Pest control in the garden is an important part to growing healthy plants.

 

Beginning with good soil, and healthy plants is the first step but now you want to keep everything as healthy as possible. One good method of keeping pests from invading your crops is by creating a barrier between the pests and the plants/seeds.

 

Floating crop covers or reemay are ideal for this purpose, as well as for keeping light frosts from damaging crops. These products are made out of a lightweight, translucent material that allows moisture, sun, and air to pass through it so it can be kept over crops for long periods of time. You would remove it after all threat of the pest has passed, or for pollination so that the bees can get to the flowers, or if cool weather crops such as broccoli, cauliflower, etc get too warm.

 

 The important thing is to make sure that when you are placing the crop cover over the area of plants/seeds, that you tuck in all the edges of the fabric but do not make too tight so that there is enough room for plants to grow. As the plants grow higher the plants push up on the fabric and so it needs to be loose enough for the plants continued growth.

 

The crop cover prevents the fly from laying its eggs on the soil where the vegetables are growing. This is ideal for carrots, parsnips, radishes, turnips, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli. If you don't want to use crop covers for members of the cabbage family you can try using a cardboard or tarpaper, collar that is placed on the soil surrounding the stem of the plant. It should be at least 8-10 centimetres in size so that the fly cannot lay the eggs near the plants stem.

 

Timing can also be effective in pest control. You can wait until the pest is no longer in the area before planting your crops. Last year we waited until late spring before planting the cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts. We had planted the transplants into 6-8 inch pots so they could continue to grow and then planted them into the garden in mid/late June. It worked really well because we had no problems with cabbage root maggots and we didn't lose any growing time because the plants were growing in the pots.

 

Keeping the garden clean of weeds will help keep plants healthy. Plants do not have to compete with the weeds for nutrients and moisture and pests will have less places to hide.

 

Catching the problem early is important so that you can correct it immediately before it gets out of hand. Check the plants on a regular basis and if you see a pest/disease it can be handpicked off. If it is only one plant, remove the plant before it infects the other plants.When looking at plants check the undersides of the foliage and also new growth shoots as this is where pests like to hide. Also remove any mouldy or rotten foliage before it becomes a problem.

 

There are sprays available to help control garden pests. 'Safer's' has a variety of products that are natural and safe to use such as 'Insecticidal soap', 'End-All', and 'Neem Oil'. Neem oil and insecticidal soap can be used as a preventive. When Neem oil is sprayed on the foliage of the plant, it makes the foliage unattractive to pests making them go elsewhere. A weekly spraying of insecticidal soap will kill any aphids, mites and whitefly before they become a problem.

 

The easiest way to control garden pests is to stay ahead of the problem by preventing pests from attacking your plants, and if they do get on the plant to be able to get rid of them as quickly as possible. You want to be proactive rather than reactive.