As a gardener, you want to see your summer garden grow and produce a delightful selection of crops this season. However, you may not get your wish if pesky pests have their way. Today, we share with you our top tips on how to protect your garden from summer pests.
How to Protect Your Garden from Summer Pests
#1: Encourage Good Bugs
Like all other things in the world, there are both good and bad pests. Bad pests, in this case, are the ones that are using your garden as a buffet. Good pests, on the other hand, eat those bad pests for lunch! Therefore, you want to encourage good bugs into your garden to keep your bad pest population down. A few such bugs include lacewings, ladybugs, damsel bugs, and more.
How does one attract good bugs? We recommend checking out THIS LIST of the best plants for beneficial insects.
#2: Choose the “Right” Plants
You may be thinking, what are the “right” plants for my garden. Firstly, you want to choose plants that grow well in your environment, especially pest- or disease-resistant plants.
Secondly, you want to choose plant varieties that your local bad pests don’t love. Try a different breed if you find one particular type getting consistently munched to death.
Thirdly, try planting early or later in the season for plants pests love. Some pests show up for their favorite snacks at a specific time of the year. If you know when that is, you can try to plant earlier or later so as to avoid them altogether.
#3: Try Intercropping
There is a method of horticulture called intercropping. Intercropping is when you mix and match your plants in the garden, rather than planting them all in one section or row. The technique is thought to confuse bad pests and make it harder for them to find a suitable meal.
#4: Use Physical Barriers
Installing a physical barrier is one of the easiest ways to prevent bad pests from eating your plants. This could be as simple as using a floating row cover or as in-depth as building planter boxes to keep your garden above low-flying or soil pests. We recommend investigating which type of physical barrier works best against your most annoying pests.
#5: Grow Healthy Plants
While it may seem obvious, growing healthy plants is the easiest way to protect your garden from summer pests. Healthy and vibrant plants automatically attract fewer pests than sick or withering plants. So, by keeping your plants in tip-top condition, you are already making headway in your fight against bad pests.
Reliable Pest – Keep Your Landscaping Pest Free
Despite all the efforts made above, some pests are just too tough to deter. We recommend utilizing our “You’re Covered” and “You’re Covered PLUS” quarterly pest prevention programs to take action against common seasonal pests. Never worry about your garden, pets, kids, or home again!