Planting a healthy backyard garden is a joy for kids and parents alike, especially because of the popularity of eco-friendly and sustainable gardening. You may know that vegetable gardening is one of the most popular hobbies in the US.
Besides the pleasure and beautiful landscape that gardening offers, many gardeners cite a desire and need for organic food as a major motivation in vegetable gardening. However, remember that plant diseases, pests, and critters in the garden can thwart your time and efforts to grow chemical-free and organic produce.
Like most gardeners, you may face plant-munching pests and critters, such as squirrels, in your backyard vegetable garden from time to time, and often they are not a big deal. However, sometimes pest numbers and diseases may rise to an unacceptable level. As a result, the little buggers cause more than merely aesthetic damage.
This is why you should take steps and keep your plants and vegetables safe from critters and bugs and free of disease.
Tips for Keeping Vegetables and Plants Safe from Critters and Disease
Here are some simple tips and tricks, including eco-friendly measures, to help you grow and keep your vegetables and plants healthy.
Use a Barrier Fence
One of the simplest methods to prevent critters, is to put a physical barrier between the plant or vegetables and the pests. You can cover pest-susceptible plants and vegetables with a floating row cover.
Physical barriers, such as fences, are amongst the most foolproof deterrents. However, some animals, such as deer, are agile jumpers so fences have to be high—usually about eight feet. It is best to put up a strong fence from day one in order to prevent critters from finding the food source in the first place.
Choose Less Tasty Plants
Those fuzzy and cute little bunnies are adorable hopping around your backyard—until they start munching on the newly planted veggies or mowing down your valuable marigolds. When animals are hungry, they will eat anything.
However, certain kinds of plants are less appealing to animals than others, particularly plants that have prickles or are highly aromatic.
This means that preventing pests and animals in your garden is sometimes as easy as choosing pest-resistant plants and vegetables. For instance, if squash bugs tend to plague your winter squash plants, ‘Royal Acorn’ and ‘Butternut’ are two of the most resistant varieties.
Spray or Scare Them Away
You will be happy to know that spritzing on liquids with a pungent or offensive odor or taste is the simplest and least expensive way to repel critters and bugs. And if you have tried store-bought pesticides or insecticides to no avail, you can try to garden organically and use eco-friendly and natural options.
For example, you can apply garlic spray, salt spray, or mineral oil on your plants to deter pests. You can use metallic streamers, bird tape, or even an old-fashioned scarecrow in order to keep birds away.
Keep Your Plants Healthy
A simple way to keep your plants and veggies safe from critters and disease is to keep them healthy. Did you know that plants have a surprising range of defenses against various pests?
For example, they can produce substances that help discourage insects from moving in or keep infestations at bay. This is why adequately watered, and well-fertilized plants are much healthier. They are better at fending off predators.
Rotate Plants Each Year
You should refrain from planting the same vegetables in the same location every year. This is especially true if you grow veggies in raised beds. Rotation prevents diseases and pests that are specific to certain plants from staying the soil.
Keep Specific Plants Separate
It is best to separate plants that belong to the same family. This is because these plants often carry and spread the diseases, and you don’t want that. For instance, you may separate peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants, as well as melons, cucumbers, and pumpkins.
Good Sanitation
This is important in all parts of your backyard garden, but it is essential in your vegetable garden. Keep in mind that good sanitation can help ward off disease. This is why you should remove plant debris, trim any dying and unhealthy foliage, and keep weeds to a minimum.
Summing Up
Caring for a garden certainly means keeping vegetables safe from harm. If critters are chowing down on your vegetables and diseases are plaguing your garden, you can use the above tips to minimize the damage. While it’s not simple to deal with animal pests, critters, and diseases, you can use these tips and experiment a bit to see what works well for you.
