and deeper water sources.

Water supports garden allies (Source: Sue Senger, Canva Pro)

Create biodiversity

For more tips on how to support an army of allied forces against garden pests, check out this previous TNH post on biodiversity

Getting your garden off to a great start is fun and exciting. If you have a particular gardening challenge you’d like some help on, be sure to leave a comment or shoot me a message and I will add it into the list of topics for future posts.

Happy gardening!

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The Naturalized Human brings together the science and human experience of the mind-body-food connection. I hope you stick around and become part of this community seeking to understand how the food we eat, and the environments we live in, impact everything about our minds and bodies.