Naturally Control Garden Pests

Garden pests. There are often the bane of the gardener’s existence! Pests can include animals like deer, rabbits, and squirrels, but also aphids, squash bugs, and horned worms.

These critters that are able to destroy all your hard work. So what is a gardener to do? Today, we’re sharing some ways to naturally control those garden pests.

*Note: This is a collaborative series between my father, Boyd White, who has been gardening for nearly 40 years, and myself {Becky}. Scroll down to see all the posts in this series.
**I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

For the home gardener there are two tasks that can keep us busy throughout the growing season:

1- keeping weeds out
2- controlling those pesky critters

Wildlife, like deer, rabbits and squirrels can completely wreck a garden. They’ll steal away your veggies, chomp on your flowers, and stomp over your garden beds.

As to deer there is nothing more infuriating than coming out to your garden and finding green nubs where your healthy plants used to be. It’s enough to make you want to get a hunting license and make room in the freezer. {Joking. Not joking.}

Early on in my gardening career, I {Boyd} learned quickly that I needed to find some effective way to deter the deer in our area. Initially, I tried hanging regular compact discs all around my garden which projected flashes of the sun and a lot of movement in order to startle the deer.

I remember one of grandchildren looking out one day and asked if I was growing CDs. Of course I wasn’t, but it was kind of funny, don’t you think? This method worked for a while, but soon the deer figured things out.

So, how do you keep pests at bay without spraying heavy chemicals on or around your plants? Here are 10 natural ideas you can try!

10 Ways to Control Garden Pests Naturally

1. Build a fence 

If you build it, they won’t come. Well, that’s the hope anyway, right?

The most effective way to keep out most bigger critters {larger than insects} is to build a fence around your garden. Of course, if you have a rather large garden this can be price prohibiting.

2. Use companion planting

Companion planting is a great strategy for several reasons. One is keeping unwanted critters away.

For example, garlic planted near your other plants will not only keep certain animals at bay, but is also effective against a number of pesky insects that are more than happy to dine of your plants. In our companion planting guide {get it when you subscribe to my blog}, you’ll find natural pest control plants you can put beside your crops to keep many critters from gnawing on your food.

3. Plant heavily scented herbs and flowers

Plants like lavender, chives, mint, garlic, chives, thyme, fennel, and marigolds are pungent and help in two ways. Deer will avoid walking through heavily scented plants, as they pick up the smell on their fur. Second, scents like lavender and mint in the air also mask the smell of delicious vegetables coming from your garden.

Be sure to these plants around the perimeter of your garden and some inside the garden as they also may keep those small critters like squash bugs {sometimes referred to as “plant bugs”} and others at bay.

4. Spray plants with neem oil + castile soap*

Use Neem oil as an organic pesticide/insecticide.

Neem oil is quite safe to use. It will not harm humans or animals, and it’s safe even for most wildlife since its insecticidal properties are targeted to aphids, vine borers, leafhoppers, mealybugs, cinch bugs, harlequin bugs, and squash bugs, whiteflies, and scale bugs.

Just be sure to mix a drop or two of Dr. Bonner’s Castile Soap. Soap is very effective at coating the insect’s ability to breath. Using this concoction does not harm the plant or beneficial insects.

*Note: This method works better as a preventative.

5. Use a smelly, homemade solution

Garden pests often have a keen sense of smell. So, why not make their trip to your yard an unpleasant one by scenting their favorite plants with something smelly? You might try a mixture of milk, raw eggs, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper mixed with a gallon of water then left outside to get funky.

You may also try using fish emulsion as a fertilizer, an excellent choice for fertilization. The smell will often drive pests crazy.

6. Hot pepper spray

Hot pepper spray is a good option for smaller gardens, since it requires a time investment—both to make your own homemade recipe and to apply to your plants, depending on plot size. You’ll also have to re-apply every time it rains.

The up-side is that gardeners found this to be a really effective method for keeping rabbits from treating their plants like a bowl of popcorn. You can purchase hot pepper spray or make your own. Check out this simple homemade hot pepper spray recipe using only hot pepper sauce and water. 

7. Use lawn ornaments

Yes, I said “lawn ornaments.” {Insert gasp.}

Little ornaments like a pink flamingo or a fake owl can be helpful. Just be sure to move them around from time to time as the deer are highly suspicious of anything new or anything out of the ordinary setting them on edge.

8. Soap

Some garden pests, like rabbits, aren’t a fan of soap. Cut up a bar of inexpensive soap, like Irish Spring, and place chunks on saucers around your garden. This is a cheap and easy option that requires little time investment while also keeping the pests away!

9. Pick them off by hand

Yes, this is time-consuming, but I’ve been known to throw on a pair of gloves and pick bugs off the underside of my squash plants. You can either put them in dish soap, crush them, or feed them to your chickens.

Horned worms, which love to dine on tomato plants are easiest to spot early in the morning or after dark. Just take a flashlight with you and pick them right off.

10. Human Hair

Rabbits and squirrels are often wary of things that smell like humans. Sprinkling human hair around your plants can help scare them away. And as a bonus, human hair is a great thing to add to soil for fertilizer.

Try as you might, since the curse in Genesis 3, there is no 100% way of deterring every single garden pest, be it produce-eating animal or plant-destroying insect. But one or more of the natural methods described above should give them a real “run-for-their-money.”

Enjoy gardening!
~Becky

More Posts in this Series…