How to be more green in the garden??

Emily227

Does anyone have tips on organic pest control and fertilizers?

I am doing a vegetable garden for the first time ever and I want to keep the bugs away. I haven't noticed anything yet. 

I've heard to plant marigolds along with your veggies since the smell keeps some critters at bay. I didn't have room to plant marigolds, but I put a few in small pots around the posts of my raised bed---hopefully that works.

I've also heard to put eggshells at the base of plants to keep the slugs away. I haven't done that yet--but I have the intention of putting some out there next time I use some fresh eggs. 

 Someone recently told me to add a drop of dish soap into a spray bottle and fill it with water and spritz plants with that. Has anyone heard of this? Sounds like a fairly green option, but I haven't done it yet. 

jillianmb

This is only my second post here, so I don't really know what I'm talking about but I thought I'd share this: 

Yesterday I saw my local coffee shop was giving away their grounds to people for garden use.  I was curious so I inquired and apparently coffee grounds are a great fertilizer and if you mix them with eggshells it keeps the pests away.  Obviously I've never done it myself, but sounds like you are doing the eggshells so might be worth it to mix in coffee grounds too.

leighzlou

Marigolds and companion planting are great ways to keep pests away. Other things to do depend on what pests you end up having. Dish soap only works if there is something there to get rid of. It isn't a preventative measure. What treatments you will need depend on what pests you will get. For instance, if you get aphids, blast them off with the hose and then set loose some lady bugs. If you get cabbage worms like me (my poor poor cabbages) the only solution is to manually remove and kill them.

CarrieB.

a dish of beer also works to kill slugs. 

Jasmine19

My "bug killer" is water, dishsoap, and lemon juice.   My grandma gave me this idea when I had an aphid infestation.   It works great on aphids, and I assume it would work on other bugs, too.   

blue_elle

I just asked this same question over on the gardening forum. A saw a recipe in a gardening book that calls for garlic, chilies, soap (not detergent), diluted with lots of water (especially when it will be sprayed on young plants), but was looking to find answers from people who have some experience on what works and what doesn't.

treesapplaud

A pest control spray is easy to make.

I have used just soap and water before. It works well on a few bugs. For some really tough pests, I make the following: 

I let stalks of rhubarb sit in a bucket with some water for a few days. I sometimes also press a couple of cloves of garlic as well. I strain this and add it to a spray bottle and dilute it with water a squirt of dish soap. It works. 

My dad has a similar recipe with chilli and urine in it he swears by. 

kitty777

you can also use tobacco. just mix it with water and let it rest for a few hours. Strain it and spray it on the plants. it will help against aphid and scale insects.

SuperGreen

kitty777:

you can also use tobacco. just mix it with water and let it rest for a few hours. Strain it and spray it on the plants. it will help against aphid and scale insects.

DON'T do this on or anywhere near tomatoes!  Tomatoes are suceptible to tobacco mosaic virus, which they can contract just from smoking near tomatoes.  I'm sure spraying it directly on or anywhere near the plants would infect them.

As for the rest of your post, it's our first year with a veggie garden too and we're planning on using the same tricks.  Our raised beds have 3" fences to keep out the dog, we're going to drap the fences with row cover fabric to keep bugs off.